Sumatra Trench Sumatra Trench The Sumatra Trench belongs to the Sunda Trench or Java Trench. The Sunda subduction zone (called also: the Sumatra-Andaman subduction zone) is located in the east part of Indian Ocean, and is about 300 km from the southwest coast of Sumatra and Java islands. It extends over 5000 km long, starting from Burma in the northwest and ending at Sumba Island in the southeast. The Java trench was generated by the oblique subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate into the Sunda plate at a rate of 61mm/y (in the south) and 51mm/y (in the north). The oceanic crust being
Mariana Trench during the "Challenger" expedition in 1875, using a weighted rope, which recorded a depth of . In 1877, a map was published called "Tiefenkarte des Grossen Ozeans" ("Deep map of the Great Ocean") by Petermann, which showed a "Challenger Tief" ("Challenger deep") at the location of that sounding. In 1899, USS Nero, a converted collier, recorded a depth of . In 1951, "Challenger II" surveyed the trench using echo sounding, a much more precise and vastly easier way to measure depth than the sounding equipment and drag lines used in the original expedition. During this survey, the deepest part of