What do we know about the deepest place in the World Ocean? This is the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench.
What is its depth? This is not a simple question...
But definitely not 14 kilometers!
In cross-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 areas. Bottom pressure Mariana Trench more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure, reaching 3150 kg/cm2. Temperatures at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) are surprisingly high thanks to hydrothermal vents nicknamed “black smokers.” They constantly heat the water and maintain the overall temperature in the depression at about 3°C.
The first attempt to measure the depth of the Mariana Trench (Mariana 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 an on-duty sounding of the bottom using 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 Deep.
A measurement made in 1899 from the American coal miner Nero showed a greater depth: 9636 m.
In 1951, the bottom of the depression was measured by the British hydrographic vessel Challenger, named after its predecessor, unofficially called Challenger II. Now, using 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, changing environmental conditions at different depths were not taken into account. This erroneous figure is still present on many physical-geographical maps published in the USSR and Russia.
In 1959, the American research vessel 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 vessel Sumner; they showed a depth of 10994 ± 40 m.
It is not yet possible to obtain absolutely accurate readings even with the most modern equipment. The work of an echo sounder is hampered by the fact that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which manifest themselves differently depending on the depth.
This is what the most durable hulls of underwater vehicles look like after testing at extreme pressure. Photo: Sergey Ptichkin / RG
And now it is reported that Russia has developed an autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of operating at a depth of 14 kilometers. From this it is concluded that our military oceanologists have discovered a depression in the World Ocean deeper than the Mariana Trench.
The message that the device was created and was tested 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 involved, among other things, in deep-sea vehicles. It’s 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 playing it safe and want to get reinforced concrete evidence? And now we have every reason to expect a new scientific sensation.
It was decided to create an uninhabited deep-sea vehicle capable of withstanding pressure much higher than what exists in the Mariana Trench. The device is ready for use. 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, studying it up and down. In addition, the developers claim that with not very complicated modifications, the AUV can be made habitable. And this 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 going down to the bottom, but over the past 60 years only three people have had the opportunity to do this: a scientist, a military man and a film director.
During the entire study of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench), vehicles with people on board were lowered to its bottom twice and automatic vehicles were dropped four times (as of April 2017). This, by the way, is less than the number of people who have been to the Moon.
On January 23, 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) abyss. On board were Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard (1922-2008) and US Navy lieutenant, explorer Don Walsh (born 1931). The bathyscaphe was designed by Jacques Piccard's father - physicist, inventor of the stratospheric balloon and bathyscaphe Auguste Piccard (1884-1962).
A black and white photograph from half a century ago shows the legendary bathyscaphe Trieste as it prepares to 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, with the crew periodically interrupting it. At a depth of 9 km, the plexiglass glass 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. After staying at a depth of 10912 m for about 20 minutes, the crew began the ascent, which took 3 hours 15 minutes.
Man made another attempt to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) in 2012, when American film director James Cameron (born 1954) became the third to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep. Previously, he repeatedly dived on the Russian Mir submersibles into Atlantic Ocean to a depth of over 4 km during the filming of the movie Titanic. Now, on the Dipsy Challenger bathyscaphe, he sank into the abyss in 2 hours 37 minutes—almost twice as fast as the Trieste—and spent 2 hours 36 minutes at a depth of 10,898 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 have been poorly studied.
In the 1950s Soviet scientists during the expedition of the Vityaz vessel discovered life at depths of more than 7 thousand m. Before this, it was believed that there was nothing living there. Pogonophorans 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 (Mariana Trench), living at the very bottom, are barophilic (developing only at high pressure) bacteria, protozoan creatures - foraminifera - single-celled in shells and xenophyophores - amoebas, reaching 20 cm in diameter and living by shoveling silt.
Foraminifera were obtained by the Japanese automatic deep-sea probe "Kaiko" in 1995, which dived to 10,911.4 m and took soil samples.
The larger inhabitants of the trench live throughout its thickness. Life at depth made them either blind or with very developed eyes, often telescopic. Many have photophores - luminous organs, a kind of bait for prey: some have long processes, like an angler fish, while others have them right in the mouth. Some accumulate luminous liquid and, in case of danger, shower the enemy with it in the manner of a “light curtain”.
Since 2009, the territory of the depression has been part of the American protected 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 basis for this action was the fact that the Northern Mariana Islands and the island of Guam - in fact American territory - are the island borders of the water area. The Challenger Deep is not included in this zone, as it is located on ocean territory Federated States Micronesia.
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Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the distant planets of the solar system, people Only five percent of the ocean floor has been explored, which remains one of the greatest mysteries of our planet. The deepest part ocean - Mariana Trench or Mariana Trenchis one of the most famous places, about which we still don’t 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 risked their lives and went down there, we learned a lot of interesting things about this amazing place.
Mariana Trench on the map. Where is it?
The Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench is located in the western part Pacific Ocean east (approximately 200 km) of 15 Mariana Islands near Guam. It is a crescent-shaped trench in the earth's crust about 2,550 km long and an average width of 69 km.
Mariana Trench coordinates: 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 high peak 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.
Here are others Interesting Facts about what can be found 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 depths, we expect it to be very cold. The temperature here reaches just above zero, varying 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 water temperature being hundreds of degrees above boiling point, she doesn't boil here due to 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.
These single-celled organisms likely became so large because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. Cold temperatures, high pressure and lack of sunlight likely contributed to these amoebas have acquired enormous dimensions.
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. Shellfish
The intense water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance of survival. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trench near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form.
TO How did mollusks preserve their shells under such pressure?, remains unknown.
In addition, hydrothermal vents emit another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is lethal to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench
4. Pure liquid carbon dioxide
Hydrothermal source of Champagne 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, was named after the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.
Many believe these springs, called "white smokers" due to their lower temperatures, 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 begin.
5. Slime
If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, we would feel that it covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its familiar form, does not exist there.
The bottom of the depression mainly consists of crushed shells and plankton remains that have accumulated at the bottom of the depression for many years. Due to the incredible water pressure, almost everything there turns into fine grayish-yellow thick mud.
Mariana Trench
6. Liquid sulfur
Daikoku Volcano, which lies 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. Here is 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", there is a bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this site in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. It 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 everything living and nonliving is 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 move into the air and return to land.
7. Bridges
At the end of 2011, it was discovered in the Mariana Trench four stone bridges, which extended 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 bridges Dutton Ridge, which was discovered back in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. In the most high point, the ridge reaches 2.5 km over the Challenger Deep.
Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that in one of the most mysterious and unknown places The discovery of these formations is amazing.
8. James Cameron's Dive into the Mariana Trench
Since opening the deepest part of the Mariana Trench - the Challenger Deep in 1875, only three people visited here. The first were American Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard, who dived on January 23, 1960 on the ship Trieste.
52 years later, another person dared to dive here - a famous film director. James Cameron. So On March 26, 2012, Cameron sank to the bottom and took some photos.
In our article we want to talk about the mysterious Mariana Trench. This is the most deep point on the surface of the Earth. By and large, this is where our knowledge about this place ends. But the Mariana Trench and the monsters that live in it are an eternal matter of speculation. 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 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?
The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Guam and Micronesia. Its deepest point is called the Challenger Deep and is located 340 kilometers from
Answering the question of where the Mariana Trench is located, you can give its exact geographical coordinates- 11°21′ N. w. 142°12′ E. d. The place received this name due to the fact that it is located nearby and is part of a state such as Guam.
What is the Mariana Trench like?
What is the Mariana Trench? The ocean carefully hides its true size. One can only guess about them. This is not just a “very deep hole.” The gutter itself stretched along seabed one and a half thousand kilometers. The depression is V-shaped, that is, it is much wider at the top, and the walls narrow downwards.
The bottom of the Mariana Trench has a flat topography, and the width varies from 1 to 5 kilometers. Its upper part extends for eighty kilometers in width.
This place is one of the most inaccessible on our earth.
Is it necessary to explore the depression?
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 space is easier to explore these days than such depths. Many people have been outside the Earth, but only three brave men dived to the bottom of the trench.
Study of the gutter
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 globe. Since then, people have been haunted by the secrets and creatures of the Mariana Trench.
As 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 bathyscaphe Trieste. In 2012, Jace Cameron ventured into the Deepsea Challenger.
Russian researchers also studied the Mariana Trench. In 1957, the ship "Vityaz" headed to the trench area. Scientists not only measured the depth of the trench (11,022 meters), but also discovered the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. This event made a kind of 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. There are simply too many stories and legends about this place to 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, mysteries, 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 submersible called "Trieste". The thickness of the walls of the structure was thirteen centimeters. She was sank to the bottom for five hours. Having reached the deepest point, the researchers managed to stay there for only twelve minutes. Then the rise of the bathyscaphe immediately began, which took three hours. No matter how amazing this may seem, living organisms were discovered at the bottom. The fish of the Mariana Trench are flat creatures similar to flounder, no more than thirty centimeters long.
In 1995, the Japanese fell 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 materials from the next dive of the apparatus from the Challenger research vessel. It turns out that when the equipment began to be lowered, after some time the instruments recorded a strong metallic grinding sound. This fact was the reason for the immediate rise of the equipment to the surface. What the researchers saw stunned them. The steel structure was fairly dented, and the thick, durable cable seemed to have been sawed. This is the unexpected surprise that the Mariana Trench presented. Were the monsters that crushed the equipment, or representatives of alien intelligence, or mutated octopuses... A variety of proposals were made, each of which was more incredible than the previous one. However, no one 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 still not been revealed.
Another mysterious story
Another incredible one mysterious case happened to a team of German researchers who lowered their apparatus called “Hayfish” to the bottom. At some point, the device stopped diving, and the cameras installed on it gave an image of the enormous 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 got scared and swam away and did not appear again. It is a pity that such events were not recorded by the apparatus so that there would be irrefutable evidence.
After this incident, the Mariana Trench began to acquire more and more new facts, legends and speculations. Ship crews kept reporting about a huge monster in these waters, which was towing ships at high speed. It has become difficult to discern what is truth and what is speculation. The Mariana Trench, whose monsters haunted many people, still remains the most mysterious point on the planet.
Undeniable facts
Along with the most incredible legends regarding the Mariana Trench, there are very specific, but incredible facts. There is no need to doubt them, since they are supported by evidence.
In 1948, lobster fishermen (Australian) reported a large transparent fish that was at least thirty meters long. They saw her in the sea. Judging by their description, it looks like a very ancient shark (Carcharodon megalodon species) that lived several million years ago. Scientists were able to reconstruct the appearance of the shark using the remains. 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 oceanographers at the bottom of the vast Pacific Ocean. The youngest of them is at least eleven thousand years old.
This unique find makes it possible to assume that not all such creatures became extinct a couple of million years ago. Perhaps at the very bottom of the cavity these incredible predators are hiding from human eyes. Research into the mysterious depths continues to this day, since the abyss conceals many secrets that people have not yet come close to revealing.
At the bottom of the depression, living organisms experience enormous pressure. It would seem that in such conditions nothing living could exist. However, this opinion is wrong. Mollusks live peacefully here, their shells do not suffer at all from pressure. They are not even affected by hydrothermal vents that release methane and hydrogen. Incredible, but it's a fact!
Another mystery is a hydrothermal vent called “Champagne”. Bubbles of carbon dioxide bubble in its waters. This is the only such object in the world and it is located precisely in the depression, which has given scientists reason to talk about the possible origin of life in water in this very place.
There is a volcano called Daikoku 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 this phenomenon is in space (on a satellite of Jupiter called Io).
Amazing place
In the Mariana Trench live giant single-celled amoebas, the size of which reaches ten centimeters. They live next to uranium, lead, and mercury that are destructive to living beings. However, they not only do not die from them, but also feel great.
The Mariana Trench is the greatest miracle on earth. Everything inanimate and living are combined here. Everything that kills life under normal conditions, at the bottom of the depression, on the contrary, gives living organisms strength to survive. Isn't this a miracle? How much still unknown this place conceals!
It would seem that by the twenty-first century, humanity knows everything about our planet and there are no blank spots left on the maps. But don’t forget that about 90% of the ocean floor is still covered not only with thick water, but also with mystery. So far there are more questions than answers in this area. This is because only a few daredevils dared to dive in these places. It is believed that this is akin to suicide.
Harsh conditions
The Mariana Trench is a tectonic submarine fault and has a V-shaped silhouette, with steep slopes and a flat bottom, about 5 km wide. At the depth there are also peculiar underwater mountains about two kilometers high. The deepest point of the planet, reaching 11 thousand meters, is located here and is called the Challenger Abyss. Even the highest peak of our planet, Mount Everest, would be drowned under the water column in the Mariana Trench.
The pressure at this depth is more than a thousand times the Earth's normal atmospheric pressure. Just imagine, a whole ton of weight falls on one square centimeter of surface. Titanium alloys can barely withstand such loads. If there had been a person here, he would have been torn to pieces at that very second. It is curious that the water temperature at such a depth is about 4 degrees plus. All thanks to the oceanic hydrothermal vents “black smokers”, which throw out 450-degree jets closer to the surface of the ocean.
The colossal pressure does not allow the water to boil and the environment is only slightly heated. And the one-of-a-kind deep-sea “White Smokers” produce liquid carbon dioxide in the Mariana Trench, plunging everything around into a white fog. Such hydrothermal springs enrich the aquatic environment with chemical microelements and, according to scientists, create good conditions for the emergence of new forms of life.
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
The big discovery was the fact that at a depth of more than 6000 m, under incredible pressure, the absence of sunlight and zero temperatures, life is in full swing. The bottom is home to various species of bacteria and protozoa, sea cucumbers and amphipods, mollusk shells and luminous octopuses, bizarre-shaped starfish, blind giant worms and flat fish with periscope eyes.
New species of scorpionfish and anglerfish have been discovered. The peculiarity of these frightening fish is the presence of bioluminescent luminous appendages that hang down like a fishing rod. Seeing a light in the pitch darkness, the prey swims towards the light and ends up in the toothy mouth of a predator. The attention of doctors was especially attracted by one of the species of isopods, because the substance it secretes may help develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease.
What shocked the public the most were the huge xenophyophore amoebas. Their size in the Mariana Trench reaches 10 cm, while all previously known species of protozoa can hardly be seen under a microscope. A unique feature of xenophyophores is that they are resistant to substances such as mercury, uranium, and lead that are potent and destructive to all living things.
Inexplicable
In the mid-nineties, newspapers were full of headlines about a certain monster hiding at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The story goes that the research vessel Glomar Challenger, plunging an instrument into the abyss to study the ocean depths, encountered difficulties. At some point, the sensors recorded a terrible noise and grinding sound. We had to urgently remove the device from the water. It turned out to be badly damaged, the iron body of the device was badly twisted, and the reliable metal cable almost broke, as if someone wanted to bite it.
A similar incident happened to a group of German scientists when, according to the team, a huge lizard attacked the Highfish probe, which was lowered into the water. It was possible to get rid of it only by intimidating it with an electric charge.
There is no convincing evidence that giant prehistoric animals are found in the Mariana Trench today. However, the opposite has not been proven.
In the 20s of the last century, fishermen from Australia said that they saw a huge white shark about 30 m long in these parts. Whereas individuals of this species known to science do not exceed five meters. The description of the Australians was completely consistent only with the external characteristics of Megalodon (scientific name Carcharodon megalodon). This animal weighed 100 tons and its mouth could swallow prey the size of a car. According to popular belief, Megalodons went extinct about 2 million years ago. But just recently, a tooth of this monster was discovered in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the Mariana Trench. The examination determined that this find is no more than 11 thousand years old. What else does the seabed hide?
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Everything that we now know about the Mariana Trench was obtained thanks to brave researchers who were not afraid of the unknown depths. Since 1872, more than a dozen expeditions have been sent to the waters of the Pacific Ocean. In most cases, research was carried out using technologies that are improving every year. Various equipment with sensors and probes with video and photo cameras were immersed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
The first to study the ocean abyss were researchers from the Challenger ship. The deepest point on the planet in the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, was named after this vessel.
The first to personally visit a depth of eleven thousand meters were the Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and the American military man Don Walsh. In 1960, they plunged into the Mariana Trench on a deep-sea vessel. Only 127 mm separated them from kilometers of frightening uncertainty. armored steel.
Only our contemporary, the famous director James Cameron, creator of the films “Titanic” and “Avatar,” decided to repeat their feat. In 2012, he made this dive alone on the DeepSea Challenge submersible. By taking soil and water samples from the bottom of the Mariana Trench, Cameron helped scientists do a lot important discoveries. However, what he saw was silent silence. He did not encounter any monsters or strange phenomena in the abyss. James compares his adventure to a flight into space - "complete isolation from all humanity."
Close to east coast Philippine Islands is located underwater canyon. It's so deep that you could fit Mount Everest in it and still have about three kilometers to spare. There is impenetrable darkness and incredible pressure, so you can easily imagine the Mariana Trench as one of the most unfriendly places in the world. However, despite all this, life still somehow continues to exist there - and not just barely survive, but actually thrive, thanks to which a full-fledged ecosystem has appeared there.
Life at such a depth is extremely difficult - eternal cold, impenetrable darkness and enormous pressure will not allow you to exist in peace. Some creatures, such as the anglerfish, create their own light to attract prey or mates. Others, such as the hammerhead, have developed huge eyes to capture as much light as possible, reaching incredible depths. Other creatures are simply trying to hide from everyone, and to achieve this they turn translucent or red (the red color absorbs all the blue light that manages to make its way to the bottom of the cavity).
Cold protection
It is also worth noting that all creatures living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench need to cope with cold and pressure. Protection from cold is provided by fats that form the lining of the creature's body cells. If this process is not monitored, the membranes may crack and cease to protect the body. To combat this, these creatures have acquired an impressive supply of unsaturated fats in their membranes. With the help of these fats, the membranes always remain in a liquid state and do not crack. But is this enough to survive in one of the deepest places on the planet?
What is the Mariana Trench like?
The Mariana Trench is shaped like a horseshoe and its length is 2,550 kilometers. It is located in the eastern Pacific Ocean and is about 69 kilometers wide. The deepest point of the depression was discovered near the southern end of the canyon in 1875 - the depth there was 8184 meters. A lot of time has passed since then, and with the help of an echo sounder more accurate data was obtained: it turns out that the deepest point has an even greater depth, 10994 meters. It was named “Challenger Deep” in honor of the ship that made that very first measurement.
Human immersion
However, about 100 years have passed since that moment - and only then for the first time a person plunged to such a depth. In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh set off in the bathyscaphe Trieste to conquer the depths of the Mariana Trench. Trieste used gasoline as fuel and iron structures as ballast. The bathyscaphe took 4 hours and 47 minutes to reach a depth of 10,916 meters. It was then that the fact that life still exists at such depths was first confirmed. Piccard reported that he then saw a “flat fish,” although in fact it turned out that he only noticed a sea cucumber.
Who lives at the bottom of the ocean?
However, not only sea cucumbers are found at the bottom of the depression. Along with them live large single-celled organisms known as foraminifera - they are giant amoebas that can grow up to 10 centimeters in length. Under normal conditions, these organisms create shells of calcium carbonate, but at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, where the pressure is a thousand times greater than on the surface, calcium carbonate dissolves. This means that these organisms have to use proteins, organic polymers and sand to create their shells. Also living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench are shrimp and other crustaceans known as amphipods. The largest amphipods look like giant albino woodlice and can be found in the Challenger Deep.
Food at the bottom
Considering that sunlight does not reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench, another question arises: what do these organisms eat? Bacteria manage to survive at such depths because they feed on methane and sulfur that emerge from the earth's crust, and some organisms feed on these bacteria. But many rely on what is called "sea snow" - tiny pieces of detritus that reach the bottom from the surface. One of the most striking examples and the richest sources of food are the carcasses of dead whales, which as a result end up on the ocean floor.
Fishes in the Trench
But what about fish? The deepest fish in the Mariana Trench was discovered only in 2014 at a depth of 8143 meters. An unknown ghostly white subspecies of Liparidae with wide wing-like fins and an eel-like tail was recorded several times by cameras that plunged into the depths of the depression. However, scientists believe this depth is likely the limit of where the fish can survive. This means that there cannot be fish at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, since the conditions there do not correspond to the body structure of vertebrate species.
