Draining the World’s Oceans to Visualize Earth’s Surface
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Draining the World’s Oceans to Visualize Earth’s Surface

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Draining the World’s Oceans to Visualize Earth’s Surface

Although many maps of our planet go into great topographical detail on land, almost two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by the world’s oceans.

Hidden from sight lie aquatic mountain ranges, continental shelves, and trenches that dive deep into the Earth’s crust. We might be familiar with a few of the well-known formations on the ocean floor, but there’s a whole detailed “world” that’s as rich as the surface, just waiting to be explored.

This animation from planetary researcher James O’Donoghue of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA simulates the draining the world’s oceans to quickly reveal the full extent of the Earth’s surface.

How Deep Does the Ocean Go?

Above sea level, Earth’s topography reaches all the way up to 8,849 meters (29,032 ft) to the top of Mt. Everest. But going below sea level, it actually goes deeper than the height of Everest.

Open ocean is called the pelagic zone, which can be broken down into five regions by depth:

  • 0m–200m: Epipelagic (sunlight zone). Illuminated shallower waters that contain most of the ocean’s plants and animals.
  • 200m–1,000m: Mesopelagic (twilight zone). Stretches from where 1% of surface light reaches to where surface light ends. Contains mainly bacteria, as well as some large organisms like the swordfish and the squid.
  • 1,000m–4,000m: Bathypelagic (midnight zone). Pitch black outside of a few bioluminescent organisms, with no living plants. Smaller anglerfish, squid, and sharks live here, as well as a few large organisms like giant squid.
  • 4,000m–6,000m: Abyssopelagic (abyssal zone). Long thought to be the bottomless end of the sea, the abyssal zone reaches to just above the ocean floor and contains little life due to extremely cold temperatures, high pressures, and complete darkness.
  • 6,000m–11,000m: Hadopelagic (hadal zone). Named after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, the hadal zone is the deepest part of the ocean. It can be found primarily in trenches below the ocean floor.
  • To put ocean depths into context, the bottom of the ocean is more than 2,000m greater than the peak of Mount Everest.

    What “Draining” the World’s Oceans Reveals

    For a long time, the ocean floor was believed to be less understood than the Moon.

    The sheer depth of water made it difficult to map without newer technology, and the tremendous pressure and extreme temperatures make navigation grueling. A manned vehicle reached the deepest known point of the Mariana Trench—the Challenger Deep—in 1960, almost 90 years after it was first charted in 1872.

    But over the last few decades, humanity’s understanding and exploration of the ocean floor has grown in leaps and bounds. O’Donoghue’s animation shows just how much detail we’ve been missing.

    The first easily noticeable characteristic is the Earth’s continental shelves, which appear quickly. Most are visible by 140 meters, though the Arctic and Antarctic shelves are far deeper.

    The animation then speeds up, as thousands of meters of depth reveal the tops of small mountain ridges and aquatic islands. From 2,000 to 3,000 meters, mid-ocean ridges appear that span the length of the Arctic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

    From 3,000 to 6,000 meters of ocean drained, these aquatic mountains slowly give way to the vast majority of the ocean floor. Little changes over the final 5,000 meters except to illustrate just how deep the ocean’s trenches reach.

    Of course, technically the bottom of the Challenger deep is the deepest known point of the Mariana Trench. As satellite and imaging technology improves further, and aquatic mapping voyages become more possible, who knows what else we’ll discover beneath the waves.

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    This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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Science

Mapped: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024

Countries along tectonic plate boundaries are most often hit by earthquakes. We visualize the top 100 nations that see the most activity.

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Mapped: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

  • Ranked first, Mexico saw nearly 2,000 earthquakes (magnitude 4.0+) in 2024.
  • For reference, the U.S. only saw 168 earthquakes in the same time period.
  • Japan saw the strongest earthquake (magnitude 7.5) in 2024.

Most people have a fair idea of how tectonic plates work, and how their movement causes earthquakes.

But how does that impact countries in these seismic zones? We map data from Earthquakeslist.org, which ranks the top 100 countries hit by earthquakes in 2024.

Only earthquakes above a 4.0 magnitude and whose epicenters were within 300 km (186 miles) of the country were counted.

Ranked: Top 100 Countries Hit by Earthquakes in 2024

Mexico saw 1,971 earthquakes (with a magnitude above 4.0) in 2024, the most worldwide.

Ranked second, Indonesia witnessed 1,872 the same year. The strongest earthquake for both countries registered a 6.4 in magnitude.

RankCountry# of Earthquakes (2024)Strongest Magnitude
1🇲🇽 Mexico1,9716.4
2🇮🇩 Indonesia1,8726.4
3🇯🇵 Japan1,5637.5
4🇵🇭 The Philippines9977.1
5🇨🇱 Chile8757.4
6🇬🇹 Guatemala7046.4
7🇹🇼 Taiwan6557.4
8🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea6376.9
9🇵🇪 Peru6245.8
10🇨🇳 China5917.0
11🇦🇷 Argentina3987.4
12🇸🇻 El Salvador3676.2
13🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan3627.0
14🇦🇫 Afghanistan3136.4
15🇹🇴 Tonga3096.9
16🇹🇯 Tajikistan3096.4
17🇷🇺 Russia2927.0
18🇳🇮 Nicaragua2836.2
19🇻🇺 Vanuatu2737.3
20🇭🇳 Honduras2716.2
21🇰🇿 Kazakhstan2687.0
22🇵🇰 Pakistan2526.4
23🇹🇱 Timor-Leste2516.1
24🇨🇷 Costa Rica2416.2
25🇮🇳 India2075.7
26🇹🇷 Türkiye2056.0
27🇬🇷 Greece2055.8
28🇮🇷 Iran1985.4
29🇫🇯 Fiji1965.7
30🇧🇴 Bolivia1905.7
31🇬🇺 Guam1695.5
32🇺🇸 U.S.1687.0
33🇲🇵 Northern
Mariana Islands
1586.3
34🇵🇦 Panama1535.8
35🇺🇿 Uzbekistan1525.2
36🇨🇴 Colombia1375.6
37🇪🇹 Ethiopia1275.4
38🇳🇿 New Zealand1245.8
39🇪🇨 Ecuador1245.5
40🇼🇸 Samoa1125.7
41🇻🇪 Venezuela1056.0
42🇲🇲 Myanmar895.7
43🇵🇷 Puerto Rico735.6
44🇸🇾 Syria676.0
45🇦🇸 American Samoa675.4
46🇸🇧 Solomon Islands645.8
47🇨🇦 Canada635.7
48🇮🇶 Iraq605.4
49🇩🇴 Dominican Republic585.6
50🇧🇩 Bangladesh574.9
51🇦🇱 Albania565.4
52🇮🇹 Italy555.4
53🇦🇿 Azerbaijan544.9
54🇲🇰 North Macedonia485.4
55🇧🇬 Bulgaria445.2
56🇦🇲 Armenia434.9
57🇱🇾 Libya425.3
58🇬🇪 Georgia424.9
59🇧🇷 Brazil406.6
60🇳🇵 Nepal385.0
61🇴🇲 Oman375.0
62🇲🇫 Saint Martin365.0
62🇦🇮 Anguilla365.0
64🇻🇮 U.S. Virgin Islands345.6
65🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia344.9
66🇲🇳 Mongolia335.0
67🇼🇫 Wallis and Futuna325.5
68🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands315.0
69🇨🇽 Christmas Island305.2
70🇦🇪 UAE305.1
71🇧🇱 Saint Barthelemy305.0
72🇹🇿 Tanzania285.0
73🇳🇺 Niue265.6
74🇭🇷 Croatia265.4
75🇹🇲 Turkmenistan264.8
76🇬🇩 Grenada246.0
77🇰🇼 Kuwait244.9
78🇪🇷 Eritrea235.4
79🇨🇾 Cyprus234.9
80🇽🇰 Kosovo225.4
81🇶🇦 Qatar225.1
82🇲🇸 Montserrat225.0
82🇲🇾 Malaysia225.0
82🇰🇳 Saint Kitts
and Nevis
225.0
85🇻🇨 Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines
224.9
86🇹🇹 Trinidad
and Tobago
216.0
87🇧🇹 Bhutan214.5
88🇲🇪 Montenegro205.4
89🇬🇵 Guadeloupe205.0
89🇦🇬 Antigua
and Barbuda
205.0
89🇩🇲 Dominica205.0
92🇭🇹 Haiti195.9
93🇾🇪 Yemen195.4
94🇨🇺 Cuba186.8
95🇱🇦 Laos185.1
95🇻🇳 Vietnam185.1
97🇩🇿 Algeria185.0
97🇸🇯 Svalbard and
Jan Mayen
185.0
99🇷🇴 Romania175.2
100🇧🇦 Bosnia and
Herzegovina
165.4

Note: Rankings determined by stronger magnitude for countries with the same # of earthquakes. For matching magnitudes, rankings are tied.

Japan ranked third (1,563) but one of them was both the strongest and deadliest of the year. The Noto earthquake hit on New Year’s day, causing widespread damage and destruction and triggering a tsunami.

More than 500 people died, and it became Japan’s second-deadliest quake after the one in 2011.

These three countries are usually at the top of the rankings every year. And a quick glance at the map reveals why. All three are near convergent plate boundaries and this causes frequent earthquakes.

On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Africa is a notable blank spot on the map. This is because most of the region sits well-within the African plate, far from its boundaries to the north and west.

However, towards the east, the African plate is splitting, with the minor Somali plate moving away, causing earthquakes for Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Major Earthquakes in 2025

The 2025 Myanmar Earthquake is the deadliest of the year so far (7.7), killing more than 3,000 people.

It occurred along the Sagaing Fault, which is a transform boundary between the Indian plate and the Sunda plate. The epicenter was close to the country’s second-largest city and neighboring China and Thailand also felt the effects.

In terms of pure numbers, Indonesia has seen the most earthquakes so far in 2024, (511), with Mexico just behind (475).

Greece, Turkiye, and China round out the current top five.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Want more insight on the 2024 Noto Earthquake? Creator Preyash visualized the epicenter on a map in their graphic, Tremors of Resilience: Japan, for a bird’s-eye view of the affected regions.

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