ADVERTISEMENT
Location of the Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench stretches across the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Japan. It is located just east of the Marianas, a chain of islands from which it gets its name. These islands are the peaks of underwater mountains that form part of a subduction zone – a place where two tectonic plates collide.
In the case of the Mariana Trench, the Pacific plate is being pushed under the Philippine plate, a process known as subduction. This creates a very deep and narrow trench, a phenomenon that is characteristic of subduction zones. The Mariana Trench is the deepest of these subduction zones and is therefore unique.
