YAP TRENCH

also called West Caroline Trench, deep submarine trench in the western Pacific Ocean located east of the Yap Ridge and the Yap island group. The Yap Trench is about 400 miles (650 km) long from north to south and reaches a maximum depth of 27,976 feet (8,527 m) some 300 miles (480 km) northeast of the Palau Islands. It is a part of the chain of trenches that begins at the southwestern edge of the Bering Sea and runs southward toward the southern tip of the Philippine Trench (Mindanao Trench). Besides the Yap Trench, the chain includes the Kuril, Japan, Izu, and Mariana trenches. The greatest known depth of the Pacific Ocean, the Trieste Depth (36,201 feet [11,034 m]), occurs near the intersection of the Mariana and Yap trenches.