Milwaukee Deep: Why Is the Atlantic Ocean's Deepest Point So Dark?
🕐 7 min read | 🌍 Natural Wonders 🔒 Key Takeaways The Milwaukee Deep reaches 27,493 feet (8,376 meters), making it the Atlantic Ocean's lowest point and Earth's second-deepest ocean location after the Mariana Trench. Pressure at the Milwaukee Deep exceeds 1,200 atmospheres—equivalent to 1,200 times the weight of Earth's atmosphere crushing down on every square inch. The trench is located within the Puerto Rico Trench system in the North Atlantic, formed where the Atlantic tectonic plate collides with the Caribbean plate. Bioluminescent creatures and giant squid inhabit depths near the Milwaukee Deep, where sunlight has never penetrated in Earth's 4.5-billion-year history. Somewhere beneath the churning waves of the Atlantic Ocean lies a point so devastatingly deep, so utterly dark, that it rivals the mysteries of outer space. The Milwaukee Deep plunges 27,493 feet into Earth's crust—a yawning abyss where the pressure would pulverize titanium and wher...