The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth, located in the western Pacific Ocean near the Mariana Islands. Its maximum known depth is approximately 10,984 meters (36,037 feet or about 6.8 miles) at a point called the Challenger Deep, which is a small slot-shaped valley at the trench's southern end

. To put this in perspective, the Challenger Deep is more than 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) deeper than the peak of Mount Everest is tall

. The trench itself is about 2,550 kilometers (1,580 miles) long and 69 kilometers (43 miles) wide on average

. Measuring the exact depth is challenging due to the extreme conditions and remoteness, but various methods such as sonar mapping, echo sounders, and pressure sensors have been used to estimate it. Recent measurements cluster around 10,900 to 11,000 meters deep, with some variation due to different techniques and expeditions

. In summary, the Mariana Trench's deepest point, Challenger Deep, is roughly 11 kilometers (about 7 miles) below the ocean surface, making it the deepest known point in Earth's oceans