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ocean trench
oceanic trench, submarine valley

Ocean trenches are long, narrow depressions on the seafloor. These chasms are the deepest parts of the oceanand
some of the deepest natural spots on Earth.
Graphic by Chris huh, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.

Sea oor Mariana Ocean Floor Paci c Ring of The Peru- Mariana Aleutian Caribbean Accretionary Deep Sea
Trench Fire Chile Tr... Trench Islands Sea Wedges Ecosyste...

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Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary

Ocean trenches are long, narrow depressions on the sea oor. These chasms are
the deepest parts of the oceanand some of the deepest natural spots on
Earth. Ocean trenches are found in every ocean basin on the planet, although
the deepest ocean trenches ring the Paci c as part of the so-called Ring of
Fire that also includes active volcanoes and earthquake zones
Fire that also includes active volcanoes and earthquake zones.

Ocean trenches are a result of tectonic activity, which describes the movement
of the Earths lithosphere. In particular, ocean trenches are a feature of
convergent plate boundaries, where two or more tectonic plates meet. At many
convergent plate boundaries, dense lithosphere melts or slides beneath less-
dense lithosphere in a process called subduction, creating a trench.

Ocean trenches occupy the deepest layer of the ocean, the hadalpelagic zone.
The intense pressure, lack of sunlight, and frigid temperatures of the
hadalpelagic zone make ocean trenches some of the most unique habitats on
Earth.

How Ocean Trenches Form

Subduction Zones
When the leading edge of a dense tectonic plate meets the leading edge of a
less-dense plate, the denser plate bends downward. This place where the
denser plate subducts is called a subduction zone.

Oceanic subduction zones almost always feature a small hill preceding the
ocean trench itself. This hill, called the outer trench swell, marks the region
where the subducting plate begins to buckle and fall beneath the more
buoyant plate.

Some ocean trenches are formed by subduction between a plate carrying

continental crust and a plate carrying oceanic crust. Continental crust is always
much more buoyant than oceanic crust, and oceanic crust will always subduct.

Ocean trenches formed by this continental-oceanic boundary are asymmetrical.

On a trenchs outer slope (the oceanic side), the slope is gentle as the plate
gradually bends into the trench. On the inner slope (continental side), the
trench walls are much more steep. The types of rocks found in these ocean
trenches are also asymmetrical. The oceanic side is dominated by thick
sedimentary rocks, while the continental side generally has a more igneous and
metamorphic composition.

Some of the most familiar ocean trenches are the result of this type of
convergent plate boundary. The Peru-Chile Trench off the west coast of South
America is formed by the oceanic crust of the Nazca plate subducting beneath
f
the continental crust of the South American plate. The Ryukyu Trench,
stretching out from southern Japan, is formed as the oceanic crust of the
Philippine plate subducts beneath the continental crust of the Eurasian plate.

More rarely, ocean trenches can be formed when two plates carrying oceanic
crust meet. The Mariana Trench, in the South Paci c Ocean, is formed as the
mighty Paci c plate subducts beneath the smaller, less-dense Philippine plate.

In a subduction zone, some of the molten materialthe former sea oorcan

rise through volcanoes located near the trench. The volcanoes often build
volcanic arcsisland mountain ranges that lie parallel to the trench. The
Aleutian Trench is formed where the Paci c plate subducts beneath the North
American plate in the Arctic region between the U.S. state of Alaska and the
Russian region of Siberia. The Aleutian Islands form a volcanic arc that swings
out from the Alaskan Peninsula and just north of the Aleutian Trench.

Not all ocean trenches are in the Paci c, of course. The Puerto Rico Trench is a
tectonically complex depression in part formed by the Lesser Antilles
subduction zone. Here, the oceanic crust of the enormous North American

plate (carrying the western Atlantic Ocean) is being subducted beneath the
oceanic crust of the smaller Caribbean plate.

Accretionary Wedges
Accretionary wedges form at the bottom of ocean trenches created at some
convergent plate boundaries. The rocks of an accretionary wedge are so
deformed and fragmented they are known as melangeFrench for mixture.

Accretionary wedges form as sediments from the dense, subducting tectonic

plate are scraped off onto the less-dense plate. Sediments often found in
accretionary wedges include basalts from the deep oceanic lithosphere,
sedimentary rocks from the sea oor, and even traces of continental crust drawn
into the wedge. The most common type of continental crust found in
accretionary wedges is volcanic material from islands on the overriding plate.

Accretionary wedges are roughly shaped like a triangle with one angle pointing
downward toward the trench. Because sediments are mostly scraped off from
the subducting plate as it falls into the mantle, the youngest sediments are at
the bottom of this triangle and the oldest are at the more attened area above.
This is the opposite of most rock formations, where geologists must dig deep to
nd older rocks.

Active accretionary wedges, such as those located near the mouths of rivers or
glaciers, can actually ll the ocean trench on which they form. (Rivers and
glaciers transport and deposit tons of sediment into the ocean.) This accreted
material can not only ll trenches, but rise above sea level to create islands that
hide the ocean trenches beneath. The Caribbean island of Barbados, for
example, sits atop the ocean trench created as the South American plate
subducts beneath the Caribbean plate.

Life in the Trenches

Ocean trenches are some of the most hostile habitats on Earth. Pressure is
more than 1,000 times that on the surface, and the water temperature is just
above freezing. Perhaps most importantly, no sunlight penetrates the deepest
ocean trenches, making photosynthesis impossible.

Organisms that live in ocean trenches have evolved with unusual adaptations to
thrive in these cold, dark canyons. Their behavior is a test of the so-called visual
interaction hypothesis, which states that the greater an organisms visibility, the

more energy it must expend to catch prey or repel predators. In general, life in
dark ocean trenches is isolated and slow-moving.

Pressure
Pressure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest spot on Earth, is
about 12,400 tons per square meter (8 tons per square inch). Large ocean
animals, such as sharks and whales, cannot live at this crushing depth.

Many organisms that thrive in these high-pressure environments lack gas- lled
organs, such as lungs. These organisms, many related to sea stars or jellies, are
made mostly of water and gelatinous material that cannot be crushed as easily
as lungs or bones. Many of these creatures navigate the depths well enough to
even make a vertical migration of more than 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) from the
bottom of the trenchevery day.

Even the sh in deep trenches are gelatinous. Several species of bulb-headed

snail sh, for example, dwell at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The bodies of
these shes have been compared to tissue paper.

Dark and Deep

Shallower ocean trenches have less pressure, but may still fall outside the photic
or sunlight zone, where light penetrates the water.

Many sh species have adapted to life in these dark ocean trenches. Some use
bioluminescence, meaning they produce their own living light in order to
attract prey, nd a mate, or repel a predator. Angler sh, for instance, use a
bioluminescent growth on the top of their heads (called an esca) to lure prey.
The angler sh then snaps up the little sh with its huge, toothy jaws.

Food Webs
Without photosynthesis, marine communities rely primarily on two unusual
sources for nutrients.

The rst is marine snow. Marine snow is the continual fall of organic material
from higher in the water column. Marine snow is mostly detritus, including
excrement and the remains of dead organisms such as seaweed or sh. This
nutrient-rich marine snow feeds such animals as sea cucumbers and vampire
squid.

Another source of nutrients for ocean-trench food webs comes not from
photosynthesis, but from chemosynthesis. Chemosynthesis is the process in
which producers in the ocean trench, such as bacteria, convert chemical
compounds into organic nutrients. The chemical compounds used in
chemosynthesis are methane or carbon dioxide ejected from hydrothermal
vents and cold seeps, which spew these toxic, hot gases and uids into the
frigid ocean water. One common animal that relies on chemosynthetic bacteria
for food is the giant tube worm.

Exploring Trenches

Ocean trenches remain one of the most elusive and little-known marine
habitats. Until the 1950s, many oceanographers thought that these trenches
were unchanging environments nearly devoid of life. Even today, most research
on ocean trenches has relied on sea oor samples and photographic
expeditions.

That is slowly changing as explorers delve into the deepliterally. The Challenger
Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, lies deep in the Paci c Ocean near
the island of Guam. Only three people have visited the Challenger Deep, the
deepest ocean trench in the world: a joint French-American crew (Jacques
 Piccard and Don Walsh) in 1960 and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence
James Cameron in 2012. (Two other unmanned expeditions have also explored
the Challenger Deep.)

Engineering submersibles to explore ocean trenches is presents a huge set of
unique challenges. Submersibles must be incredibly strong and resilient to
contend with strong ocean currents, no visibility, and intense pressure of the
Mariana Trench. Engineering a submersible to safely transport people, as well as
delicate equipment, is even more challenging. The sub that took Piccard and
Walsh to the Challenger Deep, the remarkable Trieste, was an unusual vessel
called a bathyscaphe.

The Deepsea Challenger, Camerons submersible, successfully addressed
engineering challenges in innovative ways. To combat deep-sea currents, the
sub was designed to spin slowly as it descended. Lights on the sub were not
incandescent or uorescent bulbs, but arrays of tiny LEDs that illuminated an
area of about 30 meters (100 feet). To adapt to the pressure of the deep, the
sub was shaped like a spherethe walls of a square or cylinder-shaped vessel
would need to be at least three times thicker to avoid being crushed. The subs

fuel was augmented by seawater to prevent the oil from compressing. Perhaps
most startlingly, the Deepsea Challenger itself was designed to compress.
Cameron and his team created glass-based syntactic foam that allowed the
vehicle to compress under the oceans pressurethe Deepsea Challenger came
back to the surface 7.6 centimeters (3 inches) smaller than when it descended.

Articles & Pro les

National Geographic News: Life is Found Thriving at Oceans Deepest Point
AGU Geojourneys blog: Geology Word of the Week: A is for Accretionary Wedge
NOAA: How Does Pressure Impact Animals in the Ocean?

Interactives
BBC: Ocean trench: Take a dive 11,000m down

Maps
National Geographic: Puerto Rico Trench

Worksheets & Handouts

University of Texas at Dallas: Ocean Trenches

Video
 National Geographic: Deepsea Challenge

Websites
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: HADESHadal Ecosystem Studies

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Key Concepts

valleys geology marine biology exploration lithosphere oceanography

ocean plate tectonics subduction sea oor
ocean trenches

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