682 



BIOLOGY OF THE SEAS OF THE U.S.S.R. 



Table 283. Maximum depths of the deepest Pacific trenches of the Far Eastern Seas, 

 and of the straits which connect them with the Pacific Ocean 



This is of great significance for the development of the population of these 

 Seas. 



The presence of one of the deepest oceanic trenches — the Kuril-Kamchatka 

 trench, which goes down to 10,382 m (according to G. Udintzev's latest cal- 

 culations, 10,542 m) — is a most important factor in the structure of the earth's 

 crust in the northwestern part of the Pacific. 



The Kuril-Kamchatka trench (Fig. 324) is only one sector of the huge 

 Pacific Ocean ring of faults in the earth's crust, high mountainous forma- 

 tions and depths of more than 1 1 km (Mariana trench). Each trench is a 



Fig. 323. Chart of the distribution of the continental shelf (1) continental 



slope (2) and the deep floor (3) in the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk and 



the Bering Sea (Ushakov, 1953). 



