Mariana Trench location. Depth of the Mariana Trench. Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench. Video: Incredible Mysteries of the Deep Sea Trench
Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the outer planets of the solar system, people have explored only five percent of the ocean floor, which remains one of the greatest mysteries of our planet.
The deepest part of the ocean - the Mariana Trench or the Mariana Trench is one of the most famous places, about which we still do not know very much.
With water pressure that is a thousand times greater than at sea level, diving into this place is akin to suicide.
But thanks to modern technology and a few brave souls who, risking their lives, went down there, we learned a lot of interesting things about this amazing place.
Mariana Trench on the map. Where is she?
The Mariana Trench or the Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean to the east (about 200 km) of the 15 Mariana Islands near Guam. It is a crescent-shaped trench in the earth's crust, about 2550 km long and 69 km wide on average.
The coordinates of the Mariana Trench are 11°22′ north latitude and 142°35′ east longitude.
Depth of the Mariana Trench
According to the latest research in 2011, the depth of the deepest point of the Mariana Trench is about 10,994 meters ± 40 meters. For comparison, the height of the highest peak in the world - Everest is 8,848 meters. This means that if Everest were in the Mariana Trench, it would be covered by another 2.1 km of water.
See also: The deepest places on Earth
Here are other interesting facts about what you can meet along the way and at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
1. Very hot water
Going down to such a depth, we expect that it will be very cold there. The temperature here reaches just above zero, varying from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.
However, at a depth of about 1.6 km from the surface of the Pacific Ocean, there are hydrothermal vents called "black smokers". They shoot water that heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.
This water is rich in minerals that help support life in the area. Despite the temperature of the water, which is hundreds of degrees above the boiling point, it does not boil here due to the incredible pressure, 155 times higher than on the surface.
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
2 Giant Toxic Amoebas
A few years ago, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, giant 10-centimeter amoebas called xenophyophores were discovered.
These single-celled organisms probably got so big because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. The cold temperature, high pressure and lack of sunlight most likely contributed to the fact that these amoeba acquired huge sizes.
In addition, xenophyophores have incredible abilities. They are resistant to many elements and chemicals, including uranium, mercury and lead, which would kill other animals and people.
3. Clams
The strong water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance to survive. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trough near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form.
How the molluscs retained their shell under such pressure remains unknown.
In addition, hydrothermal vents release another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is deadly to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.
LIFE IN PUT DARKNESS
In the course of further research with the help of unmanned deep-sea vehicles, it turned out that at the bottom of the depression, despite the terrifying water pressure, a wide variety of species of living organisms live. Giant 10-centimeter amoebas are xenophyophores, which under normal, terrestrial conditions can only be seen with a microscope, amazing two-meter worms, no less huge starfish, mutant octopuses and, of course, fish.
The latter amaze with their terrifying appearance. Their distinctive feature is a huge mouth and many teeth. Many open their jaws so wide that even a small predator can swallow an animal larger than itself whole.
There are also completely unusual creatures that reach a two-meter size with a soft jelly-like body, which have no analogues in nature.
It would seem that at such a depth the temperature should be at the level of the Antarctic. However, the Challenger Deep contains hydrothermal vents called "black smokers". They constantly heat the water and thereby maintain the overall temperature in the cavity at 1-4 degrees Celsius.
The inhabitants of the Mariana Trench live in pitch darkness, some of them are blind, others have huge telescopic eyes that catch the slightest glare of light. Some individuals have "lanterns" on their heads, emitting a different color.
There are fish in the body of which a luminous liquid accumulates. When they feel danger, they splash this liquid towards the enemy and hide behind this "curtain of light." The appearance of such animals is very unusual for our perception, it can cause disgust and even inspire a sense of fear.
But it is obvious that not all the mysteries of the Mariana Trench have yet been solved. Some strange animals of truly incredible sizes live in the depths!
THE LIZARD TRIED TO BUTTON THE BATHISCAFE LIKE A NUT
Sometimes on the shore, not far from the Mariana Trench, people find the bodies of dead 40-meter monsters. Giant teeth were also found in those places. Scientists have proven that they belong to a multi-ton prehistoric megalodon shark, whose mouth span reached two meters.
These sharks were thought to have died out about three million years ago, but the teeth found are much younger. So did the ancient monsters really disappear?
In 2003, another sensational study of the Mariana Trench was published in the United States. Scientists have loaded an unmanned platform equipped with searchlights, sensitive video systems and microphones in the deepest part of the world's oceans.
The platform descended on 6 steel cables of an inch section. At first, the technique did not give any unusual information. But a few hours after the dive, silhouettes of strange large objects (at least 12-16 meters high) began to flicker on the monitor screens in the light of powerful searchlights, and at that time the microphones transmitted sharp sounds to the recording devices - the grinding of iron and dull, uniform blows on metal.
When the platform was raised (never lowered to the bottom due to incomprehensible interference that prevented the descent), it was found that the powerful steel structures were bent, and the steel cables seemed to be sawn. A little more - and the platform would forever remain the "Challenger Abyss".
Earlier, something similar happened to the German apparatus "Hyfish". Having descended to a depth of 7 kilometers, he suddenly refused to emerge. To find out what the problem was, the researchers turned on the infrared camera.
What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, clinging its teeth to a bathyscaphe, tried to crack it like a nut.
Recovering from the shock, the scientists activated the so-called electric gun, and the monster, struck by a powerful discharge, hastened to retreat.
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench
4. Pure liquid carbon dioxide
The Champagne Hydrothermal Spring of the Mariana Trench, which lies outside the Okinawa Trench near Taiwan, is the only known underwater area where liquid carbon dioxide can be found. The spring, discovered in 2005, got its name from the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.
Many believe that these springs, called "white smokers" because of the lower temperature, may be the source of life. It was in the depths of the oceans with low temperatures and an abundance of chemicals and energy that life could originate.
If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, we would feel that it is covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its usual form, does not exist there.
The bottom of the depression mainly consists of crushed shells and plankton residues that have accumulated at the bottom of the depression for many years. Due to the incredible pressure of the water, almost everything there turns into fine greyish-yellow thick mud.
Mariana Trench
6. Liquid sulfur
The Daikoku Volcano, which is located at a depth of about 414 meters on the way to the Mariana Trench, is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on our planet. There is a lake of pure molten sulfur. The only place where liquid sulfur can be found is Jupiter's moon Io.
In this pit, called the "cauldron," the bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this place in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. This may reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth.
According to the Gaia hypothesis, our planet is one self-governing organism in which all living and non-living things are connected to support its life. If this hypothesis is correct, then a number of signals can be observed in the natural cycles and systems of the Earth. So the sulfur compounds created by organisms in the ocean must be stable enough in the water to allow them to pass into the air and back to land again.
At the end of 2011, four stone bridges were discovered in the Mariana Trench, which stretched from one end to the other for 69 km. They appear to have formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
One of the Dutton Ridge bridges, which was opened back in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. At its highest point, the ridge reaches 2.5 km above the "Challenger Deep".
Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that these formations were discovered in one of the most mysterious and unexplored places is amazing.
8James Cameron's dive into the Mariana Trench
Since the discovery of the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep in 1875, only three people have been here. The first were American lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard, who dived on January 23, 1960 on the Trieste.
After 52 years, another person ventured here - the famous film director James Cameron. So on March 26, 2012, Cameron went down to the bottom and took some photos.
See also: James Cameron returned from the bottom of the sea
During James Cameron's 2012 dive to the Challenger Abyss in the DeepSea Challenge submersible, he tried to observe everything that was going on in the place until mechanical problems forced him to rise to the surface.
While he was at the deepest point in the world's oceans, he came to the shocking conclusion that he was completely alone. There were no scary sea monsters or any miracles in the Mariana Trench. According to Cameron, the very bottom of the ocean was "lunar...empty...lonely" and he felt "completely isolated from all mankind".
9. Mariana Trench (video)
10. The Mariana Trench in the ocean is the largest reserve
The Mariana Trench is a US National Monument and the largest marine reserve in the world.
Since it is a monument, there are a number of rules for those who want to visit this place. Within its borders, fishing and mining are strictly prohibited here. However, swimming is allowed here, so you might be the next one to venture into the deepest place in the ocean.
WHO IS THE REAL “OWNER” OF PLANET EARTH
But not only fantastic monsters fall into the field of view of deep-sea cameras. In the summer of 2012, the unmanned deep-sea submersible Titan, launched from the research vessel Rick Mesenger, was in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,000 meters. His main goal was to film and photograph various underwater objects.
Suddenly, the cameras recorded a strange multiple brilliance of a material very similar to metal. And then, a few dozen meters from the device, several large objects lit up in the spotlight.
Approaching these objects at the maximum allowable distance, the Titan gave a very unusual picture to the monitors of the scientists on the Rick Mesenger. On the site, about a square kilometer, there were about 50 large cylindrical objects, very similar to ... flying saucers!
A few minutes after the recorded “UFO airfield”, the Titan stopped communicating and never surfaced.
There are a lot of well-known facts, which, if they do not confirm the possibility of the existence of intelligent beings in the depths of the sea, then, in any case, fully explain why modern science still does not know anything about them.
Firstly, the habitat native to humans - the earth's firmament - occupies only a little more than a quarter of the land surface. So our planet could well be called the Ocean planet, rather than the Earth.
Secondly, as everyone knows, life originated in water, so the marine mind (if it exists) is older than the human one by about one and a half million years.
That is why, according to some experts, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, due to the presence of active hydrothermal springs, not only entire colonies of prehistoric animals that have survived to this day can exist, but also an underwater civilization of intelligent beings unknown to earthlings! The "fourth pole" of the Earth, in the opinion of scientists, is the most suitable place for their habitat.
And once again the question arises: is man the only "owner" of the planet Earth?
"FIELD" STUDIES PLANNED FOR SUMMER 2015
The third person in the entire history of the study of the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom was exactly three years ago, James Cameron.
“Practically everything on the earth’s land has been explored,” he explained his decision. - In space, the bosses prefer to send people circling the Earth, and send machine guns to other planets. For the joys of discovering the unknown, one field of activity remains - the ocean. Only about 3% of its water volume has been explored, and what’s next is unknown.”
On the DeepSes Challenge bathyscaphe, being in a half-bent state, since the internal diameter of the device did not exceed 109 cm, the famous film director watched everything that happened in this place until mechanical problems forced him to rise to the surface.
Cameron managed to take samples of rocks and living organisms from the bottom, as well as filming with 3D cameras. Subsequently, these shots formed the basis of a documentary film.
However, he never saw any of the terrible sea monsters. According to him, the very bottom of the ocean was "lunar ... empty ... lonely", and he felt "total isolation from all mankind."
Meanwhile, in the laboratory of telecommunications of Tomsk Polytechnic University, together with the Institute of Marine Technology Problems of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the development of a domestic apparatus for deep-sea research, which can descend to a depth of 12 kilometers, is in full swing.
Specialists working on the bathyscaphe declare that there are no analogues of the equipment they develop in the world, and “field” studies of the sample in the waters of the Pacific Ocean are planned for the summer of 2015.
The famous traveler Fyodor Konyukhov also started working on the project “Diving into the Mariana Trench in a bathyscaphe”. According to him, he aims not only to touch the bottom of the deepest depression of the World Ocean, but also to spend two whole days there, conducting unique research.
The bathyscaphe is designed for two people and will be designed and built by one of the Australian companies.
What do we know about the deepest place in the World Ocean? This is the Mariana Trench or the Mariana Trench.
What is her depth? This is not an easy question...
But definitely not 14 kilometers!
In section, the Mariana Trench has a characteristic V-shaped profile with very steep slopes. The bottom is flat, several tens of kilometers wide, divided by ridges into several almost closed sections. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure, reaching 3150 kg/cm2. The temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench) is surprisingly high thanks to hydrothermal vents, nicknamed "black smokers". They constantly heat the water and maintain the overall temperature in the cavity at around 3°C.
The first attempt to measure the depth of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench) was made in 1875 by the crew of the English oceanographic vessel Challenger during a scientific expedition across the World Ocean. The British discovered the Mariana Trench quite by accident, during the duty sounding of the bottom with the help of a lot (Italian hemp rope and lead weight). Despite the inaccuracy of such a measurement, the result was amazing: 8367 m. In 1877, a map was published in Germany, on which this place was marked as the Challenger Abyss.
A measurement made in 1899 from the board of the American collier Nero showed already a great depth: 9636 m.
In 1951, the bottom of the depression was measured by the English hydrographic vessel Challenger, named after its predecessor, unofficially referred to as the Challenger II. Now, with the help of an echo sounder, a depth of 10899 m was recorded.
The maximum depth indicator was obtained in 1957 by the Soviet research vessel "Vityaz": 11,034 ± 50 m. It is strange that no one remembered the anniversary date of the generally epoch-making discovery of Russian oceanologists. However, they say that when taking readings, the change in environmental conditions at different depths was not taken into account. This erroneous figure is still present on many physical and geographical maps published in the USSR and Russia.
In 1959, the American research ship Stranger measured the depth of the trench in a rather unusual way for science - using depth charges. Result: 10915 m.
The last known measurements were made in 2010 by the American ship Sumner, they showed a depth of 10994 ± 40 m.
It is not yet possible to obtain absolutely accurate readings even with the help of the most modern equipment. The work of the echo sounder is hindered by the fact that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which manifest themselves differently depending on depth.
This is how the strongest hulls of underwater vehicles look after extreme pressure tests. Photo: Sergey Ptichkin / RG
And now it is reported that an autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle (AUV) has been developed in Russia, capable of operating at a depth of 14 kilometers. From this, conclusions are drawn that our military oceanologists have discovered a depression deeper than the Mariana Trench in the World Ocean.
The message that the device was created and passed its test compression at a pressure corresponding to a depth of 14,000 meters was made during an ordinary press trip of journalists to one of the leading scientific centers, including deep-sea vehicles. It is even strange that no one paid attention to this sensation and has not yet voiced it. And the developers themselves did not particularly open up. Or maybe they are just reinsuring themselves and want to get reinforced concrete evidence? And now we have every reason to wait for a new scientific sensation.
The decision was made to create an uninhabited deep-sea vehicle capable of withstanding pressures that are much higher than what exists in the Mariana Trench. The device is ready to work. If the depth is confirmed, it will become a super sensation. If not, the device will work to the maximum in the same Mariana Trench, study it up and down. In addition, the developers claim that with a not very complicated refinement, the AUV can be made habitable. And it will be comparable to manned flights into deep space.
The existence of the Mariana Trench has been known for quite some time, and there are technical possibilities for descending to the bottom, but in the last 60 years only three people have been able to do this: a scientist, a military man and a film director.
For the entire time of the study of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench), vehicles with people on board fell to its bottom twice and automatic vehicles fell four times (as of April 2017). This, by the way, is less than people have been on the moon.
On January 23, 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste sank to the bottom of the abyss of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench). On board were the Swiss oceanographer Jacques Picard (1922-2008) and the US Navy lieutenant, explorer Don Walsh (born in 1931). The bathyscaphe was designed by the father of Jacques Picard - physicist, inventor of the stratospheric balloon and bathyscaphe Auguste Picard (1884-1962).
A half-century-old black-and-white photograph shows the legendary Trieste bathyscaphe in preparation for a dive. The crew of two was in a spherical steel gondola. It was attached to a float filled with gasoline to provide positive buoyancy.
The descent of the Trieste lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, the crew periodically interrupted it. At a depth of 9 km, the plexiglass cracked, but the descent continued until the Trieste sank to the bottom, where the crew saw a 30-centimeter flat fish and some kind of crustacean creature. Having stayed at a depth of 10912 m for about 20 minutes, the crew began the ascent, which took 3 hours and 15 minutes.
Man made another attempt to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench) in 2012, when American film director James Cameron (born 1954) became the third to reach the bottom of the Challenger Abyss. Previously, he repeatedly dived on Russian Mir submersibles into the Atlantic Ocean to a depth of more than 4 km during the filming of the movie Titanic. Now, on the Dipsy Challenger bathyscaphe, he descended into the abyss in 2 hours and 37 minutes - almost a widow faster than the Trieste - and spent 2 hours and 36 minutes at a depth of 10898 m. After which he rose to the surface in just an hour and a half. At the bottom, Cameron saw only creatures that looked like shrimp.
The fauna and flora of the Mariana Trench are poorly studied.
In the 1950s Soviet scientists during the expedition of the ship "Vityaz" discovered life at depths of more than 7 thousand meters. Before that, it was believed that there was nothing alive there. Pogonophores were discovered - a new family of marine invertebrates that live in chitinous tubes. Disputes about their scientific classification are still going on.
The main inhabitants of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench), living at the very bottom, are barophilic (developing only at high pressure) bacteria, the simplest creatures of foraminifera - unicellular in shells and xenophyophores - amoeba, reaching 20 cm in diameter and living by shoveling silt.
Foraminifera managed to get the Japanese automatic deep-sea probe "Kaiko" in 1995, plunged to 10911.4 m and took soil samples.
Larger inhabitants of the gutter live throughout its thickness. Life at depth has made them either blind or with highly developed eyes, often telescopic. Many have photophores - organs of luminescence, a kind of bait for prey: some have long shoots, like an anglerfish, while others have it all right in their mouths. Some accumulate a luminous liquid and, in case of danger, douse it with the enemy in the manner of a "light curtain".
Since 2009, the territory of the depression has been part of the American conservation area Mariana Trench Marine National Monument with an area of 246,608 km2. The zone includes only the underwater part of the trench and the water area. The reason for this action was the fact that the Northern Mariana Islands and the island of Guam - in fact, American territory - are the island boundaries of the water area. The Challenger Deep is not included in this zone, as it is located on the oceanic territory of the Federated States of Micronesia.
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Now anyone can watch the fantastic underwater world of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on our planet, captured on video, or even enjoy a live video broadcast from an 11-kilometer depth. But until relatively recently, the Mariana Trench was considered the most unexplored point on the map of the Earth.
The sensational discovery of the Challenger team
We also know from the school curriculum that the highest point on the earth's surface is the top of Mount Everest (8848 m), but the lowest point is hidden under the waters of the Pacific Ocean and is located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (10,994 m). We know quite a lot about Everest, climbers have conquered its peak more than once, there are enough photographs of this mountain, taken both from the ground and from space. If Everest is all in sight and does not present any mystery to scientists, then the depths of the Mariana Trench hold many secrets, because only three daredevils have managed to get to its bottom at the moment.
The Mariana Trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, it got its name from the Mariana Islands, which are located next to it. A place unique in depth on the seabed has received the status of a national monument, it is forbidden to fish and extract minerals here, in fact it is a huge marine reserve. The shape of the depression is similar to a huge crescent, reaching 2550 km in length and 69 km in width. The bottom of the depression has a width of 1 to 5 km. The deepest point of the depression (10,994 m below sea level) was named the Challenger Abyss in honor of the British ship of the same name.
The honor of discovering the Mariana Trench belongs to the team of the British research vessel Challenger, which in 1872 carried out depth measurements at a number of points in the Pacific Ocean. When the ship was in the area, during the next measurement of the depth, there was a hitch: the kilometer-long rope went overboard, but it was not possible to reach the bottom. At the direction of the captain, a couple more kilometer sections were added to the rope, but, to everyone's surprise, they were not enough, they had to be added again and again. Then it was possible to establish a depth of 8367 meters, which, as it became known later, was significantly different from the real one. However, even an underestimated value was quite enough to understand: the deepest place was discovered in the World Ocean.
It is amazing that already in the 20th century, in 1951, it was the British who, using a deep-sea echo sounder, clarified the data of their compatriots, this time the maximum depth of the depression was more significant - 10,863 meters.
Six years later, Soviet scientists began to study the Mariana Trench, who arrived in this region of the Pacific Ocean on the Vityaz research vessel. Using special equipment, they recorded the maximum depth of the depression at 11,022 meters, and most importantly, they were able to establish the presence of life at a depth of about 7,000 meters. It is worth noting that in the scientific world then there was an opinion that due to the monstrous pressure and lack of light at such depths, there were no manifestations of life.
Dive into the world of silence and darkness
In 1960, people first visited the bottom of the depression. How difficult and dangerous such a dive was can be judged by the colossal water pressure, which at the lowest point of the depression is 1072 times the average atmospheric pressure. The dive to the bottom of the trench with the help of the Trieste bathyscaphe was made by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard. Bathyscaphe "Trieste" with walls 13 cm thick was created in the Italian city of the same name and was a rather massive structure.
They lowered the bathyscaphe to the bottom for five long hours; despite such a long descent, the researchers stayed at the bottom at a depth of 10,911 meters for only 20 minutes, and it took them about 3 hours to rise. Within minutes of being in the abyss, Walsh and Picard were able to make a very impressive discovery: they saw two 30-centimeter flat fish that looked like a flounder that swam past their porthole. Their presence at such a depth has become a real scientific sensation!
In addition to the discovery of the existence of life at such a breathtaking depth, Jacques Picard managed to experimentally refute the then prevailing opinion that at depths of more than 6,000 m there is no upward movement of water masses. In terms of ecology, this was a major discovery, because some nuclear powers were going to carry out the burial of radioactive waste in the Mariana Trench. It turns out that Picard prevented a large-scale radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean!
After the dive of Walsh and Picard for a long period, only unmanned submachine guns descended into the Mariana Trench, and there were only a few of them, because they were very expensive. For example, on May 31, 2009, the American deep-sea probe Nereus reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench. He not only conducted underwater photo and video shooting at an incredible depth, but also took soil samples. The instruments of the deep-sea vehicle recorded the depth reached by it at 10,902 meters.
On March 26, 2012, a man again appeared at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, it was the famous director, creator of the legendary film "Titanic" James Cameron.
He explained his decision to make such a dangerous journey to the “bottom of the Earth” as follows: “Almost everything on the earth’s land has been explored. In space, the bosses prefer to send people circling the Earth, and send machine guns to other planets. For the joys of discovering the unknown, one field of activity remains - the ocean. Only about 3% of its water volume has been explored, and what’s next is unknown, ”Cameron dived on the DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe, it was not very comfortable, the researcher was in a half-bent state for a long time, since the diameter of the interior of the apparatus was only about 109 cm The bathyscaphe, equipped with the most powerful cameras and unique equipment, allowed the popular director to shoot fantastic landscapes of the deepest place on the planet. Later, together with The National Geographic, James Cameron created a breathtaking documentary film "Challenge to the Abyss".
It is worth noting that during his stay at the bottom of the deepest cavity in the world, Cameron did not see any monsters, or representatives of an underwater civilization, or an alien base. However, he literally looked into the eyes of the Challenger Abyss. According to him, during his short trip, he experienced sensations indescribable in words. The ocean floor seemed to him not only deserted, but somehow "lunar ... lonely." He experienced a real shock from the feeling of "complete isolation from all mankind." True, the malfunctions that arose with the equipment of the bathyscaphe, perhaps, interrupted the "hypnotic" effect of the abyss on the famous director in time, and he rose to the surface to the people.
From giant amoebas to underwater bridges
In recent years, many discoveries have been made in the study of the Mariana Trench. For example, in samples of the bottom soil taken by Cameron, scientists found more than 20 thousand of a wide variety of microorganisms. There are among the inhabitants of the depression and giant 10-centimeter amoeba, called xenophyophores. According to scientists, single-celled amoeba most likely reached such an incredible size due to the rather hostile environment at a depth of 10.6 km in which they are forced to live. High pressure, cold water and lack of light for some reason clearly benefited them, contributing to their gigantism.
Mollusks have also been found in the Mariana Trench. It is not clear how their shells withstand the enormous pressure of water, but they feel very comfortable at depth, and are located near hydrothermal springs that emit hydrogen sulfide, which is deadly for ordinary mollusks. However, local mollusks, having shown incredible abilities for chemistry, somehow adapted to process this destructive gas into protein, which allowed them to live where, at first glance, it is impossible to live.
Many inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are rather unusual. For example, scientists have found here a fish with a transparent head, in the center of which are its eyes. Thus, in the course of evolution, the eyes of fish received reliable protection from possible injury. At a great depth there are many bizarre and sometimes even scary fish, here we managed to capture on video a fantastically beautiful jellyfish. Of course, we still do not know all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, in this regard, scientists still have many discoveries.
There are many interesting things in this mysterious place for geologists. So, in a depression at a depth of 414 meters, the Dai-koku volcano was discovered, in the crater of which there is a lake of bubbling molten sulfur right under the water. As scientists say, the only analogue of such a lake known to them is only on the satellite of Jupiter - Io. Also in the Mariana Trench, scientists have found the only underwater source of liquid carbon dioxide on earth, called "Champagne" in honor of the famous French alcoholic drink. There are also so-called black smokers in the depression, these are hydrothermal springs that function at a depth of about 2 kilometers, thanks to which the water temperature in the Mariana Trench is maintained within fairly favorable limits - from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.
At the end of 2011, scientists discovered very mysterious structures in the Mariana Trench, these are four stone “bridges” stretching from one end of the trench to the other for 69 kilometers. Scientists still find it difficult to explain how these "bridges" arose, they believe that they were formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
The study of the Mariana Trench continues. This year, scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration worked here from April to July on board the Okeanos Explorer. Their ship was equipped with a remotely controlled vehicle, which was used to film the underwater world of the deepest place in the oceans. The video broadcast from the bottom of the depression could be seen not only by scientists, but also by Internet users.
February 16th, 2010
The Mariana Trench, or the Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographic feature known on Earth.
The depression stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7–9°) slopes, and a flat bottom 1–5 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times higher than the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the border of the docking of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.
The study of the Mariana Trench was initiated by the British expedition of the Challenger vessel, which carried out the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted corvette with sailing equipment was rebuilt into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872. Soviet researchers also made a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana Trench. In 1958, an expedition on the Vityaz established the presence of life at depths of more than 7000 m, thereby refuting the then prevailing idea that life was impossible at depths of more than 6000-7000 m. In 1960, the Trieste bathyscaphe was immersed to the bottom Mariana Trench to a depth of 10915 m.
The device recording sounds began to transmit noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, vague shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became worried that the unique apparatus, made of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel beams in the NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called "hedgehog" with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. It was decided to raise it immediately. "Hedgehog" was removed from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately put on a special raft. The TV camera and echo sounder were lifted onto the deck of the Glomar Challenger. It turned out that the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered turned out to be half sawn. Who tried to leave the “hedgehog” at depth and why is an absolute mystery. The details of this most interesting experiment, conducted by American oceanologists in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996 by the New York Times (USA).
This is not the only case of a collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench. Something similar happened to the German research vehicle "Hyfish" with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the malfunction, the hydronauts turned on the infrared camera. What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, biting its teeth into a bathyscaphe, tried to crack it like a nut. Having come to their senses, the crew activated a device called an "electric gun". The monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss.
The inexplicable and incomprehensible has always attracted people, so scientists around the world are so eager to answer the question: “What is the Mariana Trench hiding in its depths?”
Can living organisms live at such a great depth, and how should they look, given that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean water, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at depths of more than 6000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life could exist to be insane. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even at these depths, far below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophora ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). Recently, the veil of secrecy has been opened by manned and automatic, made of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, a rich animal community was discovered, consisting of both well-known and less familiar marine groups.
Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were found:
Barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure),
Of the protozoa, foraminifera (a detachment of the protozoan subclass of rhizopods with a cytoplasmic body dressed in a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);
Of the multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.
At depths there is no sunlight, no algae, salinity is constant, temperatures are low, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?
The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of "corpses" and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals or blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluores; in other forms, the surface of the body or parts of it glow. Therefore, the appearance of these animals is as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them are terrifying worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.
So, a person could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, and the rapidly developing world of technological progress allows you to penetrate deeper and deeper into the secret world of the most inhospitable and recalcitrant environment in the world - the oceans. There will be enough objects for research in the Mariana Trench for many years to come, given that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, unlike Everest (altitude 8848 m), was conquered only once. So, on January 23, 1960, US Navy officer Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Picard, protected by armored, 12-centimeter-thick walls of a bathyscaphe called Trieste, managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters.
Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, new mysteries have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss knows how to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future?
On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Donald Walsh in the Trieste bathyscaphe at a depth of 10,919 m reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the World Ocean. The water temperature at this depth was 2.4 ° C (the minimum temperature is 1.4 ° С, was observed at a depth of 3600 m). The Trieste bathyscaphe was designed and developed by Jacques' father, the famous Swiss stratospheric explorer Auguste Piccard.
The dimensions of the capsule, which housed the researchers inside the bathyscaphe, are small in relation to the size of the submarine as a whole. In particular, it is markedly outnumbered by metal-ballasted tanks, one of which is visible at the top left.
Trieste, like other bathyscaphes, was a pressurized steel spherical gondola for the crew, attached to a large float filled with gasoline to provide buoyancy. On the outer wall of the Trieste bathyscaphe, a model of a Deep Sea wristwatch was fixed. A high degree of water protection was provided not only by a sealed case, but also by a special liquid that filled the inner chamber of the watch instead of air.
Bathyscaphe floats on the principle of an iron. In the surface state, it is held by a huge float filled with gasoline located above the gondola with the crew. The float has another important function: in a submerged position, it stabilizes the bathyscaphe vertically, preventing swinging and overturning. When gasoline is slowly released from the float, which is replaced by water, the bathyscaphe begins to dive. From this moment on, the apparatus has only one way - down to the bottom. In this case, of course, it is also possible to move in a horizontal direction with the help of propellers driven by the engine.
In order to rise to the surface, a metal ballast is provided in the bathyscaphe, which can be shot, plates or blanks. Gradually freed from the "excess weight", the apparatus rises. The metal ballast is held by electromagnets, so if something happens to the power supply system, then the bathyscaphe immediately, like a balloon starting into the sky, “soars” up.
One of the achievements of this dive, which had a beneficial effect on the ecological future of the planet, was the refusal of nuclear powers to bury radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The fact is that Jacques Picard experimentally refuted the opinion that prevailed at that time that at depths of more than 6000 m there is no upward movement of water masses.
Comparison with Everest
In our article, we want to talk about the mysterious Mariana Trench. This is the deepest point on the surface of the Earth. By and large, this is where our knowledge of this place ends. But the Mariana Trench, the monsters that live in it, are eternal and assumptions. Her secrets are as deep as she is.
The first mystery of the Mariana Trench
One of the mysteries of the depression is its depth. Until recently, it was believed that the Mariana Trench, as it is more correct to call this place from a scientific point of view, has a depth of more than eleven kilometers. However, the latest modern technical measurements give a value of 10994 kilometers. Although, it is worth noting that this value is also very relative, since diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench is a technically very complex event, which is influenced by many factors. Scientists talk about a possible error of forty meters.
Where is the Mariana Trench located?
The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Guam and Micronesia. Its deepest point is called the Challenger Abyss and is located 340 kilometers from
Answering the question where the Mariana Trench is located, you can give its exact geographical coordinates - 11 ° 21′ N. sh. 142°12′ E e. This place got its name due to the fact that nearby are located part of a state such as Guam.
What is the Mariana Trench?
What is the Mariana Trench? The ocean carefully hides its true size. One can only guess about them. It's not just a "very deep hole". The gutter itself stretched along the seabed for one and a half thousand kilometers. The cavity has a V-shape, that is, it is much wider from above, and the walls narrow down.
The bottom of the Mariana Trench is characterized by a flat relief, and the width varies from 1 to 5 kilometers. Its upper part is eighty kilometers wide.
This place is one of the most inaccessible on our earth.
Do you need to explore the cavity?
It seems that life at such depths is simply impossible. Therefore, it makes no sense to study such an abyss. However, the secrets of the Mariana Trench have always interested and attracted researchers. It's hard to believe, but in our time space is easier to explore than such depths. Many people have been outside the Earth, and only three brave men have sunk to the bottom of the trough.
Gutter study
The British were the first to explore the Mariana Trench. In 1872, the Challenger ship with scientists entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean to study the trench. It was found that this point is the deepest on the globe. Since then, people have been haunted by the secrets and creatures of the Mariana Trench.
Time passed, research was carried out, a new depth value was established - 10863 meters.
Research is carried out by lowering deep-sea vehicles. Most often these are unmanned automatic vehicles. And in 1960, Jacques Picard and Don Walsh descended to the very bottom on the Trieste bathyscaphe. In 2012, he braved Jace Cameron on the Deepsea Challenger.
Russian researchers also studied the Mariana Trench. In 1957, the ship "Vityaz" headed for the gutter area. Researchers not only measured the depth of the trench (11022 meters), but also found the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. This event made a revolution in the world of science in the mid-twentieth century. At that time, it was believed that there could be no living creatures at such depths. This is where all the fun begins. How many stories and legends exist about this place - just do not count. So what exactly is the Mariana Trench? Do monsters really live here or are they just fairy tales? Let's try to figure it out.
Mariana Trench: monsters, riddles, secrets
As we mentioned earlier, the first brave daredevils to descend to the bottom of the depression were Jacques Picard and Don Walsh. They descended on a heavy bathyscaphe called Trieste. The thickness of the walls of the structure was thirteen centimeters. She was submerged to the bottom for five hours. Having reached the deepest point, the researchers managed to stay there for only twelve minutes. Then immediately began the ascent of the bathyscaphe, which took three hours. No matter how surprising this may seem, living organisms were found at the bottom. The fish of the Mariana Trench are flat creatures, similar to a flounder, no more than thirty centimeters long.
In 1995, the Japanese descended into the abyss. And in 2009, a miracle device called Nereus descended to the deepest point. He not only took a number of photos, but also took soil samples.
In 1996, the New York Times published the materials of the next dive of the apparatus from the research vessel Challenger. It turns out that when the equipment was lowered, after a while, the instruments recorded the strongest metal rattle. This fact was the reason for the immediate rise of equipment to the surface. What the researchers saw stunned them. The steel structure was badly dented, and the thick, strong cable looked like it had been sawn down. Here is such an unexpected surprise presented by the Mariana Trench. Whether the monsters so crushed the technique or representatives of an alien mind, or mutated octopuses ... A variety of proposals were made, each of which was more incredible than the previous one. However, no one ever found the true reason, since there was no evidence for any of the theories. All assumptions were at the level of fantastic guesses. But the secrets of the Mariana Trench have not yet been revealed.
Another mysterious story
Another incredibly mysterious case occurred with a team of German researchers who lowered their apparatus called the Highfish to the bottom. At some point, the device stopped diving, and the cameras installed on it gave an image of the huge size of the lizard, which was actively trying to chew on an unknown thing. The team drove the monster away from the device using an electrical discharge. The creature was frightened and swam away and did not appear again. It is unfortunate that such events were not recorded by the apparatus, so that there would be irrefutable evidence.
After this incident, the Mariana Trench began to grow with new facts, legends and conjectures. The crews of the ships now and then reported about a huge monster in these waters, which is towing ships at great speed. It became difficult to make out what is true and what is speculation. The Mariana Trench, whose monsters haunted many people, is still the most mysterious point on the planet.
Hard Facts
Along with the most incredible legends about the Mariana Trench, there are quite specific, but incredible facts. There is no doubt about them, since they are confirmed by evidence.
In 1948, lobster fishermen (Australian) reported a large transparent fish that was at least thirty meters long. They saw her at sea. Based on their description, it looks like a very ancient shark (species Carcharodon megalodon) that lived several million years ago. Scientists from the remains managed to restore the appearance of a shark. The monstrous creature was 25 meters long and weighed one hundred tons. Her mouth was two meters in size, and each tooth was at least ten centimeters. Just imagine this monster. It was the teeth of such a creature that were discovered by oceanologists at the bottom of the vast Pacific Ocean. The youngest of them is at least eleven thousand years old.
This unique find suggests that not all such creatures died out a couple of million years ago. Perhaps at the very bottom of the hollow, these incredible predators are hiding from human eyes. Exploration of the mysterious depths continues to this day, because the abyss is fraught with many secrets, to the disclosure of which people have not yet come close.
At the bottom of the depression, living organisms experience tremendous pressure. It would seem that in such conditions, nothing living can exist. However, this opinion is erroneous. Mollusks calmly live here, their shells do not suffer from pressure at all. They are not even affected by hydrothermal vents that emit methane and hydrogen. Unbelievable, but true!
Another mystery is a hydrothermal spring called "Champagne". Bubbles of carbon dioxide seethe in its waters. This is the only such object in the world and it is located precisely in the depression, which gave scientists reason to talk about the possible origin of life in water in this very place.
The Daikoku volcano is located in the Mariana Trench. In its crater there is a lake of molten sulfur, which boils at a huge temperature of 187 degrees. You won't find anything like this anywhere else on earth. The only analogue of such a phenomenon is in space (on the moon of Jupiter called Io).
Amazing place
Giant single-celled amoeba live in the Mariana Trench, the size of which reaches ten centimeters. They live next to uranium, lead, and mercury that are harmful to living beings. However, they not only do not die from them, but also feel great.
The Mariana Trench is the biggest miracle on earth. It combines everything inanimate and living. Everything that kills life under normal conditions, at the bottom of the depression, on the contrary, gives strength to the survival of living organisms. Isn't it a miracle? How much still unknown is fraught with this place!