The world’s largest ocean basin is also the oldest.
A basin is “a depression, or dip, in the Earth’s surface,” according to National Geographic.
The Pacific Ocean is the largest, deepest and oldest ocean basin in the world, according to the National Ocean Service’s website. There are three major types of basins, which are drainage, structural and ocean, according to the source.
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The Pacific Ocean spans around 63 million square miles and could theoretically hold all the world’s continents within its massive size, according to the National Ocean Service. The Pacific Ocean covers more than 30% of the Earth’s surface.
Of the world’s oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern), the Pacific is also the oldest and the deepest.
Researchers have dated back the oldest rocks of the Pacific Ocean 200 million years, according to the National Ocean Service.
The average depth is around 13,000 feet, according to NOAA Ocean Exploration, though there are areas far deeper.
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The Challenger Deep is the deepest part of the Ocean, found in the Mariana Trench.
This area of the Pacific Ocean is around 35,876 feet deep, according to NOAA Ocean Exploration. Explorations of the Challenger Deep are quite rare. The most frequent visitor to the deepest part of the ocean is retired U.S. Navy officer Victor Vescovo, who holds various Guinness World Record’s for his historic dives. “Titanic” director James Cameron, is another who has visited the ocean’s deepest point. He made his dive in March 2012 and a film came out about his journey called “Deepsea Challenge” in 2014.
Also located around the Pacific Ocean is the Ring of Fire. This is where the most active volcanoes are located. In fact, there are over 450 volcanoes located throughout the Ring of Fire, according to NOAA Ocean Explorer.
The underwater path is also susceptible to frequent earthquakes, according to National Geographic.
The Ring of Fire is about 24,900 miles long, according to the source. Of all the Earth’s volcanoes, 75% are located along this path, and 90% of earthquakes happen here, according to National Geographic.
Despite the path’s name, it actually takes the shape of a horseshoe, rather than a ring, and was formed due to plate tectonics.