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Puerto Rico Trench

Location map Puerto Rico Trench—United States Geological Survey
Perspective view of the sea floor of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The Lesser Antilles are on the lower left side of the view and Florida is on the upper right. The purple sea floor at the center of the view is the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the boundary between the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, parallel to and north of Puerto Rico, where the oceanic trench reaches the deepest points in the Atlantic Ocean. The trench is associated with a complex transition from the Lesser Antilles frontal subduction zone between the South American plate and Caribbean plate to the oblique subduction zone and the strike-slip transform fault zone between the North American plate and Caribbean plate, which extends from the Puerto Rico Trench at the Puerto Rico–Virgin Islands microplate through the Cayman Trough at the Gonâve microplate to the Middle America Trench at the Cocos plate.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Constituting the deepest points in the Atlantic Ocean, the trench is 810 kilometres (503 mi) long[7] and has a maximum documented depth between 8,376 metres (27,480 ft)[8] and 8,740 metres (28,675 ft).[7][9] The deepest point is commonly referred to as the Milwaukee Deep, with the Brownson Deep naming the seabed surrounding it.[10] However, more recently, the latter term has also been used interchangeably with the former to refer to this point.[11][12][13] The exact point was identified by the DSSV Pressure Drop using a state-of-the-art Kongsberg EM124 multibeam sonar in 2018, and then directly visited and its depth verified by the crewed submersible Deep-Submergence Vehicle DSV Limiting Factor (a Triton 36000/2 model submersible) piloted by Victor Vescovo.[14][15][16]

Scientific studies have concluded that an earthquake occurring along this fault zone could generate a significant tsunami.[17] The island of Puerto Rico, which lies immediately to the south of the fault zone and the trench, suffered a destructive tsunami soon after the 1918 San Fermín earthquake.

  1. ^ "Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: An update". ResearchGate. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Caribbean Plate". Caribbean Tectonics. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  3. ^ Montheil, Leny; Philippon, Mélody; Münch, Philippe; Camps, Pierre; Vaes, Bram; Cornée, Jean-Jacques; Poidras, Thierry; van Hinsbergen, Douwe J. J. (2023). "Paleomagnetic Rotations in the Northeastern Caribbean Region Reveal Major Intraplate Deformation Since the Eocene". Tectonics. 42 (8). Bibcode:2023Tecto..4207706M. doi:10.1029/2022TC007706. ISSN 0278-7407.
  4. ^ Lidiak, Edward G.; Anderson, Thomas H. (2015). "Evolution of the Caribbean plate and origin of the Gulf of Mexico in light of plate motions accommodated by strike-slip faulting". GeoScienceWorld. Geological Society of America Special Papers. 513. Geological Society of America: 1–88. doi:10.1130/2015.2513(01). ISBN 978-0-8137-2513-0. S2CID 131933179.
  5. ^ Calais, Éric; Symithe, Steeve; Mercier de Lépinay, Bernard; Prépetit, Claude (2016-01-01). "Plate boundary segmentation in the northeastern Caribbean from geodetic measurements and Neogene geological observations". Comptes Rendus Geoscience. From past to current tectonics. 348 (1): 42–51. Bibcode:2016CRGeo.348...42C. doi:10.1016/j.crte.2015.10.007. ISSN 1631-0713.
  6. ^ Garmon, W. T.; Allen, C.; Groom, Kaelin M. (2017). "2 Geologic and Tectonic Backgroundof the Lesser Antilles". SpringerLink. S2CID 22822744.
  7. ^ a b "The five deeps: The location and depth of the deepest place in each of the world's oceans". ResearchGate. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  8. ^ "Atlantic Ocean". Five Deeps Expedition. Archived from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  9. ^ NOAA Ocean Exploration. "Mission Plan". Oceano Profundom 2015: Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  10. ^ Stewart, Heather Ann (October 2019). "The five deeps: The location and depth of the deepest place in each of the world's oceans". Earth-Science Reviews. 197:102896. Bibcode:2019ESRv..19702896S. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102896. Archived from the original on 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2020-01-24 – via ResearchGate.
  11. ^ "Exploring the Deepest Points on Planet Earth". hydro-international.com. Archived from the original on 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  12. ^ "The last of the great explorers, The last of the great explorers". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  13. ^ Raza, Azra (2019-11-10). "The last of the great explorers". 3 Quarks Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  14. ^ "Technology". Archived from the original on 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  15. ^ Dean, Josh (2018-12-21). "An inside look at the first solo trip to the deepest point of the Atlantic". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  16. ^ "Deep Dive 1 Atlantic Ocean PUERTO RICO TRENCH". fivedeeps.com. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
  17. ^ ten Brink, Uri. "Puerto Rico Trench 2003: Cruise Summary Results". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2011-09-11.

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