Sunda Trench is considered to be part of the Pacific Ring of Fire as well as one of a ring of oceanic trenches around the northern edges of the Australian Plate. In 2005, scientists found evidence that the 2004 earthquake activity in the area of the Java Trench could lead to further catastrophic shifting within a relatively short period of time, perhaps less than a decade. This threat has resulted in international agreements to establish a tsunami warning system in place along the Indian Ocean coast. For about half its length, off of Sumatra, it is divided into two parallel troughs by
Mariana Trench Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench or Marianas Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean approximately east of the Mariana Islands, and has the deepest natural point in the world. It is a crescent-shaped trough in the Earth's crust averaging about long and wide. The maximum known depth is (± ) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep. However, some unrepeated measurements place the deepest portion at . For comparison: if Mount Everest were dropped into the trench at this point, its peak would still be over under water. At