Puerto Rico Trench

[pwer-tuh ree-koh trench, pwer-toh, pawr-tuh]

noun

1. an elongate, flat oceanic trench in the Atlantic Ocean just north of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and the site of the Milwaukee Deep, the Atlantic’s deepest known place: associated with a fault zone that presents significant risk of earthquakes and tsunamis.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Puerto Rico Trench¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

To the north of the island, a portion of the North American plate subducts obliquely beneath the Caribbean plate along the 1,090 kilometer-long Puerto Rico Trench.

Read more on Scientific American

In 1964, a French submersible descended 8385 meters to what was then thought to be the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench.

Read more on Science Magazine

This week, Vescovo was set to complete the first dive in the yearlong Five Deeps Expedition, piloting a titanium-alloy, 12.5-ton submersible down 8408 meters to the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Puerto Rico Trench.

Read more on Science Magazine

Another series of faults lie north of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and includes the 8,400m-deep Puerto Rico Trench.

Read more on BBC

The huge collier, Barrash figures, eludes explorers because it sank into the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic.

Read more on Washington Post