Kuril–Kamchatka Trench

It lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka and parallels the Kuril Island chain to meet the Japan Trench east of Hokkaido.

[1] The trench formed as a result of the subduction zone, which formed in the late Cretaceous, that created the Kuril island arc as well as the Kamchatka volcanic arc.

The Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the Okhotsk microplate along the trench, resulting in intense volcanism.

The maximum depth of the trench is reported in peer-reviewed academic papers as 9,600 meters.

This partitioning results in westward translation of the Kurile forearc relative to the North American plate.

Topographic image of the northwest Pacific including the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench.
Map of earthquake locations, showing depth contours on top of downgoing slab