> Where can you find the deepest point in the Earth's oceans?And the answer: Mariana Trench. Photo credit: NextGadets.netReaching depths of 11,034 meters (almost 7 milesdeep), the Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, near Guam andthe Mariana Islands. If you were to put Mount Everest at the bottom of thetrench, its peak would still be more than 2100 meters below sea level.Officially discovered in 1875 by the British Royal Navy, the Mariana Trenchreaches depths nearly as remote to humans as the surface of the moon. If youthrew a stone into the Mariana Trench, it would take over an hour for it toreach the bottom. It is one of the most ancient sea beds on the planet, clockingin at over 180 million years old. While the origins of this deepest point are largely unknown, scientistsspeculate that it was formed over millions of years through a process calledsubduction. Subduction occurs when a plate of oceanic crust is subductedunderneath another plate, sinking it into the earth’s mantle and formingunderground chambers. Interestingly, the deep sea and the Mariana Trench are nearly different entitiesaltogether. The pressure in the Trench clocks in at around 16,000 pounds persquare inch – that’s about the same amount of pressure of a 12-gauge shotgunwhen fired. Due to these extreme conditions, there have only been foursuccessful missions to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 2012, film director James Cameron (best known for Titanic and Terminator)decided to pilot a deep-diving submersible into the Mariana Trench. The craftwas called Deep Sea Challenger, and was equipped with over 180 onboard systems.Though Deep Sea Challenger was the most sophisticated underwater vessel everbuilt, Cameron’s trip was not without extreme risks. The pressure in the Trenchis so extreme that if the craft did not hold up, Cameron could be “turned tojelly” in a matter of minutes. Luckily, the director made it out unscathed, andnot without images of the most remote location in our planet’s oceans. To get a feel for the depths of the Mariana Trench, check out the video below.