What Are the Highest and Lowest Places on Earth?
If you named Mt. Everest and the Grand Canyon, you are incorrect! The tallest mountains and deepest canyons are actually found in the ocean. If placed side by side, the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean would tower over Mt. Everest. The Pacific is also home to the deepest trench on the Earth, the Mariana Trench. It measures eleven kilometers below the sea’s surface. This is seven times the depth of the Grand Canyon. How do we know so much about the ocean floor? What other features are on the ocean floor? What processes have shaped the ocean floor? Read on to find out! EXPLORING THE OCEAN People have explored the oceans for thousands of years. Until recently, however, the ocean floor had not been studied and much was unknown about the deep oceans. Why is this? Studying the ocean floor is difficult; conditions are very harsh in the deep ocean. First, it is dark since sunlight does not penetrate far below the surface. Second, the water is cold, only a few degrees above freezing. Final
The top of Mt. Everest in the Eastern Himalaya Mountains on the border between Tibet and Nepal takes honors as the highest place on earth. Everest rises 29,028 feet, or 5.5 miles, above sea level. Attempts have been made to climb Mt. Everest since 1921, but it wasn’t until 1953, after eleven men had died trying, that Everest was
