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The Mariana Trench National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is comprised of submerged lands (sea floor). The Refuge is approximately 940 nautical miles (NM) long, and averages 38 NM wide and encompasses the outer trench swell, inner slopes, and steep walls of the Mariana Trench; and the adjacent abyssal plain. The Refuge lies along the convergent plate boundary where the denser Pacific Plate plunges beneath the lighter Philippine Sea Plate. The outer trench swell marks the area on the abyssal plain at about 20,000 feet below sea level where the subducting plate begins its descent into the Earth's mantle. The deepest feature of the Refuge is 90 miles south of Guam at Sirena Deep - the third deepest point on Earth at about 35,000 feet below sea level (Figure 1).
The most likely location for scattering ashes would be over Sirena Deep. The ocean floor at such depth consists of a biogenous ooze composed of microscopic shells from both animal and plant plankton. Other locations in the Refuge will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. All locations will meet federal ash scattering requirements to be more than three miles from any shoreline.