The deepest places on earth. Deepest sea trenches
Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the outer planets of the solar system, people have explored only five percent of the ocean floor, which remains one of the greatest mysteries of our planet.
The deepest part of the ocean - the Mariana Trench or the Mariana Trench is one of the most famous places about which we don't know much.
With water pressure that is a thousand times greater than at sea level, diving into this place is akin to suicide.
But thanks to modern technology and a few brave souls who, risking their lives, went down there, we learned a lot of interesting things about this amazing place.
Mariana Trench on the map. Where is she?
The Mariana Trench or the Mariana Trench is located in the western part of Pacific Ocean to the east (about 200 km) from 15 Mariana Islands near Guam. It is a crescent-shaped trench in the earth's crust, about 2550 km long and 69 km wide on average.
Coordinates Mariana Trench: 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 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.
See also: most deep places on the ground
Here are other interesting facts about what you can meet along the way and at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
1. Very hot water
Going down to such a depth, we expect that it will be very cold there. The temperature here reaches just above zero, varying from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.
However, at a depth of about 1.6 km from the surface of the Pacific Ocean, there are hydrothermal vents called "black smokers". They shoot water that heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.
This water is rich in minerals that help support life in the area. Despite the temperature of the water, which is hundreds of degrees above the boiling point, it does not boil here due to the incredible pressure, 155 times higher than on the surface.
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
2 Giant Toxic Amoebas
A few years ago, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, giant 10-centimeter amoebas called xenophyophores were discovered.
These single-celled organisms probably got so big because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. The cold temperature, high pressure and lack of sunlight most likely contributed to the fact that these amoeba acquired huge sizes.
In addition, xenophyophores have incredible abilities. They are resistant to many elements and chemicals, including uranium, mercury and lead, which would kill other animals and people.
3. Clams
The strong water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance to survive. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trough near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form.
How the molluscs retained their shell under such pressure remains unknown.
In addition, hydrothermal vents release another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is deadly to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.
LIFE IN PUT DARKNESS
In the course of further research with the help of unmanned deep-sea vehicles, it turned out that at the bottom of the depression, despite the terrifying water pressure, a wide variety of different types living organisms. Giant 10-centimeter amoebas are xenophyophores, which under normal, terrestrial conditions can only be seen with a microscope, amazing two-meter worms, no less huge starfish, mutant octopuses and, of course, fish.
The latter amaze with their terrifying appearance. Their distinctive feature is a huge mouth and many teeth. Many open their jaws so wide that even a small predator can swallow an animal larger than itself whole.
There are also completely unusual creatures that reach a two-meter size with a soft jelly-like body, which have no analogues in nature.
It would seem that at such a depth the temperature should be at the level of the Antarctic. However, the Challenger Deep contains hydrothermal vents called "black smokers". They constantly heat the water and thereby maintain the overall temperature in the cavity at 1-4 degrees Celsius.
The inhabitants of the Mariana Trench live in pitch darkness, some of them are blind, others have huge telescopic eyes that catch the slightest glare of light. Some individuals have "lanterns" on their heads, emitting a different color.
There are fish in the body of which a luminous liquid accumulates. When they feel danger, they splash this liquid towards the enemy and hide behind this "curtain of light." Appearance such animals is very unusual for our perception, can cause disgust and even inspire a sense of fear.
But it is obvious that not all the mysteries of the Mariana Trench have yet been solved. Some strange animals of truly incredible sizes live in the depths!
THE LIZARD TRIED TO BUTTON THE BATHISCAFE LIKE A NUT
Sometimes on the shore, not far from the Mariana Trench, people find bodies of the dead 40 meter monsters. Giant teeth were also found in those places. Scientists have proven that they belong to a multi-ton prehistoric megalodon shark, whose mouth span reached two meters.
These sharks were thought to have died out about three million years ago, but the teeth found are much younger. So did the ancient monsters really disappear?
In 2003, another sensational study of the Mariana Trench was published in the United States. Scientists have loaded an unmanned platform equipped with searchlights, sensitive video systems and microphones in the deepest part of the world's oceans.
The platform descended on 6 steel cables of an inch section. At first, the technique did not give any unusual information. But a few hours after the dive, silhouettes of strange large objects (at least 12-16 meters) began to flicker on the monitor screens in the light of powerful searchlights, and at that time the microphones transmitted sharp sounds to the recording devices - the grinding of iron and deaf, uniform blows on metal.
When the platform was raised (never lowered to the bottom due to incomprehensible interference that prevented the descent), it was found that the powerful steel structures were bent, and the steel cables seemed to be sawn. A little more - and the platform would forever remain the "Challenger Abyss".
Earlier, something similar happened to the German apparatus "Hyfish". Having descended to a depth of 7 kilometers, he suddenly refused to emerge. To find out what the problem was, the researchers turned on the infrared camera.
What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, clinging its teeth to a bathyscaphe, tried to crack it like a nut.
Recovering from the shock, the scientists activated the so-called electric gun, and the monster, struck by a powerful discharge, hastened to retreat.
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench
4. Pure liquid carbon dioxide
The Champagne Hydrothermal Spring of the Mariana Trench, which lies outside the Okinawa Trench near Taiwan, is the only known underwater area where liquid carbon dioxide can be found. The spring, discovered in 2005, got its name from the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.
Many believe that these springs, called "white smokers" because of the lower temperature, may be the source of life. It was in the depths of the oceans with low temperatures and an abundance of chemicals and energy that life could originate.
If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, we would feel that it is covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its usual form, does not exist there.
The bottom of the depression mainly consists of crushed shells and plankton residues that have accumulated at the bottom of the depression for many years. Due to the incredible pressure of the water, almost everything there turns into fine greyish-yellow thick mud.
Mariana Trench
6. Liquid sulfur
The Daikoku Volcano, which is located at a depth of about 414 meters on the way to the Mariana Trench, is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on our planet. There is a lake of pure molten sulfur. The only place where liquid sulfur can be found is Jupiter's moon Io.
In this pit, called the "cauldron," the bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this place in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. This may reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth.
According to the Gaia hypothesis, our planet is one self-governing organism in which all living and non-living things are connected to support its life. If this hypothesis is correct, then a number of signals can be observed in the natural cycles and systems of the Earth. So the sulfur compounds created by organisms in the ocean must be stable enough in the water to allow them to pass into the air and back to land again.
At the end of 2011, four stone bridges were discovered in the Mariana Trench, which stretched from one end to the other for 69 km. They appear to have formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
One of the Dutton Ridge bridges, which was opened back in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. At its highest point, the ridge reaches 2.5 km above the "Challenger Deep".
Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that these formations were discovered in one of the most mysterious and unexplored places is amazing.
8James Cameron's dive into the Mariana Trench
Since the discovery of the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep in 1875, only three people have been here. The first were American lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard, who dived on January 23, 1960 on the Trieste.
After 52 years, another person ventured here - the famous film director James Cameron. So on March 26, 2012, Cameron went down to the bottom and took some photos.
There is no doubt that the Mariana Trench is the most deep depression world ocean. Its depth is about 11 km.
The trench stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1,500 km. Located in the area where two tectonic plates meet, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine. It has steep slopes (up to 7°) and a V-shape. The huge distance to the bottom, which is greater than to the peak, creates an enormous pressure exceeding the normal atmospheric pressure by 1072 times and is 108 MPa. The temperature of the water at the bottom, where sunlight does not penetrate, is about 0°C.
Corvette Challenger (1875)
The first studies of this area were carried out by English sailors back in 1875, when sailing over the gutter, the Challenger corvette measured a depth of 8367 m using a lot (a device that measures depth).
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh (January 23, 1960)
On January 23, 1960, the first dive of a man to the bottom of the gutter took place. American sailor Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard (Switzerland) on the bathyscaphe "Trieste" sank to a depth of 10,915 m. During the dive, divers met several flat fish about 30 cm in size at the bottom.
Don Walsh is an American naval scientist and lieutenant in the US Navy, recognized by Life magazine as one of the greatest explorers. Jacques Piccard is a Swiss oceanographer and principal dive pilot. Jacques took an active part in the creation of the Trieste bathyscaphe itself, the chief designer of which was his father Auguste Picard. The main work on the design and assembly of a 150 ton deep-sea vessel took place in Italian city Trieste, after which it was named. Currently, the bathyscaphe is a museum exhibit in the Naval Historical Center of Washington.
James Cameron (March 26, 2012)
The second time the deepest trench in the ocean was "conquered" by man on March 26, 2012. Director James Cameron on a single-seat deep-sea submersible Deepsea Challenger reached a depth of 10,908 meters. The device, worth $7 million, was equipped with a variety of equipment, including lighting equipment for photography and video shooting. In addition to cinema and photography, samples of rocks and living organisms were raised to the surface. The construction of the 11 ton submersible took place in Australia for 8 years and was completed in January 2012.
At present, a person does not need to dive himself to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Research is carried out by unmanned automatic vehicles made of heavy-duty materials.
At such depths, there are no algae, no sunlight, little oxygen, a lot of carbon dioxide, low temperatures, and of course a huge hydrostatic pressure, which increases by 1 atmosphere every 10 meters. Most representatives of the animal world are not able to survive in such conditions. For a long time, scientists believed that at depths of more than 6 km, life simply could not exist.
However, as you know, you can adapt to everything, and as it turned out, to life at such depths as well. Through numerous studies, it has been found that
at depths of 6-11 km live:
Pogonophores - in the Mariana Trench there are whole colonies of these invertebrate animals that live in chitinous tubes;
Xenophyophores - these simplest barophilic bacteria were recently discovered at the bottom of the deepest depression on Earth at a depth of 10,641 m. Despite the fact that they contain many heavy metals (uranium, lead, mercury) that are toxic to ordinary organisms, xenophyophores are numerous deep-sea animals;
Foraminifera (a detachment of the protozoan subclass of rhizopods with a cytoplasmic body dressed in a shell);
Bivalves and gastropods;
isopods;
polychaete worms;
Holothurians - in deep-sea representatives of this class, the legs are greatly elongated and are used as stilts;
amphipods.
Also inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are:
The rarest of all known octopuses, dives to a depth of more than 7 km. The size of the largest representative of this species ever discovered was 1.8 m. It mainly feeds on small crustaceans and amphipods, which, unlike other species of octopuses, it swallows whole;
- its maximum size reaches 32 cm. It lives at a level of 200-1500 m in all parts of the world ocean, except for the northern part of the Pacific and north-west Atlantic oceans;
It was found at a maximum depth of 4 km, females grow up to 60 cm in length, males up to 4 cm;
Dives to 3 km;
Found in the Arctic and Pacific Oceans;
Or monkfish lives at a level of 1 km from the surface of the ocean.
Lasiognathus saccostoma at the American Museum natural history(1933)
Among numerous studies, several unexplained incidents. One of them is described by the New York Times. The research vessel "Glomar Challenger" conducted a study of the Mariana Trench using a deep-sea vehicle. At one point, a device that records sounds transmitted noises to the ship, similar to the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, fuzzy objects appeared on the screens. It was decided to urgently raise the equipment to the surface. When it was lifted onto the ship, scientists found that the 20 cm steel cable with which the equipment was lowered was cut in half, and the hull was seriously damaged. However, most likely this information is a "duck", since there is no confirmation of this, and the same issue of the New York Times newspaper could not be found either.
The Mariana Trench is one of the least explored places on our planet. Although the most deep ocean the gutter still hides a lot of secrets, a person managed to find out a few interesting facts about its structure and parameters.
Willyam Bradberry | Shutterstock.com
Part of the data on the Mariana Trench is known to a fairly wide circle.
1. So, the pressure in the Mariana Trench is 1100 times greater than at sea level. For this reason, immersion of a living being without special equipment into the gutter effective method settle accounts with life.
2. Max Depth Mariana Trench 10,994 meters ± 40 meters (according to data from 2011). For comparison, the highest peak of the Earth Everest reaches a height of 8,848 meters, and, therefore, once in the Mariana Trench, it would be completely covered with water.
3. The deep-water trench got its name from the Mariana Islands, located about 200 km to the west of it.
Exploratory missions that dared to descend into the deep-sea trough discovered its more amazing facts.
4. The water in the Mariana Trench is relatively warm from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. The reason for such a high temperature of deep water hydrothermal springs, the water around which even heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.
5. Huge poisonous xenophyophores live in the gutter. Unicellular reach 10 centimeters (!) in diameter.
6. The Mariana Trench is home to shellfish. Invertebrates are found in the vicinity of serpentine hydrothermal vents, which exude hydrogen and methane, necessary for the life of mollusks.
7. The Champagne hydrothermal vent in the basin produces liquid carbon dioxide.
8. The bottom of the hollow is covered with a viscous mucus, which is crushed shells and plankton remains, turned into sticky mud by incredible water pressure.
9. At a depth of about 414 meters in the Mariana Trench is active volcano Daikoku. Volcanic eruptions have formed a lake of liquid sulfur, the temperature of which reaches 187 degrees Celsius.
10. In 2011, 4 stone "bridges" were discovered in the Mariana Trench, each of which is 69 kilometers long. Scientists suggest that they were formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
11. The famous director James Cameron was one of three daredevils who made the descent into the Mariana Trench. The creator of Avatar undertook his journey in 2012.
12. The Mariana Trench is a US National Monument and the largest marine reserve in the world.
13. The Mariana Trench is by no means a strictly vertical depression in the seabed. The shape of the Mariana Trench resembles a crescent moon with a length of about 2550 kilometers and an average width of 69 kilometers.
Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench- an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest known on Earth geographical objects.
The depression stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7–9°) slopes, and a flat bottom 1–5 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times higher than the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the border of the docking of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.
The device recording sounds began to transmit noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, vague shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became worried that the unique apparatus, made from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel in the NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called "hedgehog" with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. It was decided to raise it immediately. "Hedgehog" was removed from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately put on a special raft. The TV camera and echo sounder were lifted onto the deck of the Glomar Challenger. It turned out that the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered turned out to be half sawn. Who tried to leave the “hedgehog” at depth and why is an absolute mystery. The details of this most interesting experiment, conducted by American oceanologists in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996 by the New York Times (USA).
This is not the only case of a collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench. Something similar happened to the German research vehicle "Hyfish" with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the malfunction, the hydronauts turned on the infrared camera. What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, biting its teeth into a bathyscaphe, tried to crack it like a nut. Having come to their senses, the crew activated a device called an "electric gun". The monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss.
The inexplicable and incomprehensible has always attracted people, so scientists around the world are so eager to answer the question: “What is the Mariana Trench hiding in its depths?”
Can living organisms live at such a great depth, and how should they look, given that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean water, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at depths of more than 6000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life could exist to be insane. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even at these depths, far below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophora ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). Recently, the veil of secrecy has been opened by manned and automatic, made of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, a rich animal community was discovered, consisting of both well-known and less familiar marine groups.
Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were found:
- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure),
- from protozoa - foraminifera (a detachment of protozoa of the subclass of rhizopods with a cytoplasmic body dressed in a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);
- from multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.
At depths there is no sunlight, no algae, salinity is constant, temperatures are low, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?
The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of "corpses" and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals or blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluores; in other forms, the surface of the body or parts of it glow. Therefore, the appearance of these animals is as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them - a frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.
So, a person could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, and the rapidly developing world of technological progress allows you to penetrate deeper and deeper into the secret world of the most inhospitable and recalcitrant environment in the world - the oceans. There will be enough objects for research in the Mariana Trench for many years to come, given that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, unlike Everest (altitude 8848 m), was conquered only once. So, on January 23, 1960, US Navy officer Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Picard, protected by armored, 12-centimeter-thick walls of a bathyscaphe called Trieste, managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters.
Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, new mysteries have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss knows how to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future?
Of the 5 existing oceans in the world, only the Pacific can boast of its size and depth. Its area extends from the Arctic to the Southern Oceans and is 169.2 million km².
It owns almost half (46%) of the world's water area. If we take the entire globe as 100%, then the Pacific Ocean owns 30% of the entire surface on the planet.
What is the deepest ocean? All the same Quiet! And only thanks to the Mariana Trench, which was formed, according to scientists, as a result of the collision of two oceanic plates. The depth of the Mariana Trench is impressive - 11035 meters!
It is noteworthy that the deepest point of the ocean is further sea level than highest point on the planet - Mount Everest above it.
5 water deserts of the world
There is much more water on Earth than land. People have discovered continents and islands, but most of the globe is hidden under water.
The entire globe is covered by the waters of five oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern. The single water element of the oceans changes its properties as latitude changes.
As you can see from the table, the Pacific Ocean is considered the largest and deepest by right. "Abyss of the Challenger" - the most deep point Mariana Trench, its depth is 11035 meters.
The oceanic trench is called the Mariana Trench because of the islands of the same name located around it.
And the smallest ocean is the Arctic Ocean, whose area is 11 times smaller than the Pacific. But it ranks second after the Pacific in terms of the number of islands on it, one of which, Greenland, is the largest in the world.
Great and varied
Previously, the deepest ocean in the world was called the "Great", since it owns 50% of the surface of the world's oceans. It is located north and south of the equator, and it is at the equator that its width is maximum. That's why it's the warmest.
The water area of the Pacific Ocean affects almost all climatic zones, so different types of flora and fauna are represented here.
The ocean does not correspond to its name, it is far from quiet. But this is not surprising, they could at one time call Greenland a green country, and Iceland an icy one.
In different parts of it, different winds blow, called trade winds, monsoons, hurricanes constantly sweep over its surface, and storms rage very often in the temperate part of the ocean. Waves reach 30 meters high, and raging typhoons can raise huge pillars of water.
The temperature regime of the water surface varies greatly, in the north it can drop to -1˚С, and at the equator it can reach +29˚С.
In addition, more precipitation falls over the giant's surface than moisture evaporates, so the water in the ocean is less salty than usual.
Due to the fact that it is located in many climatic zones, the world of flora and fauna here is very rich and diverse.
The diversity of nature gives rise to the incredible fertility of water masses: in different places, researchers have found large schools of fish - from salmon to herring. Pacific flotillas are famous for the industrial catch of horse mackerel, mackerel, butterfish, flounder, pollock and other species.
The abundance of fish is an important condition for the life of seabirds. Therefore, penguins, pelicans, cormorants and seagulls will always find something to profit from. There are also famous whales here, which can be recognized from afar by the huge fountains of water on the sea surface. Lots of seals and sea beavers.
A wide variety of shellfish, crabs, squid, hedgehogs. The largest mollusk that lives only in the Pacific Ocean, tridacna, weighs about a quarter of a ton. A lot of sharks, huge tunas and sailboats live in it.
The ocean also boasts of its mountain range. It was created for millions of years by living organisms and has such a height, only under water, as the Ural Range. This is the largest natural complex on earth, called the Great Barrier Reef.
A variety of colors, different shades, in which coral colonies are painted, create a magical world for diving, ready to captivate anyone. These are bizarre castles, colorful floral arrangements, and mysterious mushrooms. The diversity of echinoderms, different breeds of crayfish, mollusks, and exotic fish is striking.
Fifty countries are located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the number of which is half the population of the Earth.
