The deepest ocean on earth: a scientific case for establishing the Mariana trench marine national monument

Abstract

The boundaries of the proposed monument are generous enough to protect an unprecedented cross section of the most volcanically active region on Earth—called the Ring of Fire. Its spectacular geology and rare ecology arise from the subduction of the world’s largest tectonic plate, the Pacific Plate, under the smaller, slowermoving Philippine Plate. Three uninhabited islands—Asuncion, Maug and Farallon de Pajaros (or Uracus, as it is more commonly called)— surrounded by the proposed monument are the exposed tops of a chain of volcanic mountains known as the Mariana Volcanic Arc. This wild, dangerous, tantalizing region is so remote that many of its wonders are yet to be quantified. This exceptional area has been the focus of seven separate scientific research expeditions since 2003.