Which is the deepest point on earth?

Concept

The "deepest point on Earth" means the lowest point on the solid surface of the planet measured downward from sea level. Because the ocean floor lies far below the level of any point reachable on dry land, the planet's deepest point is found in the deepest ocean trench, not in any mine or cave.

Application

The deepest known oceanic trench is the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. Its lowest spot, Challenger Deep, reaches roughly 10,900 metres (about 11 km) below sea level, deeper than the height of Mount Everest above sea level. NOAA and peer-reviewed ocean-depth surveys identify Challenger Deep as the single deepest point of the world ocean, and therefore of the Earth's surface.

Contrast

• Tagebau Hambach, Germany is one of the deepest open-pit mines on land - a human-made excavation, not the planet's deepest natural point.

• Milwaukee Deep is only the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean (about 8.4 km), shallower than the Pacific's greatest depth.

• Voronya Cave, Georgia is one of the deepest caves on land (about 2 km deep) - the deepest kind of natural land cavity, but far shallower than the ocean trenches.