Minerals of the Mariana Trench. The mysterious "thirst" of the Mariana Trench: the deepest place on Earth absorbs tons of water to nowhere

The history of the conquest of the deepest point of the World Ocean is inextricably linked with the name Swiss scientist Auguste Picard, physicist and inventor.

Auguste Piccard, born in the family of a chemistry professor, became interested in aeronautics in the 1930s and developed the world's first stratostat - balloon with a spherical sealed aluminum gondola, allowing flights in the upper atmosphere while maintaining normal pressure inside.

On his apparatus, Picard, who by that time was already 47 years old, made 27 flights, reaching an altitude of 23,000 meters.

Swiss scientist, physicist and inventor Auguste Piccard, 1931. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

During experiments with the stratostat, Picard realized that the same principles could be used to conquer the depths of the sea. So the Swiss scientist began to work on the creation of an apparatus capable of diving to great depths.

Second World War interrupted the work of Auguste Picard. Despite the fact that Switzerland remained a neutral country, scientific activity at that time was seriously complicated there as well.

Nevertheless, in 1945, Auguste Piccard completed the construction of a deep-sea vehicle, called the bathyscaphe.

Picard's bathyscaphe was a high-strength pressurized steel gondola for the crew, which was attached to a large float filled with gasoline to provide positive buoyancy. For diving, several tons of steel or cast iron ballast in the form of shot were used, held in bunkers by electromagnets. To reduce the rate of immersion and to ascend, the electric current in the electromagnets was turned off, and part of the shot spilled out. Such a mechanism ensured the ascent even in the event of equipment failure, through certain time the batteries were simply discharged - and all the shot spilled out.

Bathyscaphe was named FNRS-2. FNRS stood for the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique), which funded Picard's work.

It is curious that the name FNRS-1 was worn by ... Picard's stratostat. The scientist himself joked about this: “These devices are extremely similar to each other, although their purpose is opposite. Perhaps fate was pleased to create this similarity precisely in order to work on the creation of both devices could one scientist.

Creation of Trieste

The first test dive of the FNRS-2 took place in Dakar on October 25, 1948, and, of course, its creator himself was the pilot of the bathyscaphe. True, no records were set at that time - the device plunged only 25 meters.

Further work with the bathyscaphe was complicated by the fact that the Belgian foundation stopped funding. Auguste Piccard eventually sold the FNRS-2 to the French Navy, whose specialists invited a scientist to build a new model of a bathyscaphe, called the FNRS-3.

The ideas of bathyscaphes, meanwhile, took over the world, and new model intended to build in Italy. In 1952, Auguste Piccard, leaving the FNRS-3 to French engineers, went to Italy to develop and build a bathyscaphe, called Trieste.

Bathyscaphe Trieste. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Trieste was launched in August 1953. Auguste Picard was assisted in the construction of the bathyscaphe by his son, Jacques Picard, who was to become the chief pilot of the new deep-sea vehicle.

In 1953-1957, the Trieste conducted a series of successful dives in the Mediterranean Sea, and even reached a depth of 3100 meters, which was fantastic at that time. In the first dives of the Trieste, along with Jacques Picard, the creator of the bathyscaphe, Auguste Picard, who was 69 years old by that time, also participates.

Project "Nekton"

Trieste's research work required serious investments. Each descent of the apparatus had to be supported by several escort vessels. Picard's bathyscaphe had to be towed to the dive site, since he did not have his own horizontal course.

In 1958, the Trieste was acquired by the US Navy, which showed an interest in exploring the depths of the sea. Together with the apparatus, Jacques Picard also went to America, who was to teach American specialists how to control the bathyscaphe.

The strength inherent in the design of the Trieste made it possible to dive to the maximum depths known in the oceans. At the same time, Jacques Picard himself noted that this is simply not required for most studies, since 99 percent of the ocean floor is located at depths of no more than 6,000 meters. Picard's correctness was confirmed by subsequent history - later deep-sea vehicles, including the well-known Russian Mir-1 and Mir-2, were built precisely with the expectation of a depth of about 6000 meters.

However, humanity likes to set maximum goals for itself, so it was decided to send Trieste to conquer the deepest point of the oceans - Mariana Trench in pacific ocean, the depth of which reaches 11 km.

Bathyscaphe "Trieste" before diving, January 23, 1960. Photo: Public Domain

This operation, which involved US Navy forces, was codenamed Project Nekton. For its implementation, serious improvements were made to the apparatus, in particular, in Germany, a new, more durable gondola was manufactured at the Krupp plant.

At the end of 1959, the Trieste was delivered to the US naval base on the Pacific island of Guam. During the Second World War, the island was the scene of bloody battles, and by the time the Nekton Project was carried out, at least those who did not consider the war over continued to hide in the jungle.

However, this did not affect the preparation of the historical dive. After several trial descents of 5 km and 7 km (which was already a record for that time), the go-ahead was given to the so-called "Big Dive".

"Big Dive"

Here, however, there was a misunderstanding between Picard and the American side. The Americans said that Picard would not take part in the Big Dive. Perhaps the US Navy felt that the historic achievement should be purely American, not US-Swiss.

Unable to convince his colleagues, Picard gave the last argument - he took out a contract and showed a clause stating that he had the right to participate in "special dives". The fact that a dive to 11 km is a special case, the American representatives did not dispute, and allowed Picard to dive.

Mariana Trench. Photo: wikipedia.org / wallace

Picard himself later recalled that he persisted not just out of a desire to set a record - he dived on the Trieste more than 60 times, while his colleagues from the USA had a minimum number of independent dives.

Trieste was towed to the descent point on the night of January 23, 1960. It was heavy, stormy weather, the bathyscaphe was battered due to rough seas, and Picard had to decide whether to go diving or not. The Swiss gave the go-ahead.

On the morning of January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh began the historical dive. Picard wrote that due to the characteristics of the upper layers of the waters in this place, they spent a lot of time diving to a depth of 300 meters. The speed with which they dived suggested that the dive would last 30 hours, which was absolutely unrealistic. Fortunately, then the speed reached the calculated indicators.

At 13:06 on January 23, 1960, after five hours of diving, Picard and Walsh reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench at around 10,919 meters. According to Picard, the measurement accuracy was plus or minus several tens of meters.

The historic descent of the Trieste solved the question that tormented ocean scientists: can complex organisms live at such a depth. As soon as the apparatus reached the bottom, Picard and Walsh were "greeted" by a fish that looked like a stingray, caught in the bathyscaphe's searchlight. Although Picard's statement was subsequently questioned due to the lack of documentary evidence.

The researchers stayed at the bottom for 20 minutes, after which the apparatus returned to the surface for three hours. There, Picard and Walsh fell into the arms of other participants in the historical project.

The third in the abyss was the creator of "Avatar"

Weather conditions and technical difficulties led to the fact that Picard and Walsh's dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was the only one in the framework of the Nekton Project. And for Jacques Picard himself, it turned out to be farewell - from that moment on, Trieste finally passed into the hands of US Navy specialists, and the Swiss no longer worked with him.

Jacques Picard, in a book on historical immersion, wrote that with reaching the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a person will have nowhere else to set such records - all that remains is to go into space. The scientist was not mistaken: a little more than a year later, April 12, 1961.

The Picard family passion for inventions was passed on to the son of Jacques, Bertrand Picard. In 1999, he became the first person to commit trip around the world at the airport.

Bathyscaphe "Trieste" until 1963 was part of the US Navy, and now is an exhibit of the Naval Historical Center in Washington.

In 2012, director James Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench on the Deepsea Challenger single-seat submersible. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

From 1960 to 2012, no person, except Picard and Walsh, sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 2012, on the single-seat bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger of the bottom of the Mariana Trench James Cameron, creator of "Titanic" and "Avatar". It was on the set of Titanic, diving on the Russian Mir submersibles to the wreck, that the director became interested in deep-sea diving. And in the preparation of Cameron's conquest of the bottom of the Mariana Trench, none other than Picard's partner in the historic dive, Don Walsh, participated.

What every student knows from the subject of geography: the most high point planets - Mount Everest (8848 m), and the lowest - the Mariana Trench. The trench is the deepest and most mysterious point of our planet - despite the fact that the oceans are closer than space stars, humanity has managed to explore only 5 percent of the ocean depths.

The basin is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and is a V-shape that flows around the Mariana Islands for 1500 km - hence the name. The deepest point is the Challenger Deep, named after the Challenger II (Challenge) echo sounder, which was able to record 10,994 m below sea level. To measure the bottom under conditions of pressure 1072 times higher than the norm for a person is akin to suicide; in 1875, an English expedition corvette was sent under the water column for the first time. The contribution of Soviet scientists is also invaluable - the Vityaz ship in 1957 obtained invaluable data: there is life in the Mariana Trench, despite the fact that even light does not penetrate to a depth of more than 1000 m.

ocean monsters

In 1960, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard descended into the dark abyss in the Trieste bathyscaphe, into depth of the Mariana Trench. At a record high of 10,915 m, they found flat fish resembling a flounder. Not without problems: the instruments recorded the shadows of creatures resembling mystical many-headed dragons. Scientists heard the gnashing of teeth on metal - and the skin of the ship was 13 cm thick! As a result, it was decided to urgently raise the Trieste to the surface, until a tragedy happened. On land, they discovered that the thick cable was almost half bitten - unknown creatures clearly did not tolerate strangers in their underwater kingdom ... Details about this dangerous journey in 1996 were published in the New York Times newspaper.

Later, using special equipment, researchers confirmed that there really is life at the bottom of the depression - the latest developments in technology have made it possible to take unique pictures of half-meter mutant octopuses, strange jellyfish and anglerfish. They feed mainly on each other - and sometimes on bacteria. It is interesting that the crustaceans caught in the abyss have much more toxins in their frail bodies than the inhabitants of the coastal waters of the ocean. Most of all, scientists were surprised by mollusks - in theory, the monstrous pressure should have flattened their shells, but the ocean inhabitants feel good in these conditions.

Champagne at the bottom of the ocean

Another mystery of the depression is the so-called "Champagne", a hydrothermal spring that emits countless bubbles of carbon dioxide into the water. It is the world's only underwater source of a liquid chemical element. It was thanks to him that the first hypotheses about the appearance of life on Earth in water were born. By the way, the temperature in the Mariana Trench is not the coldest - from 1 to 4 degrees. It is provided by "black smokers" - the same thermal springs, releasing ore substances, which is why they acquire a dark color. They are very hot, but due to the high pressure, the water in the abyss does not boil, so the temperature is quite suitable for living organisms.

In 2012, renowned film director James Cameron became the first person to reach the bottom of the Pacific Ocean alone. Moving on the Dipsy Challenger, he was able to take soil samples from the Challenger Abyss and shoot in 3D. The resulting personnel served science and became the basis documentary film on the National Geographic Channel. Russia is not far behind - to the expedition to the bottom depths of the Mariana Trench our famous traveler Fyodor Konyukhov is also preparing. Perhaps he will be able to shed light on the mysteries of the lowest point on the planet?

Pavilion “Around the World. Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia and Oceania"

ETNOMIR, Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village

In the ethnographic park-museum "ETNOMIR" - an amazing place. The "City" street is built inside a spacious pavilion, so it is always warm, light and good weather on Mira Street - just right for an exciting walk, especially since within the framework of the latter you can make a whole trip around the world. Like any tourist street, it has its own sights, workshops, street artisans, cafes and shops located inside and outside the 19 houses.

The facades of the buildings are made in different ethnic styles. Each house is a "quote" from the life and traditions of a certain country. The very appearance of the houses begins the story of distant lands.

Step inside and you will be surrounded by new, unfamiliar objects, sounds and smells. The color scheme and decoration, furniture, interior and household items - all this helps to plunge into the atmosphere of distant countries, to understand and feel their uniqueness.

There are many amazing places of this world, which are still unexplored by man. It turns out that only 5% of the ocean area is subject to science, the rest remains a mystery for her, covered in darkness. One of these mysterious places is the Mariana Trench, the depth of which is of the greatest importance among all the explored areas of the seabed. The Mariana Trench is another name for the place.

Under the thickness sea ​​water the pressure is a thousand times higher than the pressure that is fixed in the normal sea expanse. But high-tech devices and caring risky people helped to learn at least a little about the deep cleft. The Pacific Ocean is a true nature reserve, which is not only home to exotic unique animals, but also has remarkable topographical features.

Everyone knows about the existence of this amazing object. Information about it is given to us from a young age, but over time we forget both the numbers and curious facts about this strange and charming place. We decided to remind you where the Mariana Trench is located and what it is. You can learn a lot about the object of the ocean surface.

The heroine of our article is called by the name of the islands, which are located near the "bottom of the earth". It is located along the islands. In the Mariana Trench, the depth of which, it would seem, is capable of destroying all life, there are some microorganisms that have mutated due to high pressure. This tectonic fault has steep slopes - about 8⁰. Below - a wide platform about 5 km, which is divided by stone rapids. The pressure at the very bottom is 108.6 MPa - more than anywhere else on planet Earth.

The history of the study of the phenomenon

1872 is considered the date of discovery of the Mariana Trench, photos of the object appear a little later. The tectonic fault was explored as well as possible by the British on a military corvette in 1951. The depth of the Mariana Trench becomes known - 10863 meters. Since it was the Challenger ship that sank to the very bottom, to the maximum deep point, it became known as the "Challenger Abyss".

Soviet scientists join the study. Since 1957, the scientific vessel "Vityaz" begins to surf the ocean and discovers that the depth of the Mariana Trench is even greater than previously stated - more than 11 kilometers. Our marine researchers established the fact of life at great depths, destroying the scientific stereotypes of that time. Subsequently, the ship was decommissioned into a museum value. Experiments continue to this day. Five years ago, the “bottom of the world” was visited by the automatic device Nereus, which descended 11 km below ocean level, took new photos and videos.

Diving to the "bottom of the Earth" is at least five hours. The ascent is somewhat faster. It is impossible to stay at the very bottom for more than 12 minutes, taking into account the technology that was at the disposal of the then researchers. Cosmic sums have to be allocated for the study of such terrestrial objects, so the work is going slowly.

Where is it

The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, two hundred meters from the islands of the same name. It looks like a crescent-shaped crevice, its length is more than 2550 km, and its width reaches almost 70 km.

The results of the study showed that the depth in the Mariana Trench is about 11 thousand meters. Everest reaches only 8840 m. If you need a comparison, then the highest mountain on Earth can be turned over and placed entirely on the bottom of the Mariana Trench, but there will still be more than 2 km of water column above the top. We are talking only about the height, the width of the depression and the mountain do not match.

Curious facts and stories

• It's hot there. At this crazy depth, it turns out that it is not cold. The thermometer shows a positive value - up to 4⁰С. There are hot springs in the gorge, they make the water a hundred points hotter. Boiling the water column does not give high pressure.

• Population. Ignoring the unsuitable conditions for life, the inhabitants of the "bottom of the world" got along well. Huge xenophyophore amoebas live there - up to 10 cm. These are the simplest, but they mutated due to hot water and pressure. Amoeba are able to survive in an environment filled with dangerous chemical elements.

• The inhabitants of the Mariana Trench also became mollusks, although the form from the cover should have simply cracked under great pressure. But hot springs contain serpentine rich in hydrogen and methane. It is these substances that allow mollusks to survive. They managed to adapt even to hydrogen sulfide secretions, converting them into protein compounds.

• The birthplace of life on the planet. Champagne key at the bottom of the ocean is unique area under water containing liquid CO2. It forms specific bubbles, similar to those in a glass of sparkling wine. Scientists have suggested that a primary form of life could have appeared around this key in due time. This is due to the presence of all the necessary substances.

• The depression is slippery. There is no sand or anything like that. At the very bottom there is a thickness of small shells and dead plankton accumulated over thousands of years. The pressure makes this mass look like slime.

• Sulfur in a liquid aggregate state. The Mariana Trench, which is not so easy to take a photo of, is rich in various geoformations. At a depth of more than 400 meters, on the way to it, there is a whole volcano. Near Daikoku is located big lake, filled with liquid sulfur, which is nowhere else on Earth to be found. The substance boils at a temperature of 187⁰С, and under it, it is believed, there is an even larger layer of liquid sulfur, which could also contribute to the formation of life on our planet.

• There are bridges there. In 2011, a group of research scientists discovered stone bridges in the Mariana Trench. Four structures stretched between the abyss for almost 70 km. They are located between two tectonic plates - the Pacific and the Philippine. One of them was discovered even earlier, in the 80s of the XX century. It is very high, over 2.5 km.

• The first person at this depth. Since the beginning of its discovery in 1875, only three people have plucked up the courage to dive into the Mariana Trench. The first was an American, Lieutenant Don Walsh, and with him the scientist Jacques Piccard in 1960. The dive was made on board the Challenger. In 2012, film director James Cameron visited the Mariana Trench on a bathyscaphe, and took a photo of it as a keepsake. The man had a painful impression of complete loneliness from this place

.

• The riddle of sawn cables. Incredible depths are terrifying. And the first explorers were afraid of unprecedented monsters inside the Mariana Trench. The first fact of a collision with the unknown happened at the time of the Glomar Challenger dive. The registrar began to record a metallic sound, like a screech, and shadows that appeared around the ship. The teachings became concerned about the expensive equipment made of titanium in the shape of a hedgehog, and a decision was made to take the research vessel onto the ship. The “Hedgehog” was damaged after extraction, the titanium 20-centimeter cables were crumpled, or rather, half sawn. There was a complete impression that someone wanted to stop the ship at a depth.

• Prehistoric lizard. There was a hitch during the dive of the Highfish ship with scientists on board. The device reached a depth of 7 km and stopped. The researchers turned on the infrared camera. She suddenly snatched out of the ocean darkness a huge dinosaur that was biting into the bathyscaphe. With the help of an electric gun, he was driven away.

• The inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are protected by law. This is a national American monument, rightfully the largest nature reserve in the world. There are several restrictions on staying in this area. Mining is prohibited here, you can not fish, but you can swim.

The Mayan Trench is inhabited by:

1. Terrible and not so fish

2. Various octopuses

3. And other strange creatures

We are close to the fact that the Mariana Trench will soon become closer to modern man. Perhaps in the near future there will even be tourism. But for now, this option remains on a par with the possibility of affordable space tourism. It is amazing how similar an earthly object is to distant stars in this respect. It is just as unexplored as the celestial bodies. But we at least know for sure that life exists in the Mariana Trench. According to a common hypothesis, it could have come from there. In this case, the study of the deepest place of the World Ocean acquires global significance.

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The Mariana Trench (or the Mariana Trench) is the deepest place on the earth's surface. It is located on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, 200 kilometers east of the Mariana Archipelago.

Paradoxically, but about the mysteries of space or mountain peaks humanity knows much more than about the ocean depths. And one of the most mysterious and unexplored places on our planet is just the Mariana Trench. So what do we know about him?

Mariana Trench - the bottom of the world

In 1875, the crew of the British corvette Challenger discovered a place in the Pacific Ocean where there was no bottom. Kilometer after kilometer the rope of the lot went overboard, but there was no bottom! And only at a depth of 8184 meters the descent of the rope stopped. Thus, the deepest underwater crack on Earth was discovered. It was named the Mariana Trench, after the nearby islands. Its shape (in the form of a crescent) and the location of the deepest section, called the "Challenger Abyss", were determined. It is located 340 km. south of the island Guam and has coordinates 11°22′ s. sh., 142°35′ E d.

Since then, this deep sea trench. Oceanographic scientists have long tried to find out its true depth. Studies of different years gave different values. The fact is that at such a colossal depth, the density of water increases as it approaches the bottom, so the properties of the sound from the echo sounder also change in it. Using barometers and thermometers at different levels along with echo sounders, in 2011 the depth value in the Challenger Abyss was set at 10994 ± 40 meters. This is the height of Mount Everest plus another two kilometers from above.

The pressure at the bottom of the underwater crevasse is almost 1100 atmospheres, or 108.6 MPa. Most deep-sea submersibles are designed for maximum depth at 6-7 thousand meters. Since the opening deepest canyon, it was possible to successfully reach its bottom only four times.

In 1960, the Trieste deep-sea bathyscaphe, for the first time in the world, descended to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench in the area of ​​​​the Challenger Abyss with two passengers on board: US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Picard.

Their observations led to an important conclusion about the presence of life at the bottom of the canyon. The discovery of the upward flow of water was also of great ecological importance: based on it, the nuclear powers refused to bury radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trough.

In the 90s, the gutter was explored by the Japanese unmanned probe Kaiko, which brought samples of silt from the bottom, in which bacteria, worms, shrimp were found, as well as pictures of a hitherto unknown world.

In 2009, the American robot Nereus conquered the abyss, raising samples of silt, minerals, samples of deep-sea fauna and photos of inhabitants of unknown depths from the bottom.

In 2012, James Cameron, the author of Titanic, Terminator and Avatar, dived into the abyss alone. He spent 6 hours at the bottom, collecting samples of soil, minerals, fauna, as well as taking photographs and 3D video. Based on this material, the film "Challenge to the Abyss" was created.

Amazing discoveries

In a trench at a depth of about 4 kilometers is located active volcano Daikoku spewing liquid sulfur that boils at 187°C in a small depression. The only lake liquid sulfur was discovered only on Jupiter's moon Io.

At 2 kilometers from the surface, "black smokers" swirl - sources of geothermal water with hydrogen sulfide and other substances that, upon contact with cold water, turn into black sulfides. The movement of sulfide water resembles puffs of black smoke. The water temperature at the point of release reaches 450 ° C. The surrounding sea does not boil only because of the density of the water (150 times greater than at the surface).

In the north of the canyon there are "white smokers" - geysers spewing liquid carbon dioxide at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. Scientists suggest that it is in such geothermal "boilers" that one should look for the origins of life on Earth. Hot springs "warm up" the icy waters, supporting life in the abyss - the temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is in the range of 1-3 ° C.

Life beyond life

It would seem that in an atmosphere of complete darkness, silence, icy cold and unbearable pressure, life in the hollow is simply unthinkable. But studies of the depression prove the opposite: there are living creatures almost 11 kilometers under water!

The bottom of the sinkhole is covered with a thick layer of mucus from organic sediments that have been descending from the upper layers of the ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. Mucus is an excellent nutrient medium for barrophilic bacteria, which form the basis of the nutrition of protozoa and multicellular organisms. Bacteria, in turn, become food for more complex organisms.

The ecosystem of the underwater canyon is truly unique. Living beings have managed to adapt to an aggressive, destructive environment under normal conditions, with high pressure, lack of light, a small amount of oxygen and a high concentration of toxic substances. Life in such unbearable conditions gave many inhabitants of the abyss a frightening and unattractive look.

Deep-sea fish have incredible mouths, seated with sharp long teeth. High pressure made their bodies small (from 2 to 30 cm). However, there are also large specimens, such as the xenophyophora amoeba, reaching 10 cm in diameter. The frilled shark and goblin shark, living at a depth of 2000 meters, generally reach 5-6 meters in length.

Representatives live at different depths different types living organisms. The deeper the inhabitants of the abyss, the better their organs of vision are, allowing them to catch the slightest glimmer of light on the body of their prey in complete darkness. Some individuals themselves are able to produce directional light. Other creatures are completely devoid of organs of vision, they are replaced by organs of touch and radar. With increasing depth, underwater inhabitants lose their color more and more, the bodies of many of them are almost transparent.

On the slopes where the “black smokers” live, mollusks live, having learned to neutralize the sulfides and hydrogen sulfide that are fatal to them. And, which remains a mystery to scientists so far, under conditions of enormous pressure at the bottom, they somehow miraculously manage to keep their mineral shell intact. Similar abilities are shown by other inhabitants of the Mariana Trench. The study of fauna samples showed a multiple excess of the level of radiation and toxic substances.

Unfortunately, deep sea creatures die due to the change in pressure with any attempt to bring them to the surface. Only thanks to modern deep-sea vehicles it became possible to study the inhabitants of the depression in their natural environment. Representatives of the fauna unknown to science have already been identified.

Secrets and mysteries of the "womb of Gaia"

The mysterious abyss, like any unknown phenomenon, is shrouded in a mass of secrets and mysteries. What does she hide in her depths? Japanese scientists claimed that while feeding goblin sharks, they saw a shark 25 meters long devouring goblins. A monster of this size could only be a megalodon shark, which became extinct almost 2 million years ago! Confirmation is the findings of megalodon teeth in the vicinity of the Mariana Trench, whose age dates back to only 11 thousand years. It can be assumed that specimens of these monsters are still preserved in the depths of the failure.

There are many stories about the corpses of giant monsters thrown ashore. When descending into the abyss of the German bathyscaphe "Highfish", the dive stopped 7 km from the surface. To understand the reason, the passengers of the capsule turned on the lights and were horrified: their bathyscaphe, like a nut, was trying to crack open some prehistoric lizard! Only a pulse of electric current through the outer skin managed to scare away the monster.

On another occasion, when an American submersible was submerging, a scraping of metal began to be heard from under the water. The descent was stopped. When inspecting the lifted equipment, it turned out that the titanium alloy metal cable was half sawn (or gnawed), and the beams of the underwater vehicle were bent.

In 2012, the video camera of the unmanned vehicle "Titan" from a depth of 10 kilometers transmitted a picture of metal objects, presumably UFOs. Soon the connection with the device was interrupted.

Unfortunately, there is no documentary evidence of these interesting facts not available, they are all based only on eyewitness accounts. Every story has its fans and skeptics, its pros and cons.

Before a risky dive into the trench, James Cameron said that he wanted to see with his own eyes at least some of those secrets of the Mariana Trench, about which there are so many rumors and legends. But he did not see anything that would go beyond the cognizable.

So what do we know about her?

To understand how the Mariana Underwater Gap was formed, it should be remembered that such gaps (troughs) are usually formed along the edges of the oceans under the action of moving lithospheric plates. The oceanic plates, being older and heavier, "creep" under the continental ones, forming deep dips at the junctions. The deepest is the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates near Mariana Islands(Mariana Trench). The Pacific Plate is moving at a speed of 3-4 centimeters per year, resulting in increased volcanic activity along both of its edges.

Throughout the length of this deepest failure, four so-called bridges were found - transverse mountain ranges. The ridges were presumably formed due to the movement of the lithosphere and volcanic activity.

The gutter is V-shaped in cross-section, strongly widening upwards and narrowing downwards. The average width of the canyon in the upper part is 69 kilometers, in the widest part - up to 80 kilometers. The average width of the bottom between the walls is 5 kilometers. The slope of the walls is almost sheer and is only 7-8°. The depression stretches from north to south for 2500 kilometers. The trough has an average depth of about 10,000 meters.

Only three people have been to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench to date. In 2018, another manned dive to the “bottom of the world” is planned at its deepest section. This time the well-known will try to conquer the hollow and find out what it hides in its depths Russian traveler Fedor Konyukhov and polar explorer Artur Chilingarov. At present, a deep-sea bathyscaphe is being manufactured and a research program is being drawn up.