Mariana Trench Facts for Kids

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This web page contains Mariana Trench facts for kids and is an excellent resource for anyone of any age looking to learn about the deepest part of the ocean. Our goal is to provide you with accurate, up to date facts about the Mariana Trench. In addition to facts about the Mariana Trench, we provide additional resources to help you with your research on this deep trench in the Pacific Ocean.

The Mariana Trench facts below will help you learn about the Mariana Trench, how deep the Mariana Trench is, what do we know about the Mariana Trench, who has explored the Mariana Trench and other related facts. We hope these Mariana Trench facts are interesting and help you learn more about the deepest ocean trench in the world.

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19 Mariana Trench Facts for Kids

  1. The Mariana Trench is a deep oceanic trench located in the Pacific Ocean.
  2. The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench in the world.
  3. The deepest part of the Mariana Trench is around 36,037 feet.
  4. The Mariana Trench was named after the Mariana Islands.
  5. The Mariana Islands are a chain of islands about 124 miles east of the Mariana Trench.
  6. The Mariana Trench was discovered in 1875 by the H.M.S. Challenger during the Challenger Expedition.
  7. A better way to understand how deep the Mariana Trench is to imagine Mount Everest placed at the bottom. Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. If you were to place Mount Everest at the bottom of the Mariana Trench it would be 1.2 miles underwater.
  8. The deepest part of the Mariana Trench is known as Challenger Deep.
  9. The Mariana Trench is crescent-shaped, similar to the Moon when in its waning or waxing crescent phase.
  10. The length of the Mariana Trench is 1,580 miles, with a width of 43 miles.
  11. The temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is just above freezing between 34 and 39 °F.
  12. The pressure of the water column at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 15,750 PSI.
  13. The pressure of the water column at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 107,072% stronger than the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level.
  14. It’s unknown how many, if any species live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. However, life has been discovered near the bottom. For example, an unknown species of snailfish was recorded at 26,800 feet in 2017.
  15. There have been four descents into the Mariana Trench that contained humans.
  16. In 1960, American oceanographer Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard were the first people to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Trieste, a deep-diving research bathyscaphe. Walsh, Piccard and Trieste reached a depth of 35,914 feet.
  17. In 2012, Canadian filmmaker James Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Deepsea Challenger, a deep-diving submersible vehicle. Cameron and Deepsea Challenger reached a depth of 35,787 feet.
  18. In 2019, American undersea explorer Victor Vescovo reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench twice in the Limiting Factor, a deep-diving submersible vehicle. Vescovo and Limiting Factor reached a depth of 35,853 during one of the trips and set the record for the deepest visit to the bottom of the ocean.
  19. The Mariana Trench was designated as a United States National Monument in 2009.

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