The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean east/northeast of the Philippine archipelago (hence the name), occupying an estimated surface area of 5 million square kilometers (2×106 sq mi).
The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the sea.
It is bordered by the first island chain to the west, which comprises the Ryukyu Islands in the northwest and Taiwan in the due west, and the Filipino islands of Luzon, Catanduanes, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao to the southwest; by the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyūshū to the north; by the second island chain to the east, which comprises the Bonin and Iwo Jima in the northeast, the Marianas (including Guam, Saipan and Tinian) in the due east, and the Halmahera, Palau, Yap and Ulithi (of the Carolines) in the southeast; and by Indonesia's Morotai Island to the south.
The sea has a complex and diverse undersea relief.
The floor is formed into a structural basin by a series of geologic faults and fracture zones. Island arcs, which are actually extended ridges protruding above the ocean surface due to plate tectonic activity in the area, enclose the Philippine Sea to the north, east and south. The Philippine archipelago, Ryukyu Islands, and the Marianas are examples. Another prominent feature of the Philippine Sea is the presence of deep sea trenches, among them the Philippine Trench and the Mariana Trench, containing the deepest point on the planet.
Nice piece