Mariana Trench absolute height. Where is the Mariana Trench

Excellent students at school firmly learned: the highest point on earth is Mount Everest (8848 m), the deepest depression is Mariana. However, if we know a lot of interesting facts about Everest, then most people do not know anything about the trench in the Pacific Ocean, in addition to being the deepest.

FIVE HOURS DOWN, THREE HOURS UP

Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the mountain peaks and even more distant planets of the solar system, people have explored only five percent of the seabed, which still remains one of the greatest mysteries of our planet.

An average width of 69 km, the Mariana Trench was formed several million years ago due to shifts in tectonic plates and stretches in the shape of a crescent for two and a half thousand kilometers along the Mariana Islands.

Its depth, according to recent studies, is 10,994 meters ± 40 meters (for comparison: the Earth's equatorial diameter is 12,756 km), the water pressure at the bottom reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1,100 times more than normal atmospheric pressure!

The Mariana Trench, which is also called the fourth pole of the Earth, was discovered in 1872 by the crew of the British research ship Challenger. The crew measured the bottom at various points in the Pacific Ocean.

In the area of ​​the Mariana Islands, another measurement was made, but a one-kilometer rope was not enough, and then the captain ordered to add two more kilometer segments to it. Then more and more...

Almost a hundred years later, the echo sounder of another English, but under the same name, scientific vessel recorded a depth of 10,863 meters in the Mariana Trench. After that, the deepest point of the ocean floor began to be called the "Challenger Abyss".

In 1957, Soviet researchers already established the existence of life at depths of more than 7,000 meters, thereby refuting the opinion that existed at that time about the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6,000-7,000 meters, and also clarified the data of the British, fixing a depth of 11,023 meters in the Mariana Trench. .

The first human dive to the bottom of the trench took place in 1960. It was carried out on the Trieste bathyscaphe by the American Don Walsh and the Swiss oceanologist Jacques Picard.

The descent into the abyss took them almost five hours, and the rise - about three hours, the researchers spent only 20 minutes at the bottom. But even this time was enough for them to make a sensational discovery - in the bottom waters they found flat fish up to 30 cm in size, unknown to science, similar to flounder.

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 species of living organisms live. 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 spread their jaws so wide that even a small predator can swallow whole an animal larger than itself.

There are also completely unusual creatures, reaching 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 the level of 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." The appearance of such animals is very unusual for our perception, it 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 the bodies of 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 high) 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 dull, 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.

Giant 10 cm amoeba - xenophyophora

WHO IS THE REAL “OWNER” OF PLANET EARTH

But not only fantastic monsters fall into the field of view of deep-sea cameras. In the summer of 2012, the unmanned deep-sea submersible Titan, launched from the research vessel Rick Mesenger, was in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,000 meters. His main goal was to film and photograph various underwater objects.

Suddenly, the cameras recorded a strange multiple brilliance of a material very similar to metal. And then, a few dozen meters from the device, several large objects lit up in the spotlight.

Approaching these objects at the maximum allowable distance, the Titan gave a very unusual picture to the monitors of the scientists on the Rick Mesenger. There were about 50 large cylindrical objects on the site of about a square kilometer, very similar to ... flying saucers!

A few minutes after the recorded “UFO airfield”, the Titan stopped communicating and never surfaced.

There are a lot of well-known facts, which, if they do not confirm the possibility of the existence of intelligent beings in the depths of the sea, then, in any case, fully explain why modern science still does not know anything about them.

Firstly, the native habitat for humans - the earth's firmament - occupies only a little more than a quarter of the land surface. So our planet could well be called the Ocean planet, rather than the Earth.

Secondly, as everyone knows, life originated in water, so the marine mind (if it exists) is older than the human one by about one and a half million years.

That is why, according to some experts, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, due to the presence of active hydrothermal springs, not only entire colonies of prehistoric animals that have survived to this day can exist, but also an underwater civilization of intelligent beings unknown to earthlings! The "fourth pole" of the Earth, in the opinion of scientists, is the most suitable place for their habitat.

And once again the question arises: is man the only "owner" of the planet Earth?

"FIELD" STUDIES PLANNED FOR SUMMER 2015

The third person in the entire history of the study of the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom was exactly three years ago James Cameron.

“Practically everything on the earth’s land has been explored,” he explained his decision. - In space, the bosses prefer to send people circling the Earth, and send machine guns to other planets. For the joys of discovering the unknown, one field of activity remains - the ocean. Only about 3% of its water volume has been explored, and what’s next is unknown.”

On the DeepSes Challenge bathyscaphe, being in a half-bent state, since the internal diameter of the device did not exceed 109 cm, the famous film director watched everything that happened in this place until mechanical problems forced him to rise to the surface.

Cameron managed to take samples of rocks and living organisms from the bottom, as well as filming with 3D cameras. Subsequently, these shots formed the basis of a documentary film.

However, he never saw any of the terrible sea monsters. According to him, the very bottom of the ocean was "lunar ... empty ... lonely", and he felt "total isolation from all mankind."

Meanwhile, in the laboratory of telecommunications of Tomsk Polytechnic University, together with the Institute of Marine Technology Problems of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the development of a domestic apparatus for deep-sea research, which can descend to a depth of 12 kilometers, is in full swing.

Specialists working on the bathyscaphe declare that there are no analogues of the equipment they develop in the world, and “field” studies of the sample in the waters of the Pacific Ocean are planned for the summer of 2015.

The famous traveler Fyodor Konyukhov also started working on the project “Diving into the Mariana Trench in a bathyscaphe”. According to him, he aims not only to touch the bottom of the deepest depression of the World Ocean, but also to spend two whole days there, conducting unique research.

The bathyscaphe is designed for two people and will be designed and built by one of the Australian companies.

The Mariana Trench is the deepest place in the world's oceans. It is located between Japan and Papua New Guinea, not far from the island of Guam. Its maximum depth is about 11 thousand meters (this place of the Mariana Trench is called the "Challenger Abyss").

The Mariana Trench has an elongated appearance, and in a vertical section it is a V-shaped canyon, tapering to the bottom. The bottom of the depression is flat, several kilometers wide.

Start of research

The first studies of the Mariana Trench began in the 19th century, when the crew of the Challenger sailboat managed to measure its depth using a deep-sea lot. According to the results of measurements, the depth of the depression was a little more than eight kilometers. A hundred years later, a research vessel of the same name made repeated measurements of the depth of the depression using an echo sounder. The maximum depth was almost eleven kilometers.

Diving with people

Only scientists in a special research apparatus can dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The pressure at the bottom of the depression is huge - more than a hundred megapascals. This is enough to crush an ordinary bathyscaphe like an eggshell. In the entire history of mankind, only three researchers have managed to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench - US Army Lieutenant Don Walsh, scientist Jacques Picard and film director James Cameron.

The first attempt to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was made by Jacques Picard and Don Walsh. On a specially designed bathyscaphe, they plunged to a depth of 10,918 meters. To the surprise of the researchers, at the bottom of the depression, they saw fish resembling a flounder in appearance. How they manage to survive under such enormous pressure is still a mystery.

The third and at the moment the last person who managed to sink to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was director James Cameron. He did it alone, descending to the deepest point of the trench in the Deepsea Challenger. This significant event took place in 2012. Cameron descended into the Challenger Deep, took soil samples and filmed the dive process on. Based on the footage filmed by James Cameron, the National Geographic Channel released a film.

Diving without participation of people

In addition to people, “unmanned” research vehicles also descended into the Mariana Trench. In 1995, the Japanese Kaiko probe studied the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and in 2009, the Nereus apparatus sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

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

What is the Mariana Trench?

This is the name of the deepest known place in the Pacific Ocean today. It is a trough 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 the other oceans, but not as 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, off the Mariana Islands. The gutter stretches along them for one and a half thousand kilometers. The bottom of the depression is flat, its width is from 1 to 5 kilometers. The gutter got its name in honor of the islands next to which it is located.

"Challenger Abyss"

This name has the deepest place (10,994 meters) of the Mariana Trench. Here it must be clarified 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 is very different, and the Mariana Trench has a very complex structure, so the data obtained using the echo sounder is always slightly different.

Discovery history

People have long known that deep seas 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 measurement 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 a depth. Without modern means of immersion, this was tantamount to suicide.

A re-examination of the trench took place many years later, in the next century. Measurements made in 1951 showed a depth of 10,863 meters. Then, in 1957, members of the Soviet scientific vessel "Vityaz" were engaged in the study of the depression. According to their measurements, the depth of the Mariana Trench was 11,023 meters.

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

Cameron's Great Journey

The Canadian director became the third person in the history of research into the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom. He was the first in the world to do it alone. Prior to its sinking, the trough was explored by Don Walsh and Jacques Picard in 1960 using the Trieste submersible. In addition, Japanese scientists tried to find out what is the depth of the Mariana Trench, using the Kaiko probe for this. And in 2009, the Nereus apparatus descended to the bottom of the gutter.

Descent to such an incredible depth is associated with a huge number of risks. First of all, a man 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 awaits when descending to a depth is the cold that reigns there. It can not only lead to equipment failure, but also kill a person. The bathyscaphe can collide with rocks and get damaged.

For many years, James Cameron dreamed of visiting the deepest point of the Mariana Trench - the "Challenger Abyss". In order to carry out his plan, he equipped his own expedition. Especially for this, an underwater vehicle was designed 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 took place on March 26, 2012.

In addition to photographs and video filming, the Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe had to take new measurements of the chute and try to give accurate data on its dimensions. Everyone was worried about one question: "How much?" The depth of the Mariana Trench, according to the readings of 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 porthole of the bathyscaphe 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 Dwellers of the Deep

The lower the bottom of the ocean, 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 origin of life. Darkness gives birth to beings who have never seen the sun. And they, in turn, have only recently been able to see marine biologists.

The sight is not for the faint of heart. Almost all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench seem to be 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 a person on the same planet, but are alien creatures, they look so alien.

To some extent, this is true - very little is known about the oceans and their inhabitants. The bottom of the Mariana Trench has been explored to date less than the surface of Mars. Therefore, for a long time it was believed that at such a depth, without sunlight, life is impossible. It turned out that this was not the case. The depth of the Mariana Trench, gigantic pressure and cold are not an 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 beings eat so far from the surface of the ocean? 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 parts of the body with which they attract small fish.

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

Amoeba

Xenophyophores (amoebae) 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. Outwardly, deep-sea amoebas look different. Some are disk or tetrahedral shaped. Xenophyophores feed on bottom sediments.

Hirondellea gigas

Large amphipods (amphipods) have been found 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 long.

Holothurians

Sea cucumbers are another representatives 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 keeps.

For the first time, people descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (depth - 11.5 km), the deepest ocean trench known on Earth, using the Trieste bathyscaphe on January 23, 1960. They were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh (Don Walsh) and engineer Jacques Piccard (Jacques Piccard). Since then and until recently, man has not descended to this depth.

Hollywood director James Cameron in a bathyscaphedeep seaChallenger

After 52 years, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic" James Cameron repeated this path to the deepest point of the ocean, who successfully sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench on March 25 and returned to the surface. On a special vertical bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, two hours after the start of the dive, he reached the bottom by 7:52 am local time. He stayed there for three hours, surveying and collecting samples, after which he successfully returned to the surface.

Bathyscaphedeep seaChallenge with James Cameron descends into the depths of the Pacific Ocean

The first people who plunged to the bottom of the Mariana Trench stayed there for only 20 minutes, doing the minimum amount of work and seeing almost nothing but the mud and silt that had risen from the sinking. The past decades have not been in vain. Mr. Cameron's bathyscaphe was well equipped, as one would expect from a man who made one of the most impressive stereoscopic feature films and many documentaries about the underwater world.

The Deepsea Challenger was equipped with multiple stereoscopic cameras, an LED tower, a sampling bottle, a robotic arm, and a special device capable of capturing small underwater organisms by suction. The deep-sea vehicle itself was created in Australia and has a length of 7 meters and a weight of 11 tons. The compartment in which James Cameron huddled is a sphere with an inner diameter of just over a meter and assumes only a sitting position.

Apparatusdeep seaChallenge sank to the bottom at a speed3-4 nodes

The director told the BBC before the dive that it was his dream: “I grew up with sci-fi at a time when people lived in sci-fi reality. People went to the moon, Cousteau studied the ocean. This is the environment in which I grew up, this is what I appreciate since childhood.

James Cameron greets ocean explorer US Navy Captain Don Walsh immediately after diving

James Cameron in the sunroofdeep seaChallenge prepares to dive

Another shot of filmmaker and ocean explorer Don Walsh (far right), who, along with Jacques Picart, was the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench 52 years ago

The journey of James Cameron as a one-minute animation

There are deepest faults in the earth's crust - sea depressions at the bottom of the oceans, where impenetrable darkness and the highest pressure reign. We offer a selection of the deepest sea trenches, which the lack of technology does not yet allow to study well.

1. Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench on our planet, which is located in the Pacific Ocean not far from the Mariana Islands that gave it its name. The depth of the trench is 10994 ± 40 m below sea level.

Paradoxically, the Mariana Trench is more or less explored - three people have already managed to descend here.

The first time this happened on January 23, 1960, when the bathyscaphe, on board which were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard, managed to sink to a depth of 10,918 m. Then there was no such technology as now, and two people were connected with the world only by a strong cable. After a successful return, the researchers said that they saw flat, flounder-like fish at the very bottom, but, unfortunately, there are no photographs.

Just a year ago, director James Cameron descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It was easier for him, even though he was alone: ​​in 50 years, technology had gone far ahead. Moreover, his bathyscaphe "Deepsea Challenger" was equipped with everything necessary for photo and video shooting, and there were also 3D cameras on board. Based on the material received, the National Geographic channel is preparing a film.

And recently, information was received that there are real mountains at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: with the help of echolocation, it was possible to “see” four ridges 2.5 km high.

2. Tonga Trench

The Tonga Trench is the deepest trench in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on Earth. The maximum known depth is 10,882 m. It is unusual primarily in that the speed of movement of lithospheric plates in the Tonga region is much greater than in all other parts of the planet where there are gaps in the earth's crust. Here, the plates move at a speed of 25.4 cm per year, compared to the usual 2 cm. This was established by observing the tiny island of Nyautoputana, which annually shifts by an average of just 25 cm.

Somewhere in the middle of Tonga, the Apollo 13 lunar landing stage was stuck, falling there during the return of the lunar module to Earth. It is located approximately at a depth of 6,000 m, and no attempts have been made to extract it from there. Together with it, a plutonium energy source containing plutonium-238 fell into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It seems that this did not cause much harm to the environment, although given that the half-life of plutonium-238 is slightly less than 88 years, and the module fell there in 1970, the pioneers who decided to go down to the bottom of Tonga can expect very interesting discoveries.

3 Philippine Trench

The Philippine Trench is also located in the Pacific Ocean near the Philippine Islands. The maximum depth is 10,540 m. Little is known about the trench - only that it was formed as a result of subduction. No one tried to go down to its bottom, since the Mariana Trench, of course, is more interesting.

4. Kermadec chute

Kermadec connects to the north with the Tonga Trench. The maximum depth is 10,047 m. During an expedition in 2008, a strange pink creature of the species Notoliparis kermadecensis was photographed here at a depth of 7,560 m. Other inhabitants were also found there - huge crustaceans 34 cm in length.

5. Izu-Bonin Trench

The maximum depth of the Izu-Bonin Trench, also known as Izu-Ogasawara, is 9,810 m. It was discovered at the end of the 19th century during an expedition when it was decided to lay a telephone cable on the ocean floor. Of course, first it was necessary to make measurements, and in one place, not far from the Izu Islands, the lot of the Tuscarora did not reach the bottom, recording a depth of more than 8500 m.

In the north, Izu-Ogasawara connects with the Japan Trench, and in the south with the Volkano Trench. In this region of the ocean there is a whole chain of deep-sea depressions, and Izu-Bonin is just part of it.

6. Kuril-Kamchatsky Trench

This depression was discovered shortly after Izu-Bonin during the same expedition. The maximum depth is 9,783 m. This trough is quite narrow compared to all the others, its width is only 59 m. The slopes of this trough are known to contain ledges, terraces, canyons and valleys that appear up to the maximum depth. The bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench is uneven, divided by rapids into separate depressions. To the best of our knowledge, detailed studies have not been carried out.

7 Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the border of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The maximum depth is 8,385 m and it is the deepest place in the Atlantic Ocean. The area where the trench is located is a zone of high seismic activity. The last disaster occurred here in 2004, when the eruptions of underwater volcanoes caused a tsunami that hit the countries of the Indian Ocean. Recent studies have shown that it is possible that the depth of the trough is gradually increasing due to the fact that the North American tectonic plate - the southern "wall" of the trough - is gradually lowering.

An active mud volcano was discovered at a depth of 7,900 m in the Puerto Rican Trench, which erupted rock 10 km high in 2004. A column of hot mud and water was clearly visible above the surface of the ocean.

8. Japanese chute

The Japanese Trench is also located in the Pacific Ocean, as the name suggests, it is located near the Japanese Islands. The depth of the Japan Trench, according to the latest data, is about 8,400 m, and the length is more than 1,000 km.

So far, no one has yet reached its bottom, but in 1989, the Shinkai 6500 submersible with three researchers on board sank to a mark of 6,526 m. Later, in 2008, a group of Japanese and British researchers managed to photograph large groups of fish 30 cm long at a depth of 7,700 m.