Marc Fagenbaum, age 10, of Rochester, N.Y., for his question:

How deep is the Mediterranean Sea?

There is an underwater ridge in the Mediterranean which divides the sea into two great basins. This submarine wall runs from Italy to Sicily, and to the African shore at Tunisia. The eastern basis is both larger and deeper than the western basin. Its greatest depth is off the shores of southern Greece. Here the sea bed is 15,2110 feet below the surface. The greatest depth in the eastern basin. is off the shores of Sardinia. There the sea bed is 123173 feet below the: surface.

The Mediterranean is the largest inland sea in the world. It is twelve times the area of our Great Lakes. It joins with the Atlantic through the narrow Strait of Gibralter, ht the eastern end it joins with the Black Sea through the narrow Dardenelles and with the Red Sea through the Suez Canal.