How deep is the Mariana Trench?

Click the image on the right to see a very interesting representation of the depths of the Mariana Trench (if your browser shrinks the image to fit on the screen, be sure to click on it to expand it to full size).

The Mariana Trench is the deepest known part of the world's oceans, and the lowest elevation of the surface of the Earth's crust.

It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands.

The trench is about 1,580 miles long and reaches a maximum depth of about 36,200 ft (6.9 miles) at the Challenger Deep, a small slot-shaped valley in its floor, at its southern end.

If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth at 29,030 ft, were set in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, there would still be 6,810 ft (over 1 mile) of water left above it.