Tethyan Trench Tethyan Trench The Tethyan Trench was an ancient oceanic trench that existed in the northern part of the Tethys Ocean during the middle Mesozoic to early Cenozoic eras. The Tethyan Trench formed when the Cimmerian Plate was subducting under eastern Laurasia, around 200 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic. The Tethyan Trench extended at its greatest during Late Cretaceous to Paleocene, from what is now Greece to the Western Pacific Ocean. Subduction at the Tethyan Trench probably caused the continents Africa and India to move towards Eurasia, which resulted in the opening of the Indian Ocean. When the Arabian
Philippine Trench a M 8.2. The trench reaches one of the greatest depths in the ocean, third only to the Mariana trench and the Tonga trench. Its deepest point is known as Galathea Depth and reaches 10,540 meters (34,580 ft) or (5,760 fathoms). Sedimentation of the Philippine trench contains slightly metamorphosed, calc-alkalic, basic, ultrabasic rock and sand grains. The southern area of the trench contains homogenous, blue, clay silt and was poor in lime. Sand grains that were also found contained fresh basaltic andesite. The sediments found in the trenches are hypothesized to have been deposited by turbidity currents. A turbidity current