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Where is the deepest point in Earth’s oceans?

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Map graphic showing the boundaries of the five oceans-Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern-using color-coded regions. Four different map projections are included: North Pole view, South Pole view, International Date Line view, and Greenwich Meridian view, each displaying the oceans' extents around the continents. — ocean Earth's oceans and their marginal seas cover nearly 71 percent of the planet's surface.

The deepest point in Earth’s oceans is the Challenger Deep, a series of seafloor basins located within the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.12

While exact measurements can vary slightly due to the challenges of deep-sea surveying, the Challenger Deep is widely recognized as the lowest point on the ocean floor, plunging to depths of approximately 10,900 to 11,000 meters (roughly 35,800 to 36,200 feet) below sea level. This extreme environment is characterized by immense hydrostatic pressure, exceeding 1,089 standard atmospheres.234

The site is named after the HMS Challenger, which conducted the first systematic soundings of the region in 1875. Since the first human descent by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in 1960, the area has been the subject of ongoing scientific exploration and technological advancement in undersea exploration.2