Where is Challenger Trench? Depth of the Mariana Trench. Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench. Living in bottomless darkness

The Mariana Trench is considered the most mysterious and mysterious place on our planet. Located in the Pacific Ocean, this deep-sea trench has been unsuccessfully “attacked” by scientists from all over the world, but there is still no detailed information about the exact map of the trench and its inhabitants.

Where is the Mariana Trench located?

In the southwestern vicinity of the Pacific Ocean, there is a group of Mariana Islands. Some of them were formed due to volcanic processes in the bowels of our earth, the second part represents the eastern edge of the Philippine lithospheric plate, which, having collided with the more massive Pacific plate, partially rose above the water. It is in this place that the Mariana Trench is located.

Initially, no one knew about the depth of the trench, and, as was common during the Middle Ages, less developed communal formations became colonies of Western European countries:

1521 - A Spanish expedition lands on the islands. Due to conflict with local tribes, the geographical discovery was for a long time called the Ladron Islands (translated from Spanish - land of thieves);
1668 - the property of the Spanish crown received a new name - the Mariana Islands (in honor of Queen Marianna of Austria).

After the Spanish-American War, part of the wreck was transferred to the United States. In 1875, the British ship Challenger, whose crew included scientists from America and England, used a hydrographic survey to establish a record depth for the trench at that time - more than 8,000 meters. It was decided to name the depression Mariana.

Bottom of the Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench has a V-shape, and the width of the base (bottom) of the trench does not exceed 3-5 km. This discrepancy in the data concerns not only the width, but also the depth of the depression itself, which is associated with the extreme pressure - at the extreme point it reaches 108 MPa, which gives the echo sounder measurements a certain error:

1875 - British corvette Defiant sets the depth to 8.3 km;
1951 - another British expedition, supplementing the information with new data - 10.86 km;
1957 - the Soviet research expedition updates the previously obtained results: length - 11.03 km, bottom width - 3.57 km;
1995 - length 10.92 km, base width - 4.12 km.

The most recent studies of the bottom of the Mariana Trench were carried out by oceanographers from the University of New Hampshire in 2016:

Width- 4.41 km;
Square- 403701 square meters;
Shelf- rocky, 4 mountain ranges with heights ranging from 1.8 to 2.51 km were discovered;
Flora and fauna- plants, oilfish, jellyfish and fish.

With the help of an underwater vehicle launched from the research vessel Okeanos Explorer, the whole world learned about previously unknown organisms whose habitat exceeds a depth of 6,000 meters.

Living in bottomless darkness

For an accurate picture of the pressure distribution, let’s walk along the vertical of the Mariana Trench from the surface of the ocean to the very bottom, and learn about its inhabitants:

100 - 120 meters: pressure exceeds 10 atmospheres. The depth is the extreme point of a blue whale's dive;
1000 meters: maximum daylight penetration point. Here you can find:
- Sperm whale;
- Glowing Octopus;
- A predator from the chordate family.
4000 meters: the abyssal zone is characterized by low water temperatures (about 2-3 C˚), and is a habitat for:
- Deep sea octopus;
- Known from the animated film "Finding Nemo" the terrible (monkfish).
5000 - 11000 meters: despite the complete darkness and high pressure, even at the bottom of the depression, scientists recorded previously unknown, giant amoebas and.

The fauna inhabiting the Mariana Trench is truly unique. For example, some types of fish accumulate luminous liquid, and when in danger, they “spit” it on the predator, thus temporarily blinding their offender.

Mariana lizards: true or fake?

An incident that occurred in the Mariana Abyss in 2003 introduced the world to a real rival to the Loch Ness monster known as “Nessie”:

2001 - a German expedition, using the Haifish deep-sea vehicle, explored the waters of the trench at a depth of more than 7,500 meters. Hearing sharp sounds, the crew turned on the infrared camera and were speechless for a few seconds - everyone saw a huge prehistoric lizard;
2003 - American scientists lowered an unmanned vehicle into the water. Powerful spotlights and a video system made it possible to record huge monsters with a body length of 14-16 meters. After the bathyscaphe was lifted aboard the ship, the researchers noticed an interesting fact - the steel cable on which the device was held was worn out or bitten off by more than half.

Three years later, journalists from the New York Times conducted an investigation, which nevertheless cast doubt on the authenticity of the photographs.

Mariana Trench: 5 interesting facts

Do you know that:

The bottom of the trench is covered with ("black smokers"), which, under pressure, release liquid carbon dioxide into the ocean. This allows you to keep the water temperature within 2-4 C˚;
Most fish that live at a depth of 4000 meters and below lack vision or see very poorly;
Only three people in the world were present at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: American Don Walsh (1954), Frenchman Jacques Picard (1960) and famous Hollywood film director James Cameron (2012);
The bottom of the trench is covered with thick viscous silt, the layer reaches 1 km, according to scientists;
The depression is a national natural monument protected by the United States.

Everyone has probably heard about the Mother Trench, which is also called the “bottom of the Earth,” from the school curriculum. deep gutter, the depth of which, according to various sources, varies from 10950 to 11037 meters, is nothing more than a tectonic fault formed at the westernmost point of the Pacific Ocean. Despite the high pressure, which in some places exceeds 100 MPa, there is life in the dark abyss, the diversity of which we will certainly learn about in full in the very near future.

Video: incredible mysteries of the deep sea trench

In this video, Fyodor Miroshnikov will talk about the mysteries of the Mariana Trench, what is currently known to science:

There are 5 oceans on Earth, which occupy a significant part of the land. Having conquered space and landed a man on the Moon, sending autonomous spacecraft to the most distant planets of the solar system, people know negligible little about what is hidden in the depths of the sea on their home planet.

What is the Mariana Trench?

This is the name of the deepest place in the Pacific Ocean known today. It is a trench formed by the convergence of tectonic plates. The maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is approximately 10,994 meters (2011 data). There are other trenches in all other oceans, but not so deep. Only the Java Trench (7729 meters) can be compared with the Mariana Trench.

Location

The deepest place on Earth is located in the western Pacific Ocean, near the Mariana Islands. The trench stretches along them for one and a half thousand kilometers. The bottom of the depression is flat, its width ranges from 1 to 5 kilometers. The trench got its name in honor of the islands next to which it is located.

"Challenger Deep"

This is the name given to the deepest place (10,994 meters) of the Mariana Trench. Here it is necessary to clarify that it is not yet possible to obtain the exact dimensions of this gigantic trough of the ocean floor. The speed of sound at different depths varies greatly, and the Mariana Trench has a very complex structure, so the data obtained using an echo sounder is always slightly different.

History of discovery

People have long known that deep-sea places exist in the seas and oceans. In 1875, the English corvette Challenger opened one of these points. What depth of the Mariana Trench was recorded then? It was 8367 meters. The measuring instruments at that time were far from ideal, but even this result made a stunning impression - it became clear that the deepest point of the ocean floor on the planet had been found.

Gutter studies

In the 19th century, it was simply impossible to explore the bottom of the Mariana Trench. At that time, there was no technology to descend to such depths. Without modern diving equipment, this was tantamount to suicide.

The trench was re-examined many years later, in the next century. Measurements taken in 1951 showed a depth of 10,863 meters. Then, in 1957, members of the Soviet scientific vessel Vityaz studied the depression. According to their measurements, the depth of the Mariana Trench was 11,023 meters.

The last study of the trench was carried out in 2011.

Cameron's Great Journey

The Canadian director became the third person in the history of exploration of the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom. He was the first in the world to do it alone. Before its sinking, the trench was explored by Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard in 1960 using the bathyscaphe Trieste. In addition, Japanese scientists tried to find out the depth of the Mariana Trench using the Kaiko probe. And in 2009, the Nereus apparatus descended to the bottom of the trench.

Descent to such incredible depths comes with a huge number of risks. First of all, a person is threatened by a monstrous pressure of 1100 atmospheres. It can damage the body of the device, which will lead to the death of the pilot. Another serious danger that lurks when descending to depth is the cold that reigns there. It can not only cause equipment failure, but also kill a person. The bathyscaphe may collide with rocks and be damaged.

For many years, James Cameron dreamed of visiting the deepest point of the Mariana Trench - the Challenger Deep. In order to carry out his plans, he equipped his own expedition. Especially for this, an underwater vehicle was developed and built in Sydney - a single-seat bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, equipped with scientific equipment, as well as photo and video cameras. In it, Cameron sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This event occurred on March 26, 2012.

In addition to photographs and video footage, the Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe had to take new measurements of the trench and try to provide accurate data on its dimensions. Everyone was worried about one question: “How much?” The depth of the Mariana Trench, according to the apparatus, was 10,908 meters.

The director was impressed by what he saw below. Most of all, the bottom of the depression reminded him of a lifeless lunar landscape. He did not meet the terrible inhabitants of the abyss. The only creature he saw through the submersible's porthole was a small shrimp.

After a successful voyage, James Cameron decided to donate his bathyscaphe to the Oceanographic Institute so that it could continue to be used to explore the depths of the sea.

Creepy denizens of the deep

The lower the ocean floor, the less sunlight penetrates through the water column. The depth of the Mariana Trench is the reason that impenetrable darkness always reigns in it. But even the absence of light cannot become an obstacle to the emergence of life. Darkness gives birth to creatures that have never seen the sun. And they, in turn, were only recently able to be seen by marine biologists.

This spectacle is not for the faint of heart. Almost all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench seem to have been born from the imagination of an artist who creates monsters for horror films. Seeing them for the first time, you might think that they do not live next to humans on the same planet, but are alien creatures, they look so alien.

To some extent, this is true - negligible little is known about the oceans and their inhabitants. The bottom of the Mariana Trench has been explored less than the surface of Mars. Therefore, for a long time it was believed that at such a depth life is impossible without sunlight. It turned out that this was not the case. The depth of the Mariana Trench, gigantic pressure and cold are no obstacle to the birth of amazing creatures living in complete darkness.

Most of them have an ugly appearance due to terrible living conditions. The pitch darkness reigning in the depths made the marine inhabitants of these places completely blind. Many fish have huge teeth, such as howliods, which swallow their prey whole.

What can living creatures that are so far from the surface of the ocean eat? At the bottom of the depression, the remains of living organisms accumulate, forming a multi-meter layer of bottom silt. The inhabitants of the depths feed on these deposits. Predatory fish have luminous areas of the body with which they attract small fish.

The gutter is inhabited by bacteria that can only develop at high pressure, single-celled organisms, jellyfish, worms, mollusks, and sea cucumbers. The depth of the Mariana Trench allows them to reach very large sizes. For example, amphipods found at the bottom of the trench are 17 centimeters long.

Amoebas

Xenophyophores (amoebas) are single-celled organisms that can only be seen with a microscope. But at a depth, these inhabitants of the Mariana Trench reach gigantic sizes - up to 10 centimeters. Previously, they were found at a depth of 7500 meters. An interesting feature of these organisms, in addition to their size, is the ability to accumulate uranium, lead and mercury. Externally, deep-sea amoebas look different. Some are disc or tetrahedron shaped. Xenophyophores feed on bottom sediments.

Hirondellea gigas

Large amphipods (amphipods) have been discovered in the Mariana Trench. These deep-sea crayfish feed on dead organic matter that accumulates at the bottom of the depression and have a keen sense of smell. The largest specimen found was 17 centimeters in length.

Holothurians

Sea cucumbers are another representative of organisms that live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This class of invertebrates feeds on plankton and bottom sediments.

Conclusion

The Mariana Trench has not yet been properly explored. No one knows what creatures inhabit it and how many secrets it holds.

Today we will talk about the deepest oceanic place on the planet - the Mariana Trench and its deepest point - the Challenger Deep.

“The Mariana Trench (or Mariana Trench) is an oceanic deep-sea trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the deepest known on Earth. Named after the nearby Mariana Islands.

The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is the Challenger Deep. It is located in the southwestern part of the depression, 340 km southwest of the island of Guam (point coordinates: 11°22′N 142°35′E (G) (O)). According to measurements in 2011, its depth is 10,994 ± 40 m below sea level.

The deepest point of the depression, called the Challenger Deep, is further from sea level than Mount Everest is above it.”

Many people know from school that the depth of the Mariana Trench is 11 km, and this is the deepest place on the planet. However, with a slight amendment, it is the deepest known. That is, theoretically there could be even deeper depressions... but they are still unknown. Even the tallest mountain in the world - Everest - could easily fit into the trench and still have room left.

The Mariana Trench is rich in records and titles: and it became famous not only for its depth, but also for its mystery, the terrible inhabitants of the underwater depths, the “monsters” guarding the bottom of the earth, mysteries, the unknown, primordiality, darkness, etc. In general, Space Inside Out is the bottom of the Mariana Trench. There are versions that life began in the Mariana Trench.

MARIANA TRENCH. PuzzlesMarianadepressions:

In the video they show and tell that at such a great depth the pressure is higher than from powder gases when fired from a hunting rifle, about 1100 times more than atmospheric pressure: 108.6 MPa (Mariana Trench - bottom) by 104 MPa (powder gases). Glass and wood turn into powder under such conditions.

Still, it is not clear then how there is life there and the ominous underwater monsters about which there are legends?

The length of the trench along the Mariana Islands is 1.5 km.

“It has a V-shaped profile: steep (7-9°) slopes, a flat bottom 1-5 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions.

The depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.”

The Mariana Trench was discovered in 1875:

“The first measurements (and discovery) of the Mariana Trench were taken in 1875 from the British three-masted corvette Challenger. Then, with the help of a deep-sea lot, the depth was established at 8367 meters (with repeated sounding - 8184 m).

In 1951, an English expedition on the research vessel Challenger recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters using an echo sounder.”

Back in 1951, this point was given the name Challenger Deep.

Later, during several expeditions, the depth of the Mariana Trench was established to be more than 11 km; the last measurement (late 2011) recorded a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m):

“According to the results of measurements carried out in 1957 during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel “Vityaz” (headed by Alexey Dmitrievich Dobrovolsky), the maximum depth of the trench is 11,023 m (updated data, initially the depth was reported as 11,034 m).

On January 23, 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard dived in the bathyscaphe Trieste. They recorded a depth of 10,916 m, which also became known as the "Trieste depth".

The unmanned Japanese submarine Kaiko collected soil samples from this location in March 1995 and recorded a depth of 10,911 m.

On May 31, 2009, the unmanned submarine Nereus took soil samples at this location. The collected mud mostly consists of foraminifera. This dive recorded a depth of 10,902 m.

More than two years later, on December 7, 2011, researchers at the University of New Hampshire published the results of an underwater robot dive that recorded a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m) using sound waves.

And yet, despite many obstacles, difficulties, and dangers, three people in the entire history of the Mariana Trench managed to reach the bottom, naturally, while in special devices. On March 26, 2012, director James Cameron single-handedly reached the bottom of the Abyss on the Deepsea Challenger.

Channel One's story "James Cameron - diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench":

And here is Jace Cameron's film "Challenging the Abyss 3D|Journey to the Bottom of the Mariana Trench":

The film was created in collaboration with National Geographic and was created in documentary format. Before some of his box-office creations (like Titanic), the director also sank to the bottom of the depths to the place of events, so before his “visit” of the Mariana Trench in 2012, many were waiting for either a grandiose masterpiece, or a video with monsters living in the darkness of the ocean .

The film is a documentary, but the main thing is that Cameron did not see giant octopuses, monsters, “leviathans”, multi-headed creatures there, although for the first time he spent more than three hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. There were small marine derivatives no more than 2.5 cm... but those same outlandish flat fish, huge creatures that bite the steel cable were not there... although he was not there for 12 minutes.

To questions about whether the director saw any terrible creature at the bottom of the depression, he answered: “Probably everyone would like to hear that I saw some kind of sea monster, but it wasn’t there... There was nothing living, more than 2- 2.5 cm".

Public reaction to Cameron's film The Abyss was mixed. Some people thought the film was boring and could not be compared with his works like “Titanic”, “Avatar”, someone said that the film was real and in its “boringness” it showed the way of interaction between one of the seven billion people on the planet and the deepest abyss.

From reviews of the film:

“Of course, the content of the film can hardly be called exciting. The viewer spends most of the time in endless tedious meetings and tests in the laboratory. But I believe that this difficult and long path from a dream to its realization had to be shown. It is he who most inspires us to work for our idea.”

I mentioned the film precisely because the path that led the director to the creation of the creation is the basis for the interaction of the secrets of nature and mortal man.

People are frightened and attracted by the unknown, rebellion, depth, danger, mortality, mystery, eternity, loneliness, independence of the depths, distances, heights of nature. And the title of the film - “Challenge to the Abyss...” - is naturally not without reason: at a certain stage of potential development, a person either wants to touch the unknown, or completely forget about its existence, to live in everyday life.

Cameron, having the opportunity and zeal, decided to take this leap into depth. This is the desire to rise to a level close to God, and pride, and to perpetuate this abyss in oneself and to perpetuate oneself in the abyss, understanding the frailty of matter and much more.

Many people look in and are interested, some out of curiosity, some out of nothing to do. But only a few will dare to come close.

Let us recall the famous saying of F. Nietzsche: “If you gaze into an abyss for a long time, the abyss will begin to peer into you,” or another translation: “For a person who gazes into an abyss for a long time, the abyss begins to live in his eyes,” or the full text of the quote: “Who fights with monsters, he should be careful not to become a monster himself. And if you look into the abyss for a long time, then the abyss also looks into you.” Here we are talking about the dark sides of the soul and the world, if you attract evil, evil will attract you, although there are many interpretation options.

But the very words “abyss” and “abyss” imply something dangerous, dark, akin to the source of dark forces. There are a lot of legends around the Mariana Trench, legends that are far from good, whoever came up with anything: monsters live there, and monsters of unknown etiology can swallow alive deep-sea research vehicles with or without people, gnaw through 20-centimeter cables, and creepy devilish creatures seem to in hell they scurry between the black waves of the deep, terrify extremely rare human guests, and in circles discussing the deepest trench, versions are expressed that people who knew how to breathe under water used to live here, and almost life originated here, etc. People want to see darkness in this abyss. And, in general, they see her...

Before Cameron conquered the Mariana Abyss, a similar attempt was made in 1960:

“On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh dived into the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,920 meters on the bathyscaphe Trieste. The dive took about 5 hours, and the time spent at the bottom was 12 minutes. This was an absolute depth record for manned and unmanned vehicles.

Two researchers then discovered at a terrible depth only 6 species of living creatures, including flat fish up to 30 cm in size.”

Whether the monsters were afraid of James Cameron, or they were not in the mood to pose for the camera that day, or whether there really was no one there, will remain a mystery, however, during previous underwater expeditions, including those without the participation of people, various forms of life, fish, hitherto never seen, strange creatures, creatures similar to monsters, giant octopuses. But let's not forget that “monsters” are just unexplored creatures.

Several times, vehicles without people descended into the depths of the Mariana Trench (with people only twice), for example, on May 31, 2009, the automatic underwater vehicle Nereus sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. According to measurements, it fell 10,902 meters below sea level. At the bottom, Nereus filmed a video, took some photographs, and even collected sediment samples at the bottom.

Here are some photos of those whom the expedition cameras met at the depths of the Mariana Trench:

The photo shows the bottom of the Mariana Trench:

“The mystery of the Mariana Trench. Great mysteries of the ocean." Ren-TV program.

Still, it remains a big mystery what is there, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench... They scare us in absentia with monsters, but in reality no one, in particular Cameron, who spent 3 hours at the bottom of the trench, discovered strange objects there... silence... depth... eternity.

And the most important questions are “how can monsters live there if there is enormous pressure at the bottom, no light, no oxygen??” Answer from scientific experts:

“The inexplicable and incomprehensible have always attracted people, which is why scientists all over the world want to answer the question: “What does the Mariana Trench hide in its depths?”

Can living organisms live at such great depths, and what should they look like, given the fact that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean waters, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres?

The challenges associated with exploring and understanding the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are numerous, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanographers considered the hypothesis that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under enormous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, to be crazy.

However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even in these depths, much below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophora ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals living in long chitinous tubes open at both ends).

Recently, the veil of secrecy has been lifted by manned and automatic underwater vehicles made of heavy-duty materials, equipped with video cameras. The result was the discovery of a rich animal community consisting of both familiar and less familiar marine groups.

Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were discovered:

- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);

- from protozoa - foraminifera (an order of protozoa of the subclass of rhizomes with a cytoplasmic body covered with a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);

- from multicellular organisms - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.

At the depths there is no sunlight, no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters).

What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?

The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of “corpses” and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals are either blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluoride; in other forms the surface of the body or parts of it glow.

Therefore, the appearance of these animals is as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them are frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth or anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.

Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in researching the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, and new mysteries have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss knows how to keep its secrets. Will people be able to uncover them soon?”

The Mariana Trench, considering that it is the most famous deep point on the planet, has been studied too little; people have flown into space tens of times more, and we know more about space than about the bottom of the 11-kilometer trench. Probably everything is ahead...

The Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographical feature known on Earth.

Studies of the Mariana Trench were initiated by the expedition (December 1872 - May 1876) of the English ship HMS Challenger, which carried out the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted corvette with sail rigging was rebuilt as an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872.

Also, a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana deep-sea trench was made by Soviet researchers. In 1958, an expedition on the Vityaz established the presence of life at depths of more than 7000 m, thereby refuting the prevailing idea at that time about the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6000-7000 m.

“Vityaz” in Kaliningrad on eternal parking

Half a century ago, on January 23, 1960, a significant event took place in the history of the conquest of the world's oceans.

Bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by French explorer Jacques Piccard (1922–2008) and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh, reached the deepest point of the ocean floor - the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench and named after the English the Challenger ship, from which the first data about it were received in 1951. The dive lasted 4 hours 48 minutes and ended at 10911 m relative to sea level. At this terrible depth, where a monstrous pressure of 108.6 MPa (which is more than 1,100 times greater than normal atmospheric pressure) flattens all living things, the researchers made a major oceanological discovery: they saw two 30-centimeter fish similar to flounder swim past the porthole. Before this, it was believed that no life existed at depths exceeding 6000 m.

Thus, an absolute record for diving depth was set, which cannot be surpassed even theoretically. Picard and Walsh were the only people to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep. All subsequent dives to the deepest point of the world's oceans, for research purposes, were made by unmanned robotic bathyscaphes. But there were not so many of them, since “visiting” the Challenger Abyss is both labor-intensive and expensive.

One of the achievements of this dive, which had a beneficial effect on the environmental future of the planet, was the refusal of nuclear powers to bury radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The fact is that Jacques Picard experimentally refuted the prevailing opinion at that time that at depths above 6000 m there is no upward movement of water masses.

In the 90s, three dives were made by the Japanese Kaiko device, controlled remotely from the “mother” ship via a fiber-optic cable. However, in 2003, while exploring another part of the ocean, the towing steel cable broke during a storm and the robot was lost.

The underwater catamaran Nereus became the third deep-sea vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

On May 31, 2009, humanity again reached the deepest point of the Pacific, and indeed the entire world ocean - the American deep-sea vehicle Nereus sank into the Challenger failure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The device took soil samples and took underwater photos and videos at maximum depth, illuminated only by its LED spotlight.

In the hands of student Eleanor Bors is a sea cucumber that lives in the very abyss and was picked up by the Nereus apparatus.

During the current dive, Nereus' instruments recorded a depth of 10,902 meters. The indicator of “Kayko”, which first landed here in 1995, was 10,911 meters, and Picard and Walsh measured a value of 10,912 meters. Many Russian maps still show the value of 11,022 meters obtained by the Soviet oceanographic vessel Vityaz during the 1957 expedition. Of course, all this indicates the inaccuracy of the measurements, and not a real change in depth: no one carried out cross-calibration of the measuring equipment that gave the given values.

The Mariana Trench is formed by the boundaries of two tectonic plates: the colossal Pacific plate goes under the not so large Philippine plate. This is a zone of extremely high seismic activity, part of the so-called Pacific volcanic ring of fire, stretching for 40 thousand km, an area with the most frequent eruptions and earthquakes in the world. The deepest point of the trench is the Challenger Deep, named after the English ship.

The depression stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7-9°) slopes, a flat bottom 1-5 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.

The inexplicable and incomprehensible have always attracted people, which is why scientists around the world want to answer the question: “What does the Mariana Trench hide in its depths?”

Can living organisms live at such great depths, and what should they look like, given the fact that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean waters, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The challenges associated with exploring and understanding the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are numerous, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanographers considered the hypothesis that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under enormous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, to be crazy. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even in these depths, much below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophora ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals living in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). Recently, the veil of secrecy has been lifted by manned and automatic underwater vehicles made of heavy-duty materials, equipped with video cameras. The result was the discovery of a rich animal community consisting of both familiar and less familiar marine groups.

Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were discovered:

Barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);

Of the protozoa - foraminifera (an order of protozoa of the subclass of rhizomes with a cytoplasmic body covered with a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);

Multicellular organisms include polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.

At the depths there is no sunlight, no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?

The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of “corpses” and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals are either blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluoride; in other forms the surface of the body or parts of it glow. Therefore, the appearance of these animals is as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them are frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth or anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.

Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in researching the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, and new mysteries have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss knows how to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future?

—> Satellite view of the depression <—

The Mariana Trench is a fracture in the earth's crust located in the ocean. It is one of the famous objects in the world. Let's find out where the Mariana Trench is located on the map and what it is known for.

What it is?

The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench, or a break in the earth's crust, located under water. It got its name from the nearby Mariana Islands. In the world, this object is known as the deepest place. The depth of the Mariana Trench in meters is 10994. This is 2000 meters more than the highest mountain on the planet - Everest.

The British first learned about this depression in 1875 on the Challenger ship. At the same time, the first measurement of its depth was made, which was 8367 meters.

How was the Mariana Trench formed?

It represents the boundary between two lithospheric plates. Here there is a fault in the earth's crust, formed as a result of the movements of these plates. The depression is shaped like a V and its length in kilometers is 1,500.

Location

How to find the Mariana Trench on a world map? It is located in the Pacific Ocean, in its eastern part, between the Philippine and Mariana Islands. The coordinates of the deepest point of the depression are 11 degrees north latitude and 142 degrees east longitude.

Rice. 1. The Mariana Trench is located in the Pacific Ocean

Research

The enormous depth of the Mariana Trench determines the pressure at the bottom, which is 108.6 MPa. This is a thousand times more pressure on the Earth's surface. Naturally, conducting research in such conditions is extremely difficult. However, the secrets and mysteries of the deepest place in the world attract many scientists.

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As already mentioned, the first studies were carried out in 1875. But the equipment of that time did not allow not only to descend to the bottom of the depression, but even to accurately measure its depth. The first dive was carried out in 1960 - then the bathyscaphe “Trieste” sank to a depth of 10915 meters. There are many interesting facts in this study, which, unfortunately, still have no explanation.

The devices recorded sounds reminiscent of the grinding of a saw on metal. With the help of monitors, unclear shadows were visible, with outlines reminiscent of dragons or dinosaurs. The recording was carried out for an hour, then the scientists decided to urgently raise the submersible to the surface. When the device was lifted, many damages were discovered on the metal, which at that time was considered super-strong. The cable was enormously long and 20 cm wide and was half sawn through. Who could have done this is still considered unknown.

Rice. 2. The bathyscaphe Trieste dived into the Mariana Trench

The German Haifish expedition also sank its bathyscaphe into the Mariana Trench. However, they only reached a depth of 7 km and then encountered some difficulties. Attempts to remove the device were unsuccessful. Turning on the infrared cameras, scientists saw a huge lizard holding the bathyscaphe. Whether this was true - today no one can say.

The deepest part of the depression was recorded in 2011 using a special robot diving to the bottom. It reached 10994 meters. This area was called the Challenger Deep.

Is there anyone who went down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, other than robots and bathyscaphes? Such dives were carried out by several people:

Don Walsh and Jacques Picard, research scientists, descended on the bathyscaphe Trieste in 1960 to a depth of 10,915 meters;
James Cameron, an American director, made a solo dive to the very bottom of the Challenger Deep, collecting many samples, photographs and video materials.

In January 2017, the famous traveler Fyodor Konyukhov announced his desire to dive into the Mariana Trench.

Who lives at the bottom of the depression

Despite the enormous depth and high pressure of the water column, the Mariana Trench is not uninhabited. Until recently, it was believed that life ceases at a depth of 6000 m and no animals are able to withstand the enormous pressure. In addition, at the level of 2000 m the passage of light stops and below there is only darkness.

Recent research has discovered that even below 6000 m there is life. So, who lives at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: