MARIANAS TRENCH
SONAR
Device that sends out an acoustic pulse in water and measures distances in terms of time for the echo of pulse to return
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
Process that creates new sea floor as plates move away from each other at the mid-ocean ridges
WATER PRESSURE
Weight of water pressing on an object, more than pressure than air, depends on depth of the fluid
MUD VOLCANOES
What could possibly be the reason why there are no earthquakes in the Marianas Trench?
CHALLENGER DEEP
Deepest part of the Marianas Trench: 35,800 feet
GUAM
Largest and southernmost island in the Marianas Islands administered as a territory of the United States
JAMES CAMERON
1st human to reach the 6.8-mile-deep (11 kilometer deep) Marianas Trench solo
DON WALSH
American Navy personnel who went to the deepest part of ocean in the Trieste along with Jacque Picard.
HMS CHALLENGER
British navy ship that collected samples and measurements across Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans and laid foundation for modern science of oceanography
OCEANIC RIDGE
Continuous elevated zone on the floor of all the major ocean basins and varying in width from 1000-4000km; the rifts at the crests represent divergent plate boundaries
PLATE TECTONICS
Theory stating that the earth's surface is broken into plates that move.
MARIANAS TRENCH
Deepest portion of world's oceans located in the Western Pacific. This is location where floor of Pacific Ocean descends back into the Earth. The deepest portion of this area is called the Challenger Deep and plunges to a depth of 7 miles.
SUBDUCTION
Geological process in which one edge of a crustal plate is forced sideways and downward into the mantle below another plate (San Andreas Fault).
HYDROTHERMAL VENT
Geysers on the seafloor, created where tectonic plates move apart, spewing hot and mineral-rich water (plumes) into cold ocean depths.
OCEANOGRAPHER
Scientist who studies Earth's oceans (NOAA research vessel)