Arctic Ocean gas reserves, and the Chukchi shelf forms the border between Russian and the United States as stated in the USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement. The whole area is subject to international territorial claims. An underwater ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge, divides the deep sea North Polar Basin into two oceanic basins: the Eurasian Basin, which is between deep, and the Amerasian Basin (sometimes called the North American, or Hyperborean Basin), which is about deep. The bathymetry of the ocean bottom is marked by fault block ridges, abyssal plains, ocean deeps, and basins. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is . The
Oriental Basin the lowest part of the basin (2300 meters elevation), and remain dry for most of the year. The basin includes six maar lakes, locally called "axalpazcos", lying in shallow volcanic craters and sustained by underground water. A northern group of lakes – Alchichica, Quechulac, Atexcac, and La Preciosa – lie southeast of Lake Tepeyahualco, and the southern lakes, Aljojuca and San Miguel Tecuitlapa, lie southeast of Lake Totolcinco. The basin also has five dry maars, called "xalapazcos". Chief towns in the basin include El Carmen Tequexquitla, Tlaxcala; Perote, Veracruz; and Oriental, Puebla. Groundwater levels in the basin have been dropping