INTRODUCTION

Trenches define one of the most important natural boundaries on the Earth’s solid surface, that
between two lithospheric plates.
There are three types of lithospheric plate boundaries: divergent (where lithosphere and oceanic crust is
created at mid-ocean ridges), convergent (where one lithospheric plate sinks beneath another and
returns to the mantle), and transform (where two lithospheric plates slide past each other).
Trenches are the spectacular and distinctive morphological features of convergent plate boundaries.
Plates move together along convergent plate boundaries at convergence rates that vary from a few
millimetres to ten or more centimetres per year.
Ocean trenches are long, narrow depressions on the seafloor. These chasms are the deepest parts of the
ocean—and some of the deepest natural spots on Earth. Ocean trenches are found in every
ocean basin on the planet, although the deepest ocean trenches ring the Pacific as part of the so-called
“Ring of Fire” that also includes active volcanoes and earthquake zones.

Ocean trenches are a result of tectonic activity, which describes the movement of the
Earth’s lithosphere. In particular, ocean trenches are a feature of convergent plate boundaries, where
two or more tectonic plates meet. At many convergent plate boundaries, dense lithosphere melts or
slides beneath less-dense lithosphere in a process called subduction, creating a trench.

Ocean trenches occupy the deepest layer of the ocean, the hadalpelagic zone. The intense pressure, lack
of sunlight, and frigid temperatures of the hadalpelagic zone make ocean trenches some of the
most unique habitats on Earth.

BODY

The Earth consists of many layers or spheres concentric to a molten core. The lithosphere is the
uppermost layer or crust of the Earth. It is rigid and floats above the asthenosphere. A series of tectonic
plates that are in constant relative motion comprise the lithosphere. This motion of plates result in
different topological features on the Earth. One of these features found under the oceans is the ocean
trench.

Ocean trenches may be defined as narrow V-shaped depressions stretched over long distances at the
active areas of the ocean basins. They are also sometimes called submarine valleys. They are very similar
to the deep ravines found on the surface of the Earth.

The 50,000 km (31,000 mi) of convergent plate margins found on the Earth's oceanic crust constitute the
'hadal zone', named after the Greek underworld god 'Hades'. Most of them are found in the Pacific
Ocean, but some of them are located in and around the Indian Ocean, and margins of the Atlantic Ocean
and Mediterranean Sea.

The environmental conditions at such a depth as that of ocean trenches is quite adverse. The pressure at
the trenches goes as high as 1,000 times the pressure at the surface. There is almost no light reaching up
to that depth, and it is pitch black down in the chasms of the trenches. The temperature in the trenches
is known to be slightly greater than the freezing temperature of water
CONCLUSION

->The heavier tectonic plate always tucks under the lighter tectonic plate, and in terms of plate weights,
the continental plates are lighter than oceanic plates.

->The deepest valley on Earth is an ocean trench called the Challenger Deep, which is part of the
Mariana Trench in the Pacific near Guam.

>Ocean trenches are some of the most hostile habitats on Earth.

->Ocean trenches remain one of the most elusive and little-known marine habitats.

->Most research on ocean trenches has relied on seafloor samples and photographic expeditions.

->Organisms that live in ocean trenches have evolved with unusual adaptations to thrive in these cold,
dark canyons. Their behavior is a test of the so-called “visual interaction hypothesis,” which states that
the greater an organism’s visibility, the more energy it must expend to catch prey or repel predators. In
general, life in dark ocean trenches is isolated and slow-moving.

->Not all ocean trenches are in the Pacific, of course. The Puerto Rico Trench is a tectonically complex
depression in part formed by the Lesser Antilles subduction zone.

REFERENCES:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/oceanic_trench.htm SCIENCE DAILY

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ocean-trench/ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC