There is probably countless areas of land that sit below sea level, but these ten listed here are the world’s deepest depressions and some of them are so deep that no craft has been able to fully assess just what their deepest point is. But these are the current deepest spots at the time of writing…
Ozera Sarygamysh, USSR
10 – Ozera Sarygamysh, USSR (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 148 ft)
Wiki info: The Sarygamysh Lake, also Sarykamysh or Sary-Kamysh is a lake situated in Central Asia. It is geographically located approximately midway between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. The northern quarter of the lake belongs to the country of Uzbekistan, while the rest belongs to Turkmenistan.
Prikaspiyskaya Nizmennost, USSR
9 – Prikaspiyskaya Nizmennost, USSR (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 220 ft)
Wiki info: The Caspian Depression (Russian: Прикаспи́йская ни́зменность; IPA: [prʲɪkɐˈspʲijskəjə ˈnʲizmʲɪnnəsʲtʲ], Caspian Lowland) or Pricaspian/Peri-Caspian Depression/Lowland is a low-lying flatland region encompassing the northern part of the Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. It is the larger northern part of the wider Aral-Caspian Depression around the Aral and Caspian seas.
Zapadny Chink Ustyurta, USSR
8 – Zapadny Chink Ustyurt Depression, USSR (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 230 ft)
Wiki info: Strictly speaking, most of the surface of the Earth is below sea level because oceans cover 71 % of the planet.
Salton Sink Depression, USA
7 – Salton Sink Depression, USA (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 235 ft)
Wiki info: Most of these depressions are in the northern hemisphere for a good reason: this is where most of the land is and where most of the plate boundaries occur.
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Death Valley, USA
6 – Death Valley, USA (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 282 ft)
Wiki info: Death Valley’s floor is the second-lowest depression in the Western Hemisphere. This topographic relief is the greatest elevation gradient in the contiguous United States and is the terminus point of the Great Basin’s southwestern drainage.
Danakil Depression, Ethiopia
5 – Danakil Depression, Ethiopia (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 383 ft)
Wiki info: The Danakil Depression is the northern part of the Afar Triangle or Afar Depression in Ethiopia, a geological depression that has resulted from the presence of three tectonic plates in the Horn of Africa.
Poluostrov Mangyshlak Depression, USSR
4 – Poluostrov Mangyshlak Depression, USSR (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 433 ft)
Wiki Info: Most major depressions are associated with tectonic plate boundaries. They form when converging plates deform or when spreading centres open.
Munk Hafed al Qattara Depression, Egypt
3 – Munk Hafed al Qattara Depression, Egypt (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 436 ft)
Wiki info: The depression has the shape of a teardrop, with its point facing east and the broad deep area facing the south-west. The northern side of the depression is characterised by steep escarpments up to 280 meters high, marking the edge of the adjacent El Diffa plateau. To the south of the depression slopes gently up to the Great Sand Sea.
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Turpan Depression, China
2 – Turpan Depression, China (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 506 ft)
Wiki info: The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far western China, about 93 miles south-east of the regional capital Ürümqi.
The Dead Sea, Israel
1 – The Dead Sea, Israel (Maximum Depth Below Sea Level: 1,312 ft)
Wiki info: The Jordan River is the only major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools and quicksand pits along the edges. There are no outlet streams.