The Mariana Trench is about 10,984 meters (36,037 feet) deep at its deepest measured point, a spot called Challenger Deep near its southern end.

Basic facts

  • The Mariana Trench lies in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Mariana Islands.
  • Its maximum recorded depth is around 10,984 meters (±25 m), making it the deepest known part of Earth’s oceans.

How that depth is described

  • In everyday terms, this is “almost 7 miles” deep below sea level.
  • If Mount Everest were placed into Challenger Deep, its summit would still be over 1–2 kilometers (about 7,000 feet) underwater.

Why depth numbers vary

  • Different expeditions and instruments have measured slightly different maximum depths, typically between about 10,900 and 11,034 meters.
  • These small differences come from improvements in sonar, pressure sensors, and how seawater properties (like temperature and salinity) are accounted for in calculations.

Information gathered from public data available on the internet and portrayed here.