RAS question
Which is the deepest point in the world's oceans?
Correct answer: (B) Mariana Trench (Challenger Deep).
The deepest point in the world's oceans is Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.
Explanation
NOAA's National Ocean Service identifies Challenger Deep as the deepest part of the ocean and places it beneath the western Pacific Ocean at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. The relevant feature is not just the Mariana Trench in general, but its deepest known point, Challenger Deep, located near the Mariana Islands. Its depth is approximately 10,994 metres (36,070 ft), while NOAA describes Challenger Deep as approximately 10,935 metres (35,876 ft) deep. The small numerical difference does not affect the exam fact being tested: among the listed trenches, the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep is the world's deepest oceanic point.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Tonga Trench is a very deep trench, but the question asks for the deepest point in all the world's oceans: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.
- (C) The Java Trench is associated with the deepest point in the Indian Ocean, so it cannot be the deepest point across all oceans.
- (D) The Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest trench in the Atlantic, but the global deepest point is Challenger Deep in the Pacific's Mariana Trench.
Concept
This tests the World Geography concept of major submarine relief features, especially oceanic trenches and extreme physical-geography records. It recurs in RAS because such one-line global geography facts are often used to check whether candidates can distinguish regional records from world records.