The Bentley Subglacial Trench is a vast depression beneath the Antarctic ice sheet in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, reaching 2,555 meters below sea level, making it one of the lowest points on Earth's surface even though it lies under ice rather than open ocean. Geophysical survey expeditions between 1957 and 1959 first mapped the trench, which was named in 1961 for the geophysicist Charles R. Bentley, who led that work. It sits within the Byrd Subglacial Basin, a low lying region associated with the West Antarctic Rift System, and in 2016 researchers detected thermal anomalies beneath both the trench and the nearby Mount Sidley volcano, pointing to ongoing geothermal activity in the area.
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Bentley Subglacial Trench (Wikipedia)
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The Bentley Subglacial Trench is a vast topographic trench in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, 80°S, 115°W. At 2,555 meters (8,382 ft) below sea level, it (along with the deepest points within the adjacent Byrd Subglacial Basin) is among the lowest points on the surface of the Earth not covered by ocean, although it...
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