The deepest place in the world. From reviews of the film

IN Everyday life we get used to the fact that the earth is flat and level. Potholes on the roads seem like a personal insult, a depression of 10-20 meters is a serious pit. But behind this routine, we sometimes forget that the topography of our planet is very heterogeneous. About high points we have already talked, and now it’s time to look at the other side of this problem and find the most deep place on the ground.

Underwater depths

One of the creatures from Mariana Trench. It's alive and pretty happy

It may seem like a funny paradox, but some of the deepest points on Earth are located under water. It is in the ocean that numerous trenches are hidden - faults of lithospheric plates. Filled with water, they turned into Amazing places, completely different from the world we are used to. The multi-kilometer layer of water creates unimaginable pressure; not a single ray of sunlight, even the fastest, can pass through this barrier. As a result, it is very dark and difficult there.

There are quite a lot of such points in the world, but the most impressive of them are known to everyone:

Mariana Trench. Its bottom is the deepest point of the Pacific Ocean and the ocean in general. Many times they tried to accurately determine its depth, and according to the latest data it is 10994 meters. This value is difficult to comprehend, but for comparison - the height of Everest, the most high mountain, is just over 8800 metro. Thus, our planet is rather deep than high.
Tongo gutter. The second deepest and much less studied trench. Its deepest point is at level 10882, which is only 100 meters less than the Mariana Trench. It turns out that the difference between the two deepest gutters is about 1%. Not so much. But if he loses in depth, he is first in other respects. For some reason, in this place the plates move an order of magnitude faster than in other places. The movement speed is about 25 centimeters instead of the required 2.
Philippine Trench. The third deepest point in the World Ocean. The maximum value is 10,265 meters, which is clearly less than that of the Mariana Trench and the Tongo Trench.

The funny thing is that these trenches are quite well studied, unlike most of the seabed. People imagine what is happening on approximately 5% of its area, while the remaining places escape our attention.

At the same time, gutters hide many secrets. For example, previously people did not even think that at such pressure, without light and oxygen dissolved in water, someone could exist. But the expeditions still found quite cheerful, albeit strange creatures there. And this is just one of many surprises that human nature has prepared.

Wells

Despite the fact that the underwater faults and trenches created by nature itself are amazing, the deepest place is still the work of man. And these are wells.

This is what KS-3 looks like from the outside. And under the cover - 12 kilometers of puncture

If a fault is an open wound on the body of the planet, then a well is more like a trace of an injection from the thinnest needle, but sometimes they can bring no less surprises and unexpected data. And the following wells boast the most impressive depth:

Kola superdeep well. Its total depth is 12263 meters. At the same time, the diameter of the outer part of the well is only about half a meter. The purpose of creating this well was to obtain new data on the structure of the earth's crust. And scientists received them in full. The study of this place brought them an incredible amount of new and unexpected information, which significantly influenced people’s ideas about the structure of our planet.
OR-11. Another well created by Russian engineers. It belongs to the Sakhalin-1 project, within the framework of which the field was studied. Its depth is 11,345 meters, a very impressive achievement. In total, 10 wells were drilled as part of this project.
BD-04A. This well, located in Qatar, was created with one very specific purpose - to study the oil field. Exploration required some effort, first of all, the creation of one of the deepest wells - 10,092 meters.

It turns out that the deepest place on the planet is still a fetus human hands. And even if this mistake is infinitely small, the achievement cannot but rejoice.

What do we know about the deepest place in the World Ocean? This is the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench.

What is its depth? This is not a simple question...

But definitely not 14 kilometers!

In cross-section, the Mariana Trench has a characteristic V-shaped profile with very steep slopes. The bottom is flat, several tens of kilometers wide, divided by ridges into several almost closed areas. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is more than 1,100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure, reaching 3,150 kg/cm2. Temperatures at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) are surprisingly high thanks to hydrothermal vents nicknamed “black smokers.” They constantly heat the water and maintain the overall temperature in the depression at about 3°C.

The first attempt to measure the depth of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) was made in 1875 by the crew of the English oceanographic vessel Challenger during a scientific expedition across the World Ocean. The British discovered the Mariana Trench quite by accident, during an on-duty sounding of the bottom using a lot (Italian hemp rope and lead weight). Despite the inaccuracy of such a measurement, the result was amazing: 8367 m. In 1877, a map was published in Germany on which this place was marked as the Challenger Deep.

A measurement made in 1899 from the American coal miner Nero showed a greater depth: 9636 m.

In 1951, the bottom of the depression was measured by the British hydrographic vessel Challenger, named after its predecessor, unofficially called Challenger II. Now, using an echo sounder, a depth of 10899 m was recorded.

The maximum depth indicator was obtained in 1957 by the Soviet research vessel “Vityaz”: 11,034 ± 50 m. It is strange that no one remembered the anniversary date of the generally epoch-making discovery of Russian oceanologists. However, they say that when taking readings, changing environmental conditions at different depths were not taken into account. This erroneous figure is still present on many physical-geographical maps published in the USSR and Russia.

In 1959, the American research vessel Stranger measured the depth of the trench in a rather unusual way for science - using depth charges. Result: 10915 m.

The last known measurements were made in 2010 by the American vessel Sumner; they showed a depth of 10994 ± 40 m.

It is not yet possible to obtain absolutely accurate readings even with the most modern equipment. The work of an echo sounder is hampered by the fact that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which manifest themselves differently depending on the depth.

This is what the most durable hulls of underwater vehicles look like after testing at extreme pressure. Photo: Sergey Ptichkin / RG

And now it is reported that Russia has developed an autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of operating at a depth of 14 kilometers. From this it is concluded that our military oceanologists have discovered a depression in the World Ocean deeper than the Mariana Trench.

The message that the device was created and was tested at a pressure corresponding to a depth of 14,000 meters was made during an ordinary press trip of journalists to one of the leading scientific centers involved, among other things, in deep-sea vehicles. It’s even strange that no one paid attention to this sensation and has not yet voiced it. And the developers themselves did not particularly open up. Or maybe they are just playing it safe and want to get reinforced concrete evidence? And now we have every reason to expect a new scientific sensation.

It was decided to create an uninhabited deep-sea vehicle capable of withstanding pressure much higher than what exists in the Mariana Trench. The device is ready for use. If the depth is confirmed, it will become a super sensation. If not, the device will work to the maximum in the same Mariana Trench, studying it up and down. In addition, the developers claim that with not very complicated modifications, the AUV can be made habitable. And this will be comparable to manned flights into deep space.

The existence of the Mariana Trench has been known for quite some time, and there are technical possibilities for going down to the bottom, but over the past 60 years only three people have had the opportunity to do this: a scientist, a military man and a film director.

During the entire study of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench), vehicles with people on board were lowered to its bottom twice and automatic vehicles were dropped four times (as of April 2017). This, by the way, is less than the number of people who have been to the Moon.

On January 23, 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) abyss. On board were Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard (1922-2008) and US Navy lieutenant, explorer Don Walsh (born 1931). The bathyscaphe was designed by Jacques Piccard's father - physicist, inventor of the stratospheric balloon and bathyscaphe Auguste Piccard (1884-1962).

A black and white photograph from half a century ago shows the legendary bathyscaphe Trieste as it prepares to dive. The crew of two was in a spherical steel gondola. It was attached to a float filled with gasoline to provide positive buoyancy.

The descent of the Trieste lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, with the crew periodically interrupting it. At a depth of 9 km, the plexiglass glass cracked, but the descent continued until the Trieste sank to the bottom, where the crew saw a 30-centimeter flat fish and some kind of crustacean creature. After staying at a depth of 10912 m for about 20 minutes, the crew began the ascent, which took 3 hours 15 minutes.

Man made another attempt to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) in 2012, when American film director James Cameron (born 1954) became the third to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep. Previously, he repeatedly dived on Russian Mir submersibles into the Atlantic Ocean to a depth of over 4 km during the filming of the movie Titanic. Now, on the Dipsy Challenger bathyscaphe, he sank into the abyss in 2 hours 37 minutes—almost twice as fast as the Trieste—and spent 2 hours 36 minutes at a depth of 10,898 m. After which he rose to the surface in just an hour and a half. At the bottom, Cameron saw only creatures that looked like shrimp.
The fauna and flora of the Mariana Trench have been poorly studied.

In the 1950s Soviet scientists during the expedition of the Vityaz vessel discovered life at depths of more than 7 thousand m. Before this, it was believed that there was nothing living there. Pogonophorans were discovered - a new family of marine invertebrates that live in chitinous tubes. Disputes about their scientific classification are still ongoing.

The main inhabitants of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench), living at the very bottom, are barophilic (developing only at high pressure) bacteria, protozoan creatures - foraminifera - single-celled in shells and xenophyophores - amoebas, reaching 20 cm in diameter and living by shoveling silt.
The Japanese automatic deep-sea probe "Kaiko" managed to obtain foraminifera in 1995, diving to 10911.4 m and taking soil samples.

The larger inhabitants of the trench live throughout its thickness. Life at depth made them either blind or with very developed eyes, often telescopic. Many have photophores - luminous organs, a kind of bait for prey: some have long processes, like an angler fish, while others have them right in the mouth. Some accumulate luminous liquid and, in case of danger, shower the enemy with it in the manner of a “light curtain”.

Since 2009, the territory of the depression has been part of the American protected area Mariana Trench Marine National Monument with an area of 246,608 km2. The zone includes only the underwater part of the trench and the water area. The basis for this action was the fact that the Northern Mariana Islands and the island of Guam - in fact American territory - are the island borders of the water area. The Challenger Deep is not included in this zone, as it is located on ocean territory Federated States Micronesia.

sources

The Mariana Trench (or 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 secrets of space or mountain peaks humanity knows much more than ocean depths. And one of the most mysterious and unexplored places on our planet is 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 line of the lot went overboard, but there was no bottom! And only at a depth of 8184 meters the descent of the rope stopped. This is how the deepest underwater crack on Earth was discovered. It was called the Mariana Trench, named after the nearby islands. Its shape (in the form of a crescent) and the location of the deepest section, called the “Challenger Deep,” were determined. It is located 340 km south of the island Guam and has coordinates 11°22′ N. latitude, 142°35′ e. d.

Since then this deep-sea depression has been called the “Fourth Pole,” “the womb of Gaia,” and “the bottom of the world.” Oceanographers have long tried to find out its true depth. Research different years gave different meanings. The fact is that at such a colossal depth, the density of water increases as it approaches the bottom, therefore the properties of the sound from the echo sounder in it also change. Using barometers and thermometers at different levels along with echo sounders, in 2011 the depth in the Challenger Deep was determined to be 10994 ± 40 meters. This is the height of Mount Everest plus another two kilometers above.

The pressure at the bottom of the underwater chasm is almost 1100 atmospheres, or 108.6 MPa. Most deep-sea vehicles are designed for a maximum depth of 6-7 thousand meters. During the time that has passed since the discovery of the deepest canyon, it was possible to successfully reach its bottom only four times.

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

Their observations led to an important conclusion about the presence of life at the bottom of the canyon. The discovery of an upward flow of water also had important environmental significance: based on it, nuclear powers refused to dump radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

In the 90s, the trench 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, picking up from the bottom samples of silt, minerals, samples of deep-sea fauna and photos of the inhabitants of unknown depths.

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

Amazing discoveries

Located in a trench at a depth of about 4 kilometers 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.

“Black smokers” swirl 2 kilometers from the surface - 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 clouds 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 “cauldrons” that one should look for the origins of life on Earth. Hot springs “heat” the icy waters, supporting life in the abyss - the temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is between 1-3° C.

Life beyond life

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

The bottom of the hole is covered with a thick layer of slime from organic sediments that have been sinking from the upper layers of the ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. Mucus is an excellent breeding ground for barrophilic bacteria, which form the basis of nutrition for protozoa and multicellular organisms. The 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, low amounts of oxygen and high concentrations of toxic substances. Life in such unbearable conditions gave many of the inhabitants of the abyss a frightening and unattractive appearance.

Deep-sea fish have incredibly large mouths lined 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, which live 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 developed their organs of vision are, allowing them to catch the slightest reflection of light on the body of prey in complete darkness. Some individuals themselves are capable of producing 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 increasingly lose their color; the bodies of many of them are almost transparent.

On the slopes where the “black smokers” are located, mollusks live that have learned to neutralize sulfides and hydrogen sulfide that are lethal to them. And, which still remains a mystery to scientists, under conditions of enormous pressure at the bottom, they somehow miraculously manage to keep their mineral shell intact. Other inhabitants of the Mariana Trench show similar abilities. The study of fauna samples showed many times higher levels of radiation and toxic substances.

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

Secrets and riddles 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! This is confirmed by 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 in the depths of the hole there are still specimens of these monsters preserved.

There are many stories about the corpses of giant monsters washed up on the shore. When descending into the abyss of the German bathyscaphe "Haifish", 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 chew some kind of prehistoric lizard! Only a pulse of electric current through the outer skin managed to scare away the monster.

Another time, when an American submersible was diving, the grinding of metal began to be heard from under the water. The descent was stopped. Upon inspection of the raised equipment, it turned out that the metal cable made of titanium alloy was half sawn (or chewed), and the beams underwater vehicle bent.

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

Unfortunately, there is no documentary evidence of these interesting facts none, they are all based only on eyewitness accounts. Each story has its fans and skeptics, its arguments for and against.

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

So what do we know about her?

To understand how the Mariana underwater gap was formed, it should be remembered that such gaps (trenches) are usually formed along the edges of the oceans under the influence of moving lithospheric plates. Oceanic plates, being older and heavier, “crawl” under continental plates, forming deep gaps at the junctions. The deepest is the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates near the Mariana Islands (Mariana Trench). The Pacific plate is moving at a rate of 3-4 centimeters per year, resulting in increased volcanic activity along both its edges.

Along the entire length of this deepest failure, four so-called transverse bridges were discovered. mountain range. The ridges were presumably formed due to the movement of the lithosphere and volcanic activity.

The gutter is V-shaped in cross-section, greatly expanding at the top 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 vertical and is only 7-8°. The depression stretches from north to south for 2,500 kilometers. The trench has an average depth of about 10,000 meters.

Only three people to date have visited the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 2018, another manned dive to the “bottom of the world” in its deepest section is planned. This time, the famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov and polar explorer Artur Chilingarov. Currently, a deep-sea bathyscaphe is being manufactured and a research program is being drawn up.

Woodingdean (England)- the deepest well in the world, dug by hand. Its construction began in 1858. Initially, it was planned to dig only 122 m, but no water was found at this depth, and then we had to wade further into the bowels of the Earth, reaching a depth of 392 m (this is more than the Empire State Building!) Like everything grandiose, the construction of the well cost human lives victims. At least one of the diggers died while working hard in merciless conditions, climbing down flimsy ladders every day. Prisoners from a nearby prison were used as labor to create the well.

Tagebau Hambach (Germany)- the deepest open pit in the world, the depth of which is 370 m. However, the mine is famous not only for its depth. Thus, Tagebau Hambach uses the largest excavator: with its help, about 24 thousand tons of brown coal are lifted to the surface every day. That's not all - next to the quarry is the world's largest artificial hill, Sophienhöhe, from the top of which you can view the mine in all its glory. The hill rises 301.8 m above sea level, i.e. it is almost as high as the quarry is deep.

El Zacaton (Mexico)- a beautiful (and dangerous for risky divers) karst sinkhole. Naturally, the deepest in the world. Sinkholes can form suddenly, including in residential areas, and such collapses can be disastrous. However, the El Zakaton sinkhole is not new: it was formed during the Pleistocene (that is, in the period 2.588-11.7 million years ago). In addition to its depth (339 m) and glorious age, what adds special charm to it is the fact that the depression is filled with water. This “reservoir” has attracted brave divers more than once, but only a robot managed to sink to the very bottom.

Lake Baikal- the deepest lake in the world (1642 m) and one of the most beautiful places on the planet, which attracts both tourists and scientists. Dives of manned vehicles to the bottom of the lake have been taking place since 1977. In 2009, the Mir bathyscaphe sank to a depth of 1640 m and reached what is supposedly the deepest point of the bottom. In total, during the “Worlds” expedition on Baikal during 2008–2010, 160 dives were made on the famous deep-sea vehicles “Mir-1” and “Mir-2”.

Krubera Cave, or Crow Cave (Abkhazia)- the deepest cave in the world (2199 m) and the only known to people cave, deeper than 2 km. Karst cave, opened in 1960, was named after the master of Russian karst studies, Alexander Kruber. The second name - Crow Cave - appeared in the 1980s, when Ukrainian speleologists reached a depth of 340 m: this name is due to the crows that lived in the cave. Since 2000, the Krubera Cave has attracted researchers from all over the world, who discover new passages and galleries every year. The Crow Cave may contain many more interesting things, but its secrets will only be revealed to those who do not suffer from claustrophobia.

Kidd Mine (Ontario, Canada)- the world's deepest copper-zinc mine, extending 2733 m below the sea. This is not the deepest mine in the world, but... The quarry is located in the north, it is closest to the center of the Earth of all existing mines. Its history begins in 1964, since then this open-pit mine has been expanding underground. Every year, more than 2 thousand workers mine millions of tons of ore here. Additional deepening of the quarry is planned in 2017.

Litke gutter- the deepest depression in the North Arctic Ocean and throughout the Eurasian basin is located 350 km from " arctic desert» Spitsbergen Islands. The trench is not only deep (5449 m), but also cold - perhaps the Lithuanian Trench can be called one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. The depth was discovered in 1955 by members of the expedition of the icebreaker "Fedor Litke", after which it was named.

Milwaukee depth- the most deep point trench of Puerto Rico and the entire Atlantic Ocean, extending 8740 m below sea level. Like the Litke Trench, the Milwaukee Deep is named after the vessel that first recorded it, the USS Milwaukee. The depth of Milwaukee became known on February 14, 1939. The Puerto Rican depression itself is located on the border Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean - where the fault passes. According to many geologists, a volcanic eruption is possible in this place soon, which, in turn, will cause a powerful tsunami.

Mariana Trench, like other deepest depressions - the Tonga Trench, the Philippine Trench, the Kermadec, the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench - is located in the Pacific Ocean. Its deepest point, the so-called Challenger Deep, is 11,034 m below sea level. No wonder she attracts people to her. Thus, Hollywood director James Cameron and businessman Richard Branson competed to see who would be able to reach the bottom of the Martian trench first and become the third person in history to go so deep. Cameron won.

Kola superdeep well- the deepest place on our planet, and it was created by human efforts (surprisingly, not for the purpose of extracting natural resources, but exclusively for scientific research). It is located in Murmansk region, and its depth is 12,262 m. Previously, more than 10 research laboratories worked at the Kola superdeep well, studying ancient rocks whose age exceeded 2.8 billion years. Today the well is mothballed and is in disrepair.

Now we approximately know the internal structure of our planet. The outer hard shell of the Earth is called the crust. It makes up less than 1% of the planet's mass and has a thickness of 5 to 70 kilometers. Next comes the mantle (outer and inner), and then the core (outer and inner).

How close to the core do you think a person can go? Theoretically, in the future we can make devices that can withstand colossal loads and temperatures in order to get as close to the core as possible, but in practice we have not yet gotten to the areas that are under the crust.

Let's see what are the deepest places on the planet we know.

✰ ✰ ✰

Lake Zakaton

Depth 319 meters

The lake is the world's largest natural well. It is located in Central Mexico. Its depth is 319 meters and its diameter is about 100 meters. At the same time, a hole was found on one of the “walls” of the well, which may be the entrance to another, deeper “well” or even to a system of deep-sea underground caves.

✰ ✰ ✰

Depth 370 meters

This is a coal mine located in Elsdorf in Germany. It is considered the deepest open pit mine in the world. Its depth is about 370 meters and its area is about 33.9 sq. km. Next to the quarry there is an artificial hill, which was formed from the material taken from the quarry.

The hill has its own name Sophienhöhe and is the largest artificial hill in the world. Its height is 301 meters.

✰ ✰ ✰

Woodingdean Well

Depth 392 meters

Let's start with a man-made feat that appeared in 1862 in the English town of Woodingdean. It all started with the fact that in 1858, during the construction of a new building, a source of water was required. It was decided to dig a well. To reduce costs, the well was dug by workers. It was planned to go 122 meters into the ground, lining the walls of the well with bricks.

The workers lowered themselves into the well, and lifted the excess earth in buckets to the surface. After 2 years of digging, the depth of the well exceeded the design depth by 12 meters, but there was still no water. Despite the fact that this depth was slightly below sea level.

Then it was decided to dig four horizontal shafts at this depth to get to the water. But this also did not give any results. Then the construction organizers decided not to give up and get to the water at any cost. At the end of one of the horizontal shafts they began to dig deeper again. After another 2 years, in March 1862, workers felt the ground in the mine begin to rise. People began to rush to the surface. After 45 minutes, water rushed out.

This well is the deepest well in the world that was dug by hand.

✰ ✰ ✰

Lake Baikal

Depth 1642 meters

Reaching a maximum depth of 1642 meters, Lake Baikal is the most... deep lake in the world. The lake is a treasure not only of Russia, but of the whole world; it is a natural reservoir for the purest fresh water. It is home to many plants and animals that are unique.

An interesting fact is that if all the water from Lake Baikal is divided equally among all Russian citizens, then for each resident there will be approximately 2,780 railway tanks of 60 tons each.

✰ ✰ ✰

Depth 2199 meters

This deepest cave in the world is located in Abkhazia near the city of Gagra. The cave has several entrances located at an altitude above 2000 meters above sea level. It is a system of several wells, which are interconnected by manholes and galleries. Inside there are several high plumbs, the deepest of which are 110, 115 and 152 meters.

✰ ✰ ✰

Depth 3048 meters

The Mponeng mine is considered to be the deepest mine in the world. South Africa. Its depth is 4000 meters. However, a mine called the Kidd Mine in Ontario, Canada, which is 3,048 meters deep, is closer to the Earth's core than the Mponeng Mine. This is because our planet does not have an ideal spherical shape. Due to the rotation of the Earth, the diameter in the equatorial part is slightly larger than at the poles. The difference in size is about 140 kilometers. So a person standing at the equator is on average 70 kilometers further from the core than a person standing at the pole.

The Kidd Mine opened in 1964 as an open pit mine and has gradually expanded underground. It is now the largest copper mine in the world. It employs 2,200 workers and produces millions of tons of ore annually.

✰ ✰ ✰

Litke Gorge

Depth 5449 meters

Litke's Gap (Litke's Trench) is an oceanic trench located northeast of Greenland, 350 km north of Spitsbergen, in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. This is the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean, its depth is 5449 meters.

The gorge was found and explored by a Soviet expedition on the icebreaker Fedor Litke in 1955.

✰ ✰ ✰

Milwaukee Depression

Depth 8385 meters

The Milwaukee Trench is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean. Its maximum depth is 8385 meters. The place is named after the American cruiser that discovered it in 1939.

The Milwaukee Trench is located in the Puerto Rico Trench, which is located at the boundary of two lithospheric plates. The Caribbean Plate moves east and the North American Plate moves west.

✰ ✰ ✰

Challenger Deep

Depth 10994 meters

The top five deepest sea trenches in the world include depressions located in Pacific Ocean, and the most famous of them is the Mariana Trench, with maximum depth 10994 meters (Challenger Deep).

The name of the depression comes from Mariana Islands located nearby. The depression stretches for 1500 kilometers, they have a standard V-shaped profile. The bottom of the depression is flat, ranging from 1 to 5 km wide.

The water pressure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep is 108,600 Pa, which is 1,100 times higher than atmospheric pressure on the Earth's surface. People have dived to the bottom of the Mariana Trench twice. The first dive was made in 1960 by explorer Jacques Piccard and US Navy SEAL Don Walsh. Their bathyscaphe "Trieste" had walls 127 millimeters thick to resist the monstrous pressure. The second time the famous director James Cameron visited the bottom of the depression was in 2012. He plunged into the Challenger Deep in a single-seat deep-sea submersible Deepsea Challenger. During the dive, he filmed in 3D.

✰ ✰ ✰

Depth 12262 meters

This is the deepest man-made place on Earth. It is located in the Murmansk region near the city of Zapolyarny.

Work to begin drilling the well was timed to coincide with the centenary of the birth of V.I. Lenin in 1970. Unlike others, this well was drilled specifically for the purpose of studying the structure of the planet. The location was chosen specifically where the thickness of the earth's crust is supposed to be thinnest.

Up to 7000 meters drilling proceeded normally. The drill passed through a uniform granite layer of the lithospheric plate. But lower down the rock was less dense and crumbled, jamming the equipment. I had to change the drilling angles a little.

Thirteen years later, in 1983, drillers reached a level of 12,066 meters and stopped. But after drilling resumed, the drill string broke. Drilling had to be started again from a depth of 7,000 meters. By 1990, the drill crossed the 12,262 meter mark and the accident repeated. Then, for financial reasons, the project had to be frozen, and in 2008, the Kola Superdeep Well project was finally abandoned.

I really want to believe that Russian science will turn its attention to this project. He has many prospects. The lion's share of the work has already been completed, and to revive the project, several million rubles are required, a significant amount for a country with high scientific ambitions.

✰ ✰ ✰

Conclusion

It was an article about the deepest places on Earth. We hope that you learned something new and interesting from us. Thank you for your attention!