Deep below the ocean’s surface is a mysterious world that takes up 95% of Earth’s living space and we know very little about it. In this fascinating infographic by XKCD’s Randall Munroe, we get a newfound appreciation for the staggering depths of our oceans.

The graphic is littered with incredible factoids and witty remarks and Explain XKCD provides a great overview of all the details in the infographic, but here are a few of my personal favorites:

 

– Lake Baikal is located in Russia and Mongolia, and is the world’s deepest lake
– Sperm whales can dive as deep as 3000 metres
– The mid-ocean ridge is an underwater mountain range which could be considered the largest mountain range in the world
– “The abyss” with its sublabel of “it’s rude to stare” is a reference to the Friedrich Nietzsche quote, “when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back”
– The stick figures of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury are a reference to Queen’s song, “Under Pressure”, which features Bowie

 

You can see a full size image of the infographic here. For more information on the infographic, check out Explain XKCD. And if you ever wondered what XKCD means, Munroe explains:

 

“It’s not actually an acronym. It’s just a word with no phonetic pronunciation— a treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings.”