CNN News:中国载人深潜创下新纪录

Which of these geographic features is about 1,580 miles long? Great Barrier Reef, Mariana Trench, Grand Canyon or Mississippi River? It's the Mariana Trench, the deepest point of the ocean, that's a little less than 1,600 miles in length.

Diving deep into our next story, China says it's broken its own record for deepest manned dive into the ocean. Yesterday morning a Chinese submersible landed on the seabed of the Mariana Trench. Its depth? 35,790 feet. That's more than six miles below the waves and it's only 63 feet shallower than what's believed to be the world record depth that was reached by an American explorer last year. This isn't just about bragging rights though. China says it's about resources. New diving equipment can help researchers draw quote, "treasure map of the deep", according to the designer of the Chinese submersible. And the Pacific Ocean is said to be a treasure trove of rare earth elements. China wants to keep its dominance in the production of rare earth materials with Japan and India making investments to explore and extract their own.