How do ocean trenches form?

One plate sinks beneath another

If Mount Everest were placed in the Challenger Deep, what would happen?

Its peak would still be about 2 km underwater

It would just reach the surface

Ocean Trenches Quiz: Can You Get 8 Out of 10?

This ocean trenches quiz covers how trenches form at subduction zones, the Mariana Trench and Challenger Deep, the Trieste dive, the hadal zone, trench creatures and other deep trenches like Tonga and Puerto Rico. Can you get 8 out of 10?

Start Ocean Trenches Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Formation
How do ocean trenches form?
Deepest
What is the deepest point in the ocean?
Everest
If Mount Everest were placed in the Challenger Deep, what would happen?
Trieste
Who first reached the Challenger Deep in 1960?
Zone
What is the zone below about 6,000 meters called?
Second
Which trench is the second deepest?
Atlantic
What is the deepest trench in the Atlantic?
Life
Which tiny crustaceans thrive in deep trenches?
Plastic
What was found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
Protected
What protects the Mariana Trench area?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: How do ocean trenches form?
Answer: One plate sinks beneath another
This is called subduction.
Q2: What is the deepest point in the ocean?
Answer: Challenger Deep
It is nearly 11,000 meters deep.
Q3: If Mount Everest were placed in the Challenger Deep, what would happen?
Answer: Its peak would still be about 2 km underwater
The trench is deeper than Everest is tall.
Q4: Who first reached the Challenger Deep in 1960?
Answer: Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh
They used the bathyscaphe Trieste.
Q5: What is the zone below about 6,000 meters called?
Answer: Hadal zone
It is named after Hades.
Q6: Which trench is the second deepest?
Answer: Tonga Trench
It is over 10,800 meters deep.
Q7: What is the deepest trench in the Atlantic?
Answer: Puerto Rico Trench
It is about 8,400 meters deep.
Q8: Which tiny crustaceans thrive in deep trenches?
Answer: Amphipods
Some grow unusually large.
Q9: What was found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
Answer: A plastic bag
Pollution reaches even the deepest places.
Q10: What protects the Mariana Trench area?
Answer: A US national monument
It was established in 2009.

Ocean Trenches Quiz – The Deepest Places on Earth

Ocean trenches are long, narrow canyons on the seafloor where one tectonic plate sinks beneath another. They mark subduction zones, which also produce powerful earthquakes and volcanic island arcs.

The Mariana Trench in the western Pacific contains the Challenger Deep, nearly 11,000 meters deep, deep enough to swallow Mount Everest with room to spare. Other deep trenches include the Tonga, Kuril-Kamchatka and Puerto Rico trenches.

The hadal zone below 6,000 meters is home to amphipods, snailfish and other creatures adapted to darkness and crushing pressure. Few humans have visited, but submersibles and robots are revealing these mysterious worlds.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz is for students exploring ocean trenches.

How trenches form
What the deepest point is
Who reached it first
What the hadal zone is
What lives there

Did You Know?

Trenches are mostly in the Pacific.
Victor Vescovo dove to all five ocean deepest points.
Pressure at the bottom exceeds 1,000 atmospheres.
Trench earthquakes can trigger tsunamis.
Xenophyophores are giant single cells found deep down.