ALEUTIAN BASIN

The Bering Sea and the Bering Strait. submarine depression forming the floor of the southwestern section of the Bering Sea in the Pacific Ocean. On the west it rises to meet Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula; on the northeast, the continental shelf of North America off southwestern Alaska; and on the south, the Aleutian Islands. The basin extends about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) north-south and 600 miles (1,000 km) east-west and is over 9,800 feet (3,000 m) deep. Its floor has a thick basaltic crust. The volcanic Aleutian Arc separates the basin from the floor of the North Pacific Ocean.