Editing Oceanic trench (section)

== History of the term "trench" ==
Trenches were not clearly defined until the late 1940s and 1950s. The [[bathymetry]] of the ocean was poorly known prior to the [[Challenger expedition]] of 1872–1876,{{sfn|Eiseley|1946}} which took 492 soundings of the deep ocean.{{sfn|Weyl|1969|p=49}} At station #225, the expedition discovered [[Challenger Deep]],{{sfn|Thomson|Murray|1895}} now known to be the southern end of the [[Mariana Trench]]. The laying of [[transatlantic telegraph cable]]s on the seafloor between the continents during the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided further motivation for improved bathymetry.{{sfn|McConnell|1990}} The term ''trench'', in its modern sense of a prominent elongated depression of the sea bottom, was first used by Johnstone in his 1923 textbook ''An Introduction to Oceanography''.{{sfn|Johnstone |1923}}{{sfn|Stern|2005}}

During the 1920s and 1930s, [[Felix Andries Vening Meinesz]] measured gravity over trenches using a newly developed [[gravimeter]] that could measure [[gravity]] from aboard a submarine.{{sfn|Geersen|Voelker|Behrmann|2018}} He proposed the ''tectogene hypothesis'' to explain the belts of negative gravity anomalies that were found near island arcs. According to this hypothesis, the belts were zones of [[downwelling]] of light crustal rock arising from subcrustal convection currents. The tectogene hypothesis was further developed by Griggs in 1939, using an analogue model based on a pair of rotating drums. [[Harry Hammond Hess]] substantially revised the theory based on his geological analysis.{{sfn|Allwrardt|1993}}

World War II in the Pacific led to great improvements of bathymetry, particularly in the western Pacific. In light of these new measurements, the linear nature of the deeps became clear. There was a rapid growth of deep sea research efforts, especially the widespread use of [[Echo sounding|echosounders]] in the 1950s and 1960s. These efforts confirmed the morphological utility of the term "trench." Important trenches were identified, sampled, and mapped via sonar.

The early phase of trench exploration reached its peak with the 1960 descent of the [[Bathyscaphe]] [[Bathyscaphe Trieste|''Trieste'']] to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. Following [[Robert S. Dietz]]' and [[Harry Hammond Hess|Harry Hess]]' promulgation of the seafloor spreading hypothesis in the early 1960s and the plate tectonic revolution in the late 1960s, the oceanic trench became an important concept in [[plate tectonics|plate tectonic]] theory.{{sfn|Geersen|Voelker|Behrmann|2018}}