Philippines Trench
The Philippinengraben is a deep sea channel up to 10,540 m deep and 1,325 km long (also called deep sea trench ) in the western Pacific Ocean (Pacific).
geography
The Philippines trench extends east of the archipelago of the Philippines on 1325 km length of the Moluccas -Insel Halmahera ( Indonesia ) to the northeastern tip of Luzon . It reaches the greatest depth with the Galatheatief (10,540 m). This makes it one of the deep-sea women on earth that are deeper than 10 km.
geology
According to the theory of plate tectonics , a deep-sea channel, including the Philippinengraben, is to be understood as a subduction zone , where when the heavier oceanic plate meets the lighter continental plate, the first falls below the second. The Philippine Plate to the east of the gully dips under the Eurasian Plate to the west and melts at a depth of 50 to 100 km. On the one hand, a deep sea channel is formed and, on the other hand, volcanic island chains and earthquakes are formed .
history
Until 1945, the Emden Deep was the deepest point of the Philippinengraben, which was determined by the crew of the German cruiser Emden in 1926 with a depth of 10,400 m . In 1945 the crew of the US ship Cape Johnson located a depth of 10,497 m in this deep sea channel using an echo sounder; this deep sea was then named after the ship Cape Johnson Deep . In 1951, the crew of the Danish research vessel Galathea found a 10,540 m deep spot that has since been referred to as the Galathea Low .
Ocean lows
In the Philippines Trench there are, among others, these sea lows :
- Galatheatief (10,540 m), deepest point in the Philippinengraben
- Cape Johnson Deep (10,497 m)
- Emdentief (10,400 m)