Mariana Trench located in the western part Pacific Ocean, not far from Mariana Islands, just two hundred kilometers away, thanks to the neighborhood with which it received its name. It is a huge marine reserve in the status of a national monument of the United States, therefore it is under state protection. Fishing and mining are strictly prohibited here, but you can swim and enjoy the beauty.
In shape, the Mariana Trench resembles a grandiose crescent - 2550 km long and 69 km wide. The most deep point– 10994 m below sea level – called the “Challenger Deep”.
Discovery and first observations
The British began to explore the Mariana Trench. In 1872, the sailing corvette Challenger entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean with scientists and the most advanced equipment of those times. After taking measurements, we set the maximum depth - 8367 m. The value, of course, differs markedly from the correct result. But this was enough to understand: the deepest point had been discovered the globe. Thus, another mystery of nature was “challenged” (translated from English as “Challenger” - “challenger”). Years passed, and in 1951 the British carried out “work on the mistakes.” Namely: the deep-sea echo sounder recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters.
Then the baton was intercepted by Russian researchers, who sent the research vessel Vityaz to the Mariana Trench area. In 1957, with the help of special equipment, they were not only able to record the depth of the depression as 11,022 m, but also established the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. Thus, making a small revolution in the scientific world of the mid-20th century, where there was a strong opinion that there are no and cannot be such deeply living creatures. This is where the fun begins... Many stories about underwater monsters, huge octopuses, unprecedented bathyscaphes crushed into a cake by the huge paws of animals... Where is the truth and where is the lie - let's try to figure it out.
Secrets, riddles and legends
The first daredevils who dared to dive to the “bottom of the Earth” were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard. They dived on the bathyscaphe "Trieste", which was built in the same name Italian city. A very heavy structure with thick 13-centimeter walls was immersed in the bottom for five hours. Having reached the lowest point, the researchers stayed there for 12 minutes, after which an ascent was immediately begun, which took approximately 3 hours. At the bottom, fish were found - flat, flounder-like, about 30 centimeters long.
Research continued, and in 1995 the Japanese descended into the “abyss”. Another “breakthrough” was made in 2009 with the help of the automatic underwater vehicle “Nereus”: this miracle of technology not only took several photographs at the deepest point of the Earth, but also took soil samples.
In 1996, the New York Times published shocking material about the diving of equipment from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger into the Mariana Trench. The team affectionately nicknamed the spherical apparatus for deep-sea travel “the hedgehog.” Some time after the start of the dive, the instruments recorded terrifying sounds reminiscent of the grinding of metal on metal. “The Hedgehog” was immediately raised to the surface, and they were horrified: the huge steel structure was crushed, and the strongest and thickest (20 cm in diameter!) cable seemed to have been sawed off. Many explanations were immediately found. Some said that these were the “tricks” of the monsters inhabiting the natural object, others were inclined to the version of the presence of an alien intelligence, and still others believed that it could not have happened without mutated octopuses! True, there was no evidence, and all assumptions remained at the level of conjecture and conjecture...
Same mysterious case happened to a German research team that decided to lower the Highfish apparatus into the waters of the abyss. But for some reason he stopped moving, and the cameras impartially displayed on the monitor screens an image of the shocking size of a lizard that was trying to chew through the steel “thing.” The team was not at a loss and “scared away” the unknown beast with an electric discharge from the device. He swam away and never appeared again... One can only regret that for some reason those who came across such unique inhabitants of the Mariana Trench did not have the equipment that would allow them to photograph them.
At the end of the 90s of the last century, at the time of the “discovery” of the monsters of the Mariana Trench by the Americans, this geographical object began to become “overgrown” with legends. Fishermen (poachers) talked about glows from its depths, lights running back and forth, and various unidentified flying objects floating up from there. Teams small ships It was reported that ships in this area were being “towed at tremendous speed” by a monster possessing incredible strength.
Confirmed evidence
Depth of the Mariana TrenchAlong with many legends associated with the Mariana Trench, there are also incredible facts supported by irrefutable evidence.
Found a giant shark toothIn 1918, Australian lobster fishermen reported seeing a transparent white fish about 30 meters long in the sea. According to the description, it is similar to the ancient shark of the species Carcharodon megalodon, which lived in the seas 2 million years ago. Scientists from the surviving remains were able to recreate the appearance of a shark - a monstrous creature 25 meters long, weighing 100 tons and an impressive two-meter mouth with teeth 10 cm each. Can you imagine such “teeth”! And it was they who were recently found by oceanologists at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean! The “youngest” of the discovered artifacts… is “only” 11 thousand years old!
This find allows us to be sure that not all megalodons went extinct two million years ago. Perhaps the waters of the Mariana Trench hide these incredible predators from human eyes? Research continues; the depths still conceal many unsolved secrets.
Features of the deep sea world
The water pressure at the lowest point of the Mariana Trench is 108.6 MPa, that is, 1072 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. A vertebrate animal simply cannot survive in such monstrous conditions. But, oddly enough, mollusks have taken root here. How their shells withstand such colossal water pressure is unclear. The discovered mollusks are an incredible example of “survival”. They exist next to serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which not only do not pose a threat to the “population” found here, but also contribute to the formation of living organisms in such a seemingly aggressive environment. But hydrothermal springs also emit gas that is lethal to shellfish - hydrogen sulfide. But “cunning” and life-hungry mollusks have learned to process hydrogen sulfide into protein, and continue, as they say, to live happily in the Mariana Trench.
Another incredible mystery of a deep-sea object is the Champagne hydrothermal spring, named after the famous French (and not only) alcoholic drink. It's all about the bubbles that “bubble” in the waters of the source. Of course, these are by no means bubbles of your favorite champagne - these are liquid carbon dioxide. Thus, the only underwater source of liquid carbon dioxide in the whole world is located precisely in the Mariana Trench. Such sources are called “white smokers”; their temperature is lower than the ambient temperature, and there is always vapor around them, similar to white smoke. Thanks to these sources, hypotheses were born about the origin of all life on earth in water. Low temperature, abundance of chemicals, colossal energy - all this created excellent conditions for ancient representatives of flora and fauna.
The temperature in the Mariana Trench is also very favorable - from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. “Black smokers” took care of this. The antipode of "white smokers" hydrothermal vents contain a large number of ore substances, and therefore they are dark in color. These springs are located here at a depth of about 2 kilometers and spew out water whose temperature is about 450 degrees Celsius. I immediately remember a school physics course, from which we know that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. So what's going on? Does the spring spew boiling water? Fortunately, no. It's all about the colossal water pressure - it is 155 times higher than on the surface of the Earth, so H 2 O does not boil, but it significantly “heats up” the waters of the Mariana Trench. The water of these hydrothermal springs is incredibly rich in various minerals, which also contributes to the comfortable habitat of living creatures.
Incredible facts
How many more mysteries and incredible miracles is fraught with this incredible place? A bunch of. At a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano is located here, which served as further evidence that life originated here, at the deepest point of the globe. In the crater of the volcano, under water, there is a lake of the purest molten sulfur. In this "cauldron" sulfur seethes at a temperature of 187 degrees Celsius. The only known analogue of such a lake is located on Jupiter’s satellite Io. There is nothing else like it on Earth. Only in space. It is no wonder that most hypotheses about the origin of life from water are associated precisely with this mysterious deep-sea object in the vast Pacific Ocean.
Let's remember a little school biology course. The simplest living creatures are amoebas. Tiny, single-celled, they can only be seen through a microscope. They reach, as it is written in textbooks, a length of half a millimeter. Giant toxic amoebas 10 centimeters long were discovered in the Mariana Trench. Can you imagine this? Ten centimeters! That is, this single-celled living creature can be clearly seen with the naked eye. Isn't this a miracle? As a result of scientific research, it was established that amoebas acquired such gigantic sizes for their class of single-celled organisms by adapting to the “unsweetened” life at the bottom of the sea. Cold water, coupled with its colossal pressure and the absence of sunlight, contributed to the “growth” of amoebae, which are called xenophyophores. The incredible abilities of xenophyophores are quite surprising: they have adapted to the effects of most destructive substances - uranium, mercury, lead. And they live in this environment, like mollusks. In general, the Mariana Trench is a miracle of miracles, where everything living and nonliving is perfectly combined, and the most harmful chemical elements that can kill any organism not only do not harm living things, but, on the contrary, promote survival.
The local bottom has been studied in some detail and is not of particular interest - it is covered with a layer of viscous mucus. There is no sand there, there are only the remains of crushed shells and plankton that have been lying there for thousands of years, and due to water pressure have long since turned into thick grayish-yellow mud. And the calm and measured life of the seabed is disturbed only by the bathyscaphes of researchers that descend here from time to time.
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
Research continues
Everything secret and unknown has always attracted man. And with each secret revealed, new mysteries on our planet did not become fewer. All this fully applies to the Mariana Trench.
At the end of 2011, researchers discovered unique natural stone formations in it, shaped like bridges. Each of them stretched from one end to the other for as much as 69 km. Scientists had no doubt: this is where the tectonic plates – the Pacific and the Philippine – come into contact, and stone bridges (four in total) were formed at their junction. True, the very first of the bridges - Dutton Ridge - was opened in the late 80s of the last century. He impressed then with his size and height, which were the size of a small mountain. In its own high point, located just above the Challenger Deep, this deep-sea “ridge” reaches two and a half kilometers.
Why did nature need to build such bridges, and even in such a mysterious and inaccessible place for people? The purpose of these objects still remains unclear. In 2012, James Cameron, the creator of the legendary film Titanic, dived into the Mariana Trench. Unique equipment and powerful cameras installed on his DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe made it possible to film the majestic and deserted “bottom of the Earth.” It is unknown how long he would have been observing local landscapes if some problems had not arisen on the device. In order not to risk his life, the researcher was forced to rise to the surface.
Together with The National Geographic, the talented director created the documentary film “Challenging the Abyss.” In his story about the dive, he called the bottom of the depression “the border of life.” Emptiness, silence, and - nothing, not the slightest movement or disturbance of water. No sunlight, no shellfish, no algae, much less sea monsters. But this is only at first glance. Over twenty thousand different microorganisms were found in the bottom soil samples taken by Cameron. Great amount. How do they survive under such incredible water pressure? Still a mystery. Among the inhabitants of the depression, a shrimp-like amphipod was also discovered that produces a unique chemical substance that scientists are testing as a vaccine against Alzheimer's disease.
While staying at the deepest point not only of the world's oceans, but of the entire Earth, James Cameron did not encounter any terrible monsters, or representatives of extinct animal species, or an alien base, not to mention any incredible miracles. The feeling that he was completely alone here was a real shock. The ocean floor seemed deserted and, as the director himself said, “lunar... lonely.” The feeling of complete isolation from all humanity was such that it cannot be expressed in words. However, he still tried to do it in his documentary. Well, you probably shouldn’t be surprised that the Mariana Trench is silent and shocking with its desolation. After all, she simply sacredly keeps the secret of the origin of all life on Earth ...
The ocean is much closer to us than the planets of the solar system. However, its bottom has been studied only by 5 percent. 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 in other words the Mariana Trench, is the most deep 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 understood and conceals many unsolved mysteries.
Diving into the Mariana Trench is a real 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’.
bottom temperature
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 coming out of the sources are very hot water. 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 at 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 have 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, and also amazing world with many unexplained phenomena. There are hydrothermal vents located near Taiwan, outside the Okinawa Trench. This is the only underwater area known on this moment where liquid carbon dioxide is present. 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.
Today we will talk about the deepest oceanic place on the planet - the Mariana Trench and its deepest point - the Challenger Deep.
“The Mariana Trench (or Mariana Trench) is an oceanic deep-sea trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the deepest known on Earth. Named after the nearby Mariana Islands.
The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is the Challenger Deep. It is located in the southwestern part of the depression, 340 km southwest of the island of Guam (point coordinates: 11°22′N 142°35′E (G) (O)). According to measurements in 2011, its depth is 10,994 ± 40 m below sea level.
The deepest point of the depression, called the Challenger Deep, is further from sea level than Mount Everest is above it.”
Many people know from school that the depth of the Mariana Trench is 11 km, and this is the deepest place on the planet. However, with a slight amendment, it is the deepest known. That is, theoretically there could be even deeper depressions... but they are still unknown. Even the most high mountain in the world - Everest - can easily fit into the trench and there will still be room left.
The Mariana Trench is rich in records and titles: and it became famous not only for its depth, but also for its mystery, the terrible inhabitants of the underwater depths, the “monsters” guarding the bottom of the earth, mysteries, the unknown, primordiality, darkness, etc. In general, Space Inside Out is the bottom of the Mariana Trench. There are versions that life began in the Mariana Trench.
MARIANA TRENCH. PuzzlesMarianadepressions:
In the video they show and tell that at such a great depth the pressure is higher than from powder gases when fired from a hunting rifle, about 1100 times more than atmospheric pressure: 108.6 MPa (Mariana Trench - bottom) by 104 MPa (powder gases). Glass and wood turn into powder under such conditions.
Still, it is not clear then how there is life there and the ominous underwater monsters about which there are legends?
The length of the trench along the Mariana Islands is 1.5 km.
“It has a V-shaped profile: steep (7-9°) slopes, a flat bottom 1-5 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions.
The depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.”
The Mariana Trench was discovered in 1875:
“The first measurements (and discovery) of the Mariana Trench were taken in 1875 from the British three-masted corvette Challenger. Then, with the help of a deep-sea lot, the depth was established at 8367 meters (with repeated sounding - 8184 m).
In 1951, an English expedition on the research vessel Challenger recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters using an echo sounder.”
Back in 1951, this point was given the name Challenger Deep.
Later, during several expeditions, the depth of the Mariana Trench was established to be more than 11 km; the last measurement (late 2011) recorded a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m):
“According to the results of measurements carried out in 1957 during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel “Vityaz” (headed by Alexey Dmitrievich Dobrovolsky), the maximum depth of the trench is 11,023 m (updated data, initially the depth was reported as 11,034 m).
On January 23, 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard dived in the bathyscaphe Trieste. They recorded a depth of 10,916 m, which also became known as the "Trieste depth".
The unmanned Japanese submarine Kaiko collected soil samples from this location in March 1995 and recorded a depth of 10,911 m.
On May 31, 2009, the unmanned submarine Nereus took soil samples at this location. The collected mud mostly consists of foraminifera. This dive recorded a depth of 10,902 m.
More than two years later, on December 7, 2011, researchers at the University of New Hampshire published the results of an underwater robot dive that recorded a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m) using sound waves.
And yet, despite many obstacles, difficulties, and dangers, three people in the entire history of the Mariana Trench managed to reach the bottom, naturally, while in special devices. March 26, 2012 director James Cameron on camera Deepsea Challenger reached the bottom of the Abyss alone.
Channel One's story "James Cameron - diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench":
And here is Jace Cameron's film "Challenging the Abyss 3D|Journey to the Bottom of the Mariana Trench":
The film was created in collaboration with National Geographic, created in a documentary format. Before some of his box-office creations (like Titanic), the director also sank to the bottom of the depths to the place of events, so before his “visit” of the Mariana Trench in 2012, many were waiting for either a grandiose masterpiece, or a video with monsters living in the darkness of the ocean .
The film is a documentary, but the main thing is that Cameron did not see giant octopuses, monsters, “leviathans”, multi-headed creatures there, although for the first time he spent more than three hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. There were small marine derivatives no more than 2.5 cm... but those same outlandish flat fish, huge creatures that bite the steel cable were not there... although he was not there for 12 minutes.
To questions about whether the director saw any terrible creature at the bottom of the depression, he answered: “Probably everyone would like to hear that I saw some kind of sea monster, but it wasn’t there... There was nothing living, more than 2- 2.5 cm".
Public reaction to Cameron's film The Abyss was mixed. Some people thought the film was boring and could not be compared with his works like “Titanic”, “Avatar”, someone said that the film was real and in its “boringness” it showed the way of interaction between one of the seven billion people on the planet and the deepest abyss.
From reviews of the film:
“Of course, the content of the film can hardly be called exciting. The viewer spends most of the time in endless tedious meetings and tests in the laboratory. But I believe that this difficult and long path from a dream to its realization had to be shown. It is he who most inspires us to work for our idea.”
I mentioned the film precisely because the path that led the director to the creation of the creation is the basis for the interaction of the secrets of nature and mortal man.
People are frightened and attracted by the unknown, rebellion, depth, danger, mortality, mystery, eternity, loneliness, independence of the depths, distances, heights of nature. And the title of the film - “Challenge to the Abyss...” - is naturally not without reason: at a certain stage of potential development, a person either wants to touch the unknown, or completely forget about its existence, to live in everyday life.
Cameron, having the opportunity and zeal, decided to take this leap into depth. This is the desire to rise to a level close to God, and pride, and to perpetuate this abyss in oneself and to perpetuate oneself in the abyss, understanding the frailty of matter and much more.
Many people look in and are interested, some out of curiosity, some out of nothing to do. But only a few will dare to come close.
Let us recall the famous saying of F. Nietzsche: “If you gaze into an abyss for a long time, the abyss will begin to peer into you,” or another translation: “For a person who gazes into an abyss for a long time, the abyss begins to live in his eyes,” or the full text of the quote: “Who fights with monsters, he should be careful not to become a monster himself. And if you look into the abyss for a long time, then the abyss also looks into you.” Here we are talking about the dark sides of the soul and the world, if you attract evil, evil will attract you, although there are many interpretation options.
But the very words “abyss” and “abyss” imply something dangerous, dark, akin to the source of dark forces. There are a lot of legends around the Mariana Trench, legends that are far from good, whoever came up with anything: monsters live there, and monsters of unknown etiology can swallow alive deep-sea research vehicles with or without people, gnaw through 20-centimeter cables, and creepy devilish creatures seem to in hell they scurry between the black waves of the deep, terrify extremely rare human guests, and in circles discussing the deepest trench, versions are expressed that people who knew how to breathe under water used to live here, and almost life originated here, etc. People want to see darkness in this abyss. And, in general, they see her...
Before the conquest of the Mariana Abyss by Cameron, a similar attempt was made in 1960:
“On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh dived into the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,920 meters on the bathyscaphe Trieste. The dive took about 5 hours, and the time spent at the bottom was 12 minutes. This was an absolute depth record for manned and unmanned vehicles.
Two researchers then discovered at a terrible depth only 6 species of living creatures, including flat fish up to 30 cm in size.”
Whether the monsters were afraid of James Cameron, or they were not in the mood to pose for the camera that day, or whether there really was no one there, will remain a mystery, however, during previous underwater expeditions, including those without the participation of people, various forms of life, fish, hitherto never seen, strange creatures, creatures similar to monsters, giant octopuses. But let's not forget that “monsters” are just unexplored creatures.
Several times, vehicles without people descended into the depths of the Mariana Trench (with people only twice), for example, on May 31, 2009, the automatic underwater vehicle Nereus sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. According to measurements, it fell 10,902 meters below sea level. At the bottom, Nereus filmed a video, took some photographs, and even collected sediment samples at the bottom.
Here are some photos of those whom the expedition cameras met at the depths of the Mariana Trench:
The photo shows the bottom of the Mariana Trench:
“The mystery of the Mariana Trench. Great mysteries of the ocean." Ren-TV program.
Still, it remains a big mystery what is there, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench... They scare us in absentia with monsters, but in reality no one, in particular Cameron, who spent 3 hours at the bottom of the trench, discovered strange objects there... silence... depth... eternity.
And the most important questions are “how can monsters live there if there is enormous pressure at the bottom, no light, no oxygen??” Answer from scientific experts:
“The inexplicable and incomprehensible have always attracted people, which is why scientists all over the world want to answer the question: “What does the Mariana Trench hide in its depths?”
Can living organisms live at such great depths, and what should they look like, given the fact that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean waters, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres?
The challenges associated with exploring and understanding the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are numerous, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanographers considered the hypothesis that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under enormous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, to be crazy.
However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even in these depths, much 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 living in long chitinous tubes open at both ends).
Recently, the veil of secrecy has been lifted by manned and automatic underwater vehicles made of heavy-duty materials, equipped with video cameras. The result was the discovery of a rich animal community consisting of both familiar and less familiar marine groups.
Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were discovered:
- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);
- from protozoa - foraminifera (an order of protozoa of the subclass of rhizomes with a cytoplasmic body covered with a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);
- from multicellular organisms - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.
At the depths there is no sunlight, no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, 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 are either blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluoride; 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 frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth or anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.
Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in researching the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, and 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 uncover them soon?”
The Mariana Trench, considering that it is the most famous deep point on the planet, has been studied too little; people have flown into space tens of times more, and we know more about space than about the bottom of the 11-kilometer trench. Probably everything is ahead...
08/17/2015 at 18:31 · Johnny · 39 480
Top 10 Deepest Places on Earth
We still know very little about our planet. This is especially true for the depths of oceans and seas. But even on land there are places that capture the human imagination. For example, the deepest places on Earth. What do we know about them and where are the most located? low points the earth's surface - more on this later.
Huge holes or cliffs are rarely encountered in everyday life, but our planet has a diverse landscape. Along with the highest mountain peaks meet and the deepest places on our planet- both natural and man-made.
10. Lake Baikal | 1,642 m
It would be a mistake to think that the deepest places on Earth are only in the oceans and seas. Baikal has a depth of 1,642 meters and is among the lakes. Locals That’s why Baikal is often called the sea. This depth is explained by the tectonic origin of the lake. Many other records and amazing discoveries are associated with this place. Baikal can be called the largest natural reservoir of fresh water on Earth. Exactly this ancient lake on our planet (it is more than 25 million years old) and two-thirds of the flora and fauna of the reservoir are found nowhere else.
9. Krubera-Voronya Cave | 2,196 m
There are also giants among the caves. The Krubera-Voronya cave (Abkhazia) is one of the deepest places on Earth. Its depth is 2,196 meters. It should be noted that we are talking about the studied part of the cave. It is possible that the next expedition will go even lower and set a new depth record. The karst cave consists of wells connected by passages and galleries. It was first opened in 1960. Then speleologists were able to descend to a depth of 95 meters. The two-kilometer limit was overcome by a Ukrainian expedition of speleologists in 2004.
8. TauTon Mine | 4,000 m
Tau Tona Mine in South Africa- This is the deepest mine on Earth. It is located in the Republic of South Africa, near Johannesburg. This world's largest gold mine goes 4 kilometers into the ground. At this incredible depth there is a whole underground city with a network of kilometer-long tunnels. To get to their workplace, miners have to spend about an hour. Working at such a depth is associated with a large number of dangers - humidity, which reaches 100% in some branches of the mine, heat air, the danger of an explosion from gas leaking into the tunnels and collapse from earthquakes, which occur here quite often. But all the dangers of work and the costs of maintaining the functionality of the mine are generously paid for by the mined gold - over the entire history of the mine’s existence, 1,200 tons of the precious metal were mined here.
7. Kola well | 12,262 m
The deepest well on Earth is the Kola superdeep well, which is located in Russia. This is one of the most unusual and interesting experiments carried out by Soviet scientists. Drilling began in 1970 and had only one goal - to find out more about the Earth's crust. The Kola Peninsula was chosen for the experiment because the oldest rocks on Earth, about 3 million years old, come to the surface here. They were also of great interest to scientists. The depth of the well is 12,262 meters. It made it possible to make unexpected discoveries and forced us to reconsider scientific ideas about the occurrence of rocks on the Earth. Unfortunately, the well, created for purely scientific purposes, did not find use in subsequent years, and a decision was made to mothball it.
6. Izu-Bonin depression | 9,810 m
In 1873-76, the American oceanographic vessel Tuscarora conducted research seabed for laying a submarine cable. Lot abandoned at Japanese islands Izu, recorded a depth of 8,500 meters. Later, the Soviet ship Vityaz in 1955 established the maximum depth of the depression at 9810 meters.
5. Kuril-Kamchatka Trench | 10,542 m
- This is not only one of the deepest places on Earth, the trench is also the narrowest in the Pacific Ocean. The width of the trench is 59 meters, and the maximum depth is 10,542 meters. The depression is located in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. In the middle of the last century, Soviet scientists studied it on the Vityaz ship. No further detailed studies have been carried out. The trench was discovered by the American ship Tuscarora and bore this name for a long time until it was renamed.
4. Kermadec Gutter | 10,047 m
Located in the Pacific Ocean near the Kermadec Islands. The maximum depth of the depression is 10,047 meters. Explored by the Soviet ship "Vityaz". In 2008, a previously unknown species of sea slug from the snail fish family was discovered at a depth of 7 kilometers in the Kermadec Trench. The researchers were also surprised by other dwellings of this deepest place on Earth - huge 30-centimeter crustaceans.
3. Philippine Trench | 10,540 m
Unlocks the three deepest points on the planet. 10,540 meters is its depth. It was formed millions of years ago as a result of the collision of the earth's plates. Located in the east of the Philippine archipelago. By the way, scientists have long believed that the Philippine Trench is the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean.
2. Tonga Trough | 10,882 m
Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, near the Tonga Islands. This area is extremely interesting because it is a very active seismic zone. Several strong earthquakes occur here every year. The depth of the trench is 10,882 meters. It is only 100 meters smaller than the Mariana Trench. The difference is about a percent, but it makes the Tonga Trench the second deepest place on Earth.
1. Mariana Trench | 10,994 m
It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and is shaped like a crescent moon. The length of the trench is more than 2.5 thousand kilometers, and the deepest point is 10,994 meters. It is called the Challenger Deep.
The deepest place on Earth was discovered in 1875 by the English ship Challenger. Today, the trench is the most studied of all other deep-sea trenches. They tried to reach its bottom during four dives: in 1960, 1995, 2009 and 2012. The last time director James Cameron descended into the Mariana Trench all alone. Most of all, the bottom of the trench reminded him of the lifeless lunar surface. But, unlike the Earth’s satellite, the Mariana Trench is inhabited by living organisms. Researchers have found here toxic amoebas, mollusks and deep-sea fish that look very scary. Since a full-scale study of the trench, other than short-term dives, has not been carried out, the Mariana Trench may still hide a lot of interesting things.
