The Mariana Trench is the deepest point on Earth, located in the western Pacific Ocean west of the Mariana Islands. It is over 7 miles deep at its lowest point. The trench formed as the dense Philippine Plate subducts under the lighter Eurasian Plate, dragging the edge of the continental crust downward. While proposed as a nuclear waste disposal site, dumping nuclear waste is prohibited and the large earthquakes of subduction zones make it unpredictable and potentially unsafe. The trench is also used as a passage by submarines circling the Pacific Ocean.

1. Case Study : Mariana Trench
About Mariana Trench :
The Mariana Trench is the deepest point on Earth. The Mariana Trench is a crescent-
shaped scar in the Earth’s crust that measures more than 1, 500 miles (2, 550
Location :
kilometers) long and 43 miles (69 kilometers) wide on average. The distance between
The Mariana Trench is located in the
the surface of the ocean and the trench’s deepest point – the Challenger Deep, which
lies aboutPacific east(322 kilometers) southwest of the U.S. territory of Guam – is
western 200 miles of the Philippines
and an average of approximately 124
nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers). The pressure at the deepest part of Mariana Trench is
over 8(200 kilometers) inch. of the
miles tons per square east
Mariana Islands.
Formation of Mariana Trench :
1) The oceanic crust, the Philippine
Plate, is much heavier than the
continental crust, the Eurasian
Plate.
2) When these plates collide into
each other, the Philippine Plate,
which is much denser and heavier,
sinks into the molten mantle, while
the lighter, Eurasian Plate rides
up over the top.
3) The forces driving the two plates
together are really intense, so the
subducted oceanic plate creates a
trench where it drags the edge of
the edge of the continental crust
down as it descends underneath.

2. Uses of Mariana Trench
Mariana Trench is proposed as a site for nuclear waste disposal, in the hope that
tectonic plate subduction occurring at the site might eventually push the nuclear
waste deep into the Earth’s mantle. However, ocean dumping of nuclear waste is
prohibited by international law. Furthermore, plate subduction zones are associated
with very large mega thrust earthquakes, the effects of which are unpredictable and
possibly adverse to the safety of long-term disposal.
The Mariana Trench is often used as a North-South passage by submarines as it is
part of a long system of trenches that circle the Pacific Ocean, connected with the
Japan and Kuril Trenches.
Trenches are becoming much more focused in the scientific community. Geologists now
think these seismically active zones could play a central role in some earthquakes.