thumb|upright=1.3|The Philippine Trench, in the middle of the picture.
The Philippine Trench (also called the Philippine Deep, Mindanao Trench, and the Mindanao Deep) is a submarine trench to the east of the Philippines. The trench is located in the Philippine sea of the western North Pacific Ocean and continues NNW-SSE. It has a length of approximately and a width of about from the center of the Philippine island of Luzon trending southeast to the northern Maluku island of Halmahera in Indonesia. At its deepest point, the trench reaches 10,540 meters (34,580 ft or 5,760 fathoms). 1921, 1943, 1952, 1975, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995, 2001, and 2012 with the last being the 2012 Samar earthquake. See also map below.
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thumb|upright=1.2|The Philippine Trench in the east which continues downward, and the [[Philippine Mobile Belt.]]
Immediately to the north of the Philippine Trench is the East Luzon Trench. They are separated, with their continuity interrupted and displaced, by Benham Rise on the Philippine Sea Plate.
Geology
The Philippine trench is hypothesized to be younger than 8–9 million years old. The central part of the Philippine fault formed during the Plio-Pleistocene times is considered to be an active depression of the Earth's crust. The trench formed from a collision between the Palawan and Zamboanga plates. This caused a change in geological processes creating a subduction zone, that is dropping the ocean floor deeper. though the USGS has recorded many earthquakes with magnitude ≥ 7.2 in the region as shown by the map to the side. Most recently, in 2012 the Philippine Trench experienced an earthquake of M<sub>w</sub> 7.6 (the 2012 Samar earthquake). It hit the trench with a hypocenter depth of 34.9 km.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Year
!Location
! Moment magnitude
!Casualties
|-
|1911
|offshore Mindanao, east-northeast of Barcelona
|7.7
| -
|-
|1921
|offshore Mindanao, east of Baculin
|7.4
| -
|-
|1943
|offshore Mindanao, east of Baculin
|7.8
| -
|-
|1952
|offshore Mindanao, east-northeast of Cortez
|7.3
| -
|-
|1975
|offshore Samar, east-northeast of Alugan
|7.2
|1
|-
|1982
|offshore Catanduanes, southwest of Gigmoto
|7.1
| -
|-
|1988
|offshore Catanduanes, east-southeast of Bato
|7.3
| -
|-
|1989
|offshore Mindanao, east-northeast of Barcelona
|7.6
|1
|-
|1995
|offshore Samar, east of Dapdap
|7.2
| -
|-
|2001
|offshore Mindanao, south-east of Lukatan
|7.5
| -
|-
|2012
|offshore Samar, east of Guiuan
|7.6
| -
|-
|2023
|offshore Mindanao, north-east of Hinatuan
|7.6
| -
|-
|2025
|offshore Mindanao, north-east of Manay
|7.5
| 7
|}
Other trenches
Other known trenches in the Philippines are:
- Manila Trench
- East Luzon Trench
- Negros Trench
- Sulu Trench
- Cotabato Trench