The deepest dive into the Mariana Trench. Depth of the Mariana Trench

As children, we all read many legends about incredible sea monsters that inhabit the ocean floor, always knowing that these were just fairy tales. But we were wrong! These incredible creatures can be found even today if you dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth. Read our article about what the Mariana Trench hides and who its mysterious inhabitants are.

The deepest place on the planet is the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench- is located in the western Pacific Ocean near Guam, east of the Mariana Islands, from which its name comes. The shape of the trench resembles a crescent, about 2,550 km long and an average width of 69 km.

According to the latest data, the depth Mariana Trench is 10,994 meters ± 40 meters, which even exceeds the highest point on the planet - Everest (8,848 meters). So this mountain could well be placed at the bottom of the depression, moreover, there would still be about 2,000 meters of water above the top of the mountain. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1,100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure.

Man only fell to the bottom twice Mariana Trench. The first dive was made on January 23, 1960 by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Piccard in the bathyscaphe Trieste. They stayed at the bottom for only 12 minutes, but during this time they managed to meet flat fish, although according to all possible assumptions there should have been no life at such a depth.

The second human dive took place on March 26, 2012. The third person who touched the secrets Mariana Trench, became a film director James Cameron. He dived on the single-person Deepsea Challenger and spent enough time there to take samples, take pictures and film 3D video. Later, the footage he shot formed the basis of a documentary film for the National Geographic Channel.

Due to the strong pressure, the bottom of the depression is covered not with ordinary sand, but with viscous mucus. For many years, the remains of plankton and crushed shells accumulated there, which formed the bottom. And again, due to pressure, almost everything is at the bottom Mariana Trench turns into fine grayish-yellow thick mud.

Sunlight has never reached the bottom of the depression, and we expect the water there to be icy. But its temperature varies from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. IN Mariana Trench at a depth of approximately 1.6 km are the so-called “black smokers”, hydrothermal vents that shoot water up to 450 degrees Celsius.

Thanks to this water Mariana Trench life is supported as it is rich in minerals. By the way, despite the fact that the temperature is significantly higher than the boiling point, water does not boil due to very strong pressure.

At approximately a depth of 414 meters is the Daikoku volcano, which is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on the planet - a lake of pure molten sulfur. In the solar system, this phenomenon can only be found on Io, a satellite of Jupiter. So, in this "cauldron" the bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. So far, scientists have not been able to study it in detail, but if in the future they can advance in their research, they may be able to explain how life appeared on Earth.

But the most interesting thing about Mariana Trench- these are its inhabitants. After it was established that there was life in the depression, many expected to find incredible sea monsters there. For the first time, the expedition of the research vessel Glomar Challenger encountered something unidentified. They lowered a device into the depression, the so-called “hedgehog” with a diameter of about 9 m, made in a NASA laboratory from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel.

Some time after the descent of the apparatus began, the device recording sounds began to transmit to the surface some kind of metallic grinding sound, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. And unclear shadows appeared on the monitors, reminiscent of dragons with several heads and tails. Soon, scientists became worried that the valuable apparatus might remain forever in the depths of the Mariana Trench and decided to lift it onto the ship. But when they removed the hedgehog from the water, their surprise only intensified: the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered into the water was half sawn through.

However, perhaps this story was too embellished by the newspapers, since later researchers discovered very unusual creatures there, but not dragons.

Xenophyophores are giant, 10-centimeter amoebas that live at the very bottom Mariana Trench. Most likely, due to strong pressure, lack of light and relatively low temperatures, these amoebas acquired enormous sizes for their species. But in addition to their impressive size, these creatures are also resistant to many chemical elements and substances, including uranium, mercury and lead, which are lethal to other living organisms.

Pressure in M ariana trench turns glass and wood into powder, so only creatures without bones or shells can live here. But in 2012, scientists discovered a mollusk. How he preserved his shell is still not known. In addition, hydrothermal springs emit hydrogen sulfide, which is fatal to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.

And that is not all. Below you can see some of the inhabitants Mariana Trench, which scientists managed to capture.

Mariana Trench and its inhabitants

While our eyes are directed to the sky towards the unsolved mysteries of space, there remains an unsolved mystery on our planet - the ocean. To date, only 5% of the world's oceans and secrets have been studied Mariana Trench This is only a small part of the secrets that are hidden under the water.

The bottom of the world's oceans is uneven, cut through by gorges whose depth is tens of thousands of meters. The relief was formed millions of years ago due to the movement of tectonic plates - the “shell” of the earth’s crust. Due to their continuous movement, the location and shape of the continents and the ocean floor changed. The deepest ocean on the planet is the Pacific Ocean, which at this stage of technological development cannot be fully explored.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest on the planet. In its western latitudes lie the continents of Australia and Eurasia, in the southern - Antarctica, in the eastern - South and North America. The length of the Pacific Ocean from south to north is almost 16 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 19 thousand. The area of ​​the ocean together with its seas is 178.684 million kilometers, and the average depth is about 4 kilometers. But there are amazing places in the Pacific Ocean that make it the deepest in the world.

The Mariana Trench is the deepest place in the ocean

This deepest chasm got its name in honor of the nearby Mariana Islands. The depth of the Pacific Ocean in this place is 10 kilometers 994 meters. The deepest point of the trench is called the Challenger Deep. Geographically, the “Abyss” is located 340 km from the southwestern tip of the island of Guam.

If we take Mount Everest for comparison, which, as is known, rises 8848 m above sea level, it can completely disappear under water and there will still be room.

In 2010, an oceanographic expedition from New Hampshire conducted research on the ocean floor in the Mariana Trench area. Scientists have discovered four seamounts, each at least 2.5 kilometers high, crossing the surface of the trench at the point of contact between the Philippine and Pacific lithospheric plates. According to scientists, these ridges were formed about 180 million years ago as a result of the movement of the above-mentioned plates and the gradual creep of the older and heavier Pacific Plate under the Philippine Plate. The maximum depth of the Pacific Ocean was recorded here.

Diving into the abyss

Deep-sea vehicles with three people descended into the depths of the Challenger Deep four times:

1. Brussels explorer Jacques Piccard, together with American Navy Lieutenant John Walsh, were the first to dare to look into the face of the abyss. This happened on January 23, 1960. The deepest dive in the world was made on the bathyscaphe Trieste, designed by Auguste Piccard, Jacques' father. This feat, without a doubt, set a record in the world of deep diving. The descent lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, and the ascent lasted 3 hours 15 minutes. The researchers found large flat fish at the bottom of the trench that looked like flounder. The lowest point of the World Ocean was recorded - 10,918 meters. Later, Picard wrote the book “11 thousand meters”, describing all the moments of the dive.
2. On May 31, 1995, a deep-sea Japanese probe was launched into the depression, which recorded a depth of 10,911 m and also discovered ocean inhabitants - microorganisms.
3. On May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic apparatus went on reconnaissance and stopped at 10,902 m. It shot a video, took pictures of the bottom landscape and collected soil samples, in which microorganisms were also found.
4. Finally, on March 26, 2012, film director James Cameron accomplished the feat of diving solo into the Challenger Deep. Cameron became the third person on Earth to visit the bottom of the World Ocean in its deepest place. The single-seat Deepsea Challenger was equipped with advanced deep-sea imaging equipment and powerful lighting equipment. Filming was carried out in 3G format. The Challenger Deep is featured in James Cameron's National Geographic Channel documentary.

This depression is located at the junction of the Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific plate. Extends from the Kermadec Trench towards the Tonga Islands. Its length is 860 km and its depth is 10,882 m, which is a record in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on the planet. The Tonga region is notorious for being one of the most active seismic zones.

In 1970, on April 17, during Apollo 13's return to earth, the spent landing stage containing plutonium fell into the Tonga Trench to a depth of 6 km. No attempts were made to remove her from there.

Philippine Trench

The second deepest place in the Pacific Ocean is located in the Philippine Islands. The recorded depth of the depression is 10,540 m. The depression was formed as a result of the collision of granite and basalt layers, the latter, being heavier, was undermined by the granite layer. The process of meeting two lithospheric plates is called subduction, and the place of “meeting” is the subduction zone. In such places, tsunamis are born and earthquakes occur.

The depression runs along the volcanic ridge of the Kuril Islands on the border between Japan and Russia. The length of the trench is 1300 km, and the maximum depth is 10500 m. The depression was formed more than 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous period as a result of the collision of two tectonic plates.

It is located near the Kermadec Islands, northeast of New Zealand and in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The trench was first discovered by the Galatea group from Denmark, and the Soviet research vessel Vityaz studied the bottom of the trench in 1958 and recorded a maximum depth of 10,047 m. In 2008, an unknown species of sea slugs was discovered at the bottom of the trench, as well as deep-seated crustaceans long up to 30 cm.

Video: inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Our blue planet is full of secrets, and we humans strive to comprehend them. We are curious by nature, learning from the past and looking forward to the future. The ocean is the cradle of humanity. When will he reveal his secrets to us? The greatest depth of the Pacific Ocean that is known to scientists - are these figures true, or is there something incomprehensible hidden under the black water?

The ocean is much closer to us than the planets of the solar system. However, only 5 percent of its bottom has been studied. How many more secrets do the waters of the world's oceans hold? This is the greatest mystery of our planet.

Maximum depth

The Mariana Trench, or otherwise the Mariana Trench, is the deepest place in the world's oceans. Amazing creatures live here and there is practically no light. However, this is the most famous place, which is still not fully explored and conceals many unsolved mysteries.

Diving into the Mariana Trench is truly suicide. After all, the water pressure here is thousands of times higher than the pressure at sea level. The maximum depth of the world's oceans is approximately 10,994 meters with an error of 40 meters. However, there are brave souls who descended to the very bottom, risking their own lives. Of course, this could not have happened without modern technologies.

Where is the deepest place in the world's oceans?

The Mariana Trench is located in the region, or more precisely, in its western part, closer to the east, near Guam, about 200 kilometers from the deepest place in the world's oceans, shaped like a crescent-shaped trench. The width of the depression is approximately 69 kilometers and the length is 2550 kilometers.

Coordinates of the Mariana Trench: eastern longitude - 142°35’, northern latitude - 11°22’.

Temperature at the bottom

Scientists have suggested that at maximum depth there should be a very low temperature. However, they were very surprised by the fact that at the bottom of the Mariana Trench this figure remains above zero and amounts to 1 - 4 ° C. Soon an explanation was found for this phenomenon.

Hydrothermal springs are located approximately at a depth of 1600 meters from the surface of the water. They are also called “white smokers.” Jets of very hot water come out of the springs. Its temperature is 450° Celsius.

It is worth noting that this water contains a huge amount of minerals. It is these chemical elements that support life at great depths. Despite such a high temperature, which is several times higher than the boiling point, the water does not boil here. And this is explained by fairly high pressure. At this depth, this figure is 155 times higher than that on the surface.

As you can see, the deepest places in the world's oceans are not so simple. There are still many secrets hidden in them that need to be unraveled.

Who lives at such depths?

Many people think that the deepest place in the world's oceans is an abyss where life cannot exist. However, this is not the case. At the very bottom of the Mariana Trench, scientists discovered very large amoebas, which are called xenophyophores. Their body length is 10 centimeters. These are very large single-celled organisms.

Scientists suggest that this type of amoeba acquired such a size due to the environment in which they have to exist. It is worth noting that these single-celled creatures were found at a depth of 10.6 kilometers. Their development was influenced by many factors. This includes the lack of sunlight, fairly high pressure, and, of course, cold water.

In addition, xenophyophores have simply unique abilities. Amoebas tolerate the effects of many chemicals and elements, including lead, mercury and uranium.

Shellfish

There is very high pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In such conditions, even creatures with bones or shells have no chance of surviving. However, not so long ago, mollusks were found in the Mariana Trench. They live near hydrothermal springs, because serpentine contains methane and hydrogen. These substances allow a living organism to fully form.

It is still not known how mollusks manage to preserve their shells in such conditions. In addition, hydrothermal springs release another gas - hydrogen sulfide. And it is known to be fatal to any mollusks.

Liquid carbon dioxide in its pure form

The Mariana Trench is a deep place in the world's oceans, as well as an amazing world with many unexplained phenomena. There are hydrothermal vents located near Taiwan, outside the Okinawa Trench. This is the only underwater area currently known to contain liquid carbon dioxide. This place was discovered back in 2005.

Many scientists believe that it was these sources that allowed life to arise in the Mariana Trench. After all, there is not only the optimal temperature, but also chemicals present.

Finally

The deepest places of the world's oceans simply amaze with the extraordinary nature of their world. Here you can find living organisms that thrive in complete darkness and at high pressure and cannot exist in any other environment.

It is worth noting that the Mariana Trench has the status of a US national monument. This marine reserve is the largest in the world. Of course, for those who want to visit here, there is a certain list of rules. Mining and fishing is strictly prohibited in this place.

For the first time, people sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (depth - 11.5 km), the deepest oceanic trench known on Earth, using the bathyscaphe Trieste on January 23, 1960. They were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and engineer Jacques Piccard. Since then and until recently, man has not descended to this depth.

Hollywood director James Cameron in a submersibleDeepseaChallenger

52 years later, the director of “Avatar” and “Titanic” James Cameron repeated this path to the deepest point of the ocean, who on March 25 successfully dived to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and returned to the surface. On a special vertical bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, two hours after the start of the dive, he reached the bottom at 7:52 am local time. He stayed there for three hours, photographing and collecting samples, after which he successfully returned to the surface.

BathyscapheDeepseaChallenge with James Cameron dives into the depths of the Pacific Ocean

The first people who sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench stayed there for only 20 minutes, doing a minimal amount of work and seeing almost nothing except the mud and silt that rose from the dive. The past decades have not been in vain. Mr. Cameron's bathyscaphe was properly equipped - this was to be expected from a man who shot one of the most impressive feature films in stereoscopic form and many documentaries about the underwater world.

Deepsea Challenger was equipped with an array of stereoscopic cameras, an LED light tower, a sampling bottle, a robotic arm and a special device capable of capturing small underwater organisms using suction. The deep-sea vehicle itself was created in Australia and has a length of 7 meters and a weight of 11 tons. The compartment in which James Cameron huddled is a sphere with an internal diameter of just over a meter and only allows for a sitting position.

ApparatusDeepseaChallenge sank to the bottom at a speed3-4 knots

The director said in an interview with the BBC before the dive that it was his dream: “I grew up reading science fiction at a time when people lived in a science-fiction reality. People went to the moon, Cousteau studied the ocean. This is the environment in which I grew up, this is what I have appreciated since childhood.”

James Cameron immediately after the dive greets ocean explorer US Navy Captain Don Walsh

James Cameron in the hatchDeepseaChallenge prepares to dive

Another shot of filmmaker and ocean explorer Don Walsh (far right), who was, along with Jacques Piccard, the first man to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench 52 years ago

James Cameron's Journey in One Minute Animation