About how long is the Aleutian Trench?

The Aleutian Trench is about 3,400 km long. It follows the southern coastline of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, forming one of the major tectonic boundaries in the North Pacific.

The trench marks the zone where the Pacific Plate is being pushed beneath the North American Plate. That subduction drives earthquakes and helps create the Aleutian volcanic island arc, a chain that extends westward from the Alaskan Peninsula. The plates meet at an angle of nearly 45 degrees in this region.

Its length is sometimes confused with the much longer Peru–Chile Trench, which is approximately 5,900 km long. The Aleutian Trench extends from a western triple junction near the Ulakhan Fault and Kuril–Kamchatka Trench to the Queen Charlotte Fault system in the east. In its eastern portion, it is described as a marginal trench because it runs along the edge of a continent.