What is found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Discoveries at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is one of the least explored places on our planet. Although the deepest ocean trench still hides a lot of secrets, man managed to learn several interesting facts about its structure and parameters.

William Bradberry | Shutterstock.com

Some of the data about the Mariana Trench is known to a fairly wide circle.

1. Thus, the pressure in the Mariana Trench is 1100 times greater than at sea level. For this reason, immersing a living creature without special equipment in a chute is an effective way to commit suicide.

2. The maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is 10,994 meters ± 40 meters (according to data from 2011). For comparison, the highest peak on Earth, Everest, reaches a height of 8,848 meters, and therefore, if it were in the Mariana Trench, it would be completely covered with water.

3. The deep-sea trench got its name from the Mariana Islands, located about 200 km to the west.

Research missions that dared to descend into the deep-sea trench discovered its more amazing facts.

4. The water in the Mariana Trench is relatively warm, ranging from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. The reason for such a high temperature of deep-sea water is hydrothermal springs, the water around which heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.

5. Huge poisonous xenophyophores live in the gutter. Single-celled organisms reach 10 centimeters (!) in diameter.

6. The Mariana Trench is home to shellfish. Invertebrates are found in the vicinity of serpentine hydrothermal vents, which emit hydrogen and methane necessary for the life of mollusks.

7. The Champagne hydrothermal vent in the basin produces liquid carbon dioxide.

8. The bottom of the depression is covered with viscous mucus, which is crushed shells and plankton remains, turned into sticky mud by incredible water pressure.

9. At a depth of about 414 meters in the Mariana Trench there is an active volcano, Daikoku. The volcanic eruptions formed a lake of liquid sulfur, the temperature of which reaches 187 degrees Celsius.

10. In 2011, 4 stone “bridges” were discovered in the Mariana Trench, each 69 kilometers long. Scientists suggest that they were formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.

11. Famous director James Cameron became one of three daredevils who descended into the Mariana Trench. The creator of Avatar began his journey in 2012.

12. Mariana Trench is a US National Monument and the largest marine sanctuary in the world.

13. The Mariana Trench is by no means a strictly vertical depression in the seabed. The shape of the Mariana Trench resembles a crescent, about 2,550 kilometers long and an average width of 69 kilometers.

In honor of which it, in fact, got its name. The depression is a crescent-shaped ravine on the ocean floor with a length of 2,550 km. with an average width of 69 km. According to the latest measurements (2014), the maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is 10,984 m. This point is located at the southern end of the trench and is called the “Challenger Deep”. Challenger Deep).

The trench was formed at the junction of two lithospheric tectonic plates - the Pacific and Philippine. The Pacific plate is older and heavier. Over the course of millions of years, it “crept” under the younger Philippine Plate.

Opening

The Mariana Trench was first discovered by a scientific expedition of a sailing ship. Challenger" This corvette, which was originally a warship, was converted into a scientific vessel in 1872 specifically for the Royal Society for the Advancement of Natural Sciences of London. The ship was equipped with biochemical laboratories, means for measuring depth, water temperature and soil sampling. That same year, in December, the ship set off for scientific research and spent three and a half years at sea, covering a distance of 70 thousand nautical miles. At the end of the expedition, which was recognized as one of the most scientifically successful since the famous geographical and scientific discoveries of the 16th century, over 4,000 new species of animals were described, in-depth studies of almost 500 underwater objects were carried out, and soil samples were taken from various parts of the world's oceans.

Against the backdrop of the important scientific discoveries made by Challenger, the discovery of an underwater trench especially stood out, the depth of which amazes the imagination of even contemporaries, not to mention scientists of the 19th century. True, initial depth measurements showed that its depth was just over 8,000 m, but even this value was enough to talk about the discovery of the deepest point known to man on the planet.

The new trench was named the Mariana Trench - in honor of the nearby Mariana Islands, which in turn were named after Marianne of Austria, the Spanish queen, wife of King Philip IV of Spain.

Research into the Mariana Trench continued only in 1951. English hydrographic vessel Challenger II examined the trench using an echo sounder and found that its maximum depth was much greater than previously thought, amounting to 10,899 m. This point was given the name “Challenger Deep” in honor of the first expedition of 1872-1876.

Challenger Abyss

Challenger Abyss is a relatively small flat plain in the south of the Mariana Trench. Its length is 11 km and its width is about 1.6 km. Along its edges there are gentle slopes.

Its exact depth, which is called a meter per meter, is still unknown. This is due to the errors of the echo sounders and sonars themselves, the changing depth of the world's oceans, as well as the uncertainty that the bottom of the abyss itself remains motionless. In 2009, the American vessel RV Kilo Moana determined the depth to be 10,971 m with a probability of error of 22-55 m. Research in 2014 with improved multibeam echo sounders determined the depth to be 10,984. This is exactly what the value is recorded in reference books and is currently considered the closest to the real one.

Dives

Only four scientific vehicles visited the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and only two expeditions included people.

Project "Nekton"

The first descent into the Challenger Abyss took place in 1960 on a manned submersible " Trieste", named after the Italian city of the same name where it was created. It was flown by an American US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard. The device was designed by Jacques' father, Auguste Piccard, who already had experience in creating bathyscaphes.

Trieste made its first dive in 1953 in the Mediterranean Sea, where it reached a record depth of 3,150 m at that time. In total, the bathyscaphe made several dives between 1953 and 1957. and the experience of its operation has shown that it can dive to more serious depths.

Trieste was purchased by the US Navy in 1958, when the United States became interested in seabed exploration in the Pacific region, where some island states came under de facto jurisdiction as the victorious nation in World War II.

After some modifications, in particular further compaction of the outer part of the hull, Trieste began to be prepared for immersion in the Mariana Trench. Jacques Piccard remained the pilot of the bathyscaphe, since he had the most experience in driving the Trier in particular and bathyscaphes in general. His companion was Don Walsh, a then-current US Navy lieutenant who served on a submarine and later became a famous scientist and naval specialist.

The project for the first dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench received a code name Project "Nekton", although this name did not catch on among the people.

The dive began on the morning of January 23, 1960 at 8:23 local time. To a depth of 8 km. the apparatus descended at a speed of 0.9 m/s, and then slowed down to 0.3 m/s. The researchers saw the bottom only at 13:06. Thus, the time of the first dive was almost 5 hours. The submersible stayed at the very bottom for only 20 minutes. During this time, the researchers measured the density and temperature of the water (it was +3.3ºС), measured the radioactive background, and observed an unknown fish similar to a flounder and a shrimp that suddenly appeared at the bottom. Also, based on the measured pressure, the diving depth was calculated, which was 11,521 m, which was later adjusted to 10,916 m.

While at the bottom of the Challenger Abyss we explored and had time to refresh ourselves with chocolate.

After this, the bathyscaphe was freed from ballast and the ascent began, which took less time - 3.5 hours.

Submersible "Kaiko"

Kaiko (Kaikō) - the second of four devices that reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench. But he visited there twice. This uninhabited remote-controlled underwater vehicle was created by the Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and was intended to study the deep seabed. The device was equipped with three video cameras, as well as two manipulator arms controlled remotely from the surface.

He made more than 250 dives and made enormous contributions to science, but he made his most famous journey in 1995, diving to a depth of 10,911 m into the Challenger Deep. It took place on March 24 and samples of benthic extremophile organisms were brought to the surface - this is the name given to animals capable of surviving in the most extreme environmental conditions.

Kayko returned to the Challenger Deep again a year later, in February 1996, and took samples of soil and microorganisms from the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Unfortunately, Kaiko was lost in 2003 after the cable connecting it to the carrier vessel broke.

Deep-sea submersible "Nereus"

Unmanned remote-controlled deep-sea vehicle " Nereus"(English) Nereus) closes the trio of devices that reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench. His dive took place in May 2009. Nereus reached a depth of 10,902 m. He was sent to the site of the very first expedition to the bottom of the Challenger Abyss. He stayed at the bottom for 10 hours, broadcasting live video from his cameras to the carrier ship, after which he collected water and soil samples and successfully returned to the surface.

The device was lost in 2014 during a dive into the Kermadec Trench at a depth of 9,900 m.

Deepsea Challenger

The last dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was made by the famous Canadian director James Cameron, inscribing itself not only in the history of cinema, but also in the history of great research. It happened on March 26, 2012 on a single-seat submersible Deepsea Challenger, built under the direction of Australian engineer Ron Alloon in collaboration with National Geographic and Rolex. The main objective of this dive was to collect documentary evidence of life at such extreme depths. From the soil samples taken, 68 new animal species were discovered. The director himself said that the only animal he saw at the bottom was an amphipod - an amphipod, similar to a small shrimp about 3 cm in length. The footage formed the basis of a documentary film about his dive into the Challenger Deep.

James Cameron became the third person on Earth to visit the bottom of the Mariana Trench. He set a diving speed record - his submersible reached a depth of 11 km. in less than two hours. He also became the first person to reach such a depth in a solo dive. He spent 6 hours at the bottom, which is also a record. Bathyscaphe Trieste was at the bottom for only 20 minutes.

Animal world

The first Trieste expedition reported with great surprise that there was life at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Although it was previously believed that the existence of life in such conditions was simply not possible. According to Jacques Piccard, they saw at the bottom a fish resembling an ordinary flounder, about 30 cm long, as well as amphipod shrimp. Many marine biologists are skeptical that Trier's crew actually saw the fish, but they do not so much question the researchers' words as they are inclined to believe that they mistook a sea cucumber or other invertebrate for the fish.

During the second expedition, the Kaiko apparatus took soil samples and in fact found many tiny organisms capable of surviving in absolute darkness at temperatures close to 0°C and under monstrous pressure. There is not a single skeptic left who doubts the presence of life everywhere in the ocean, even in the most incredible conditions. However, it remained unclear how developed such deep-sea life was. Or are the only representatives of the Mariana Trench the simplest microorganisms, crustaceans and invertebrates?

In December 2014, a new species of sea slug was discovered - a family of deep-sea marine fish. The cameras recorded them at a depth of 8,145 m, which was an absolute record for fish at that time.

In the same year, cameras recorded several more species of huge crustaceans, differing from their shallow-sea relatives by deep-sea gigantism, which is generally inherent in many deep-sea species.

In May 2017, scientists reported the discovery of another new species of sea slug, which was discovered at a depth of 8,178 m.

All deep-sea inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are almost blind, slow and unpretentious animals capable of surviving in the most extreme conditions. Popular stories that the Challenger Deep is inhabited by marine animals, megalodon and other huge animals are nothing more than fables. The Mariana Trench is fraught with many secrets and mysteries, and new species of animals are no less interesting to scientists than relict animals known since the Paleozoic era. Being at such depths for millions of years, evolution has made them completely different from shallow-water species.

Current research and future dives

The Mariana Trench continues to attract the attention of scientists around the world, despite the high cost of research and its poor practical application. Ichthyologists are interested in new species of animals and their adaptive abilities. Geologists are interested in this region from the point of view of the processes occurring in lithospheric plates and the formation of underwater mountain ranges. Ordinary researchers simply dream of visiting the bottom of the deepest trench on our planet.

Several expeditions to the Mariana Trench are currently planned:

1. American company Triton Submarines develops and produces private underwater bathyscaphes. The newest model Triton 36000/3, consisting of a crew of 3 people, is planned to be sent to the Challenger Abyss in the near future. Its characteristics allow it to reach a depth of 11 km. in just 2 hours.

2. Company Virgin Oceanic(Virgin Oceanic), specializing in private shallow dives, is developing a single-person deep-sea vehicle that can deliver a passenger to the bottom of the trench in 2.5 hours.

3. American company DOER Marine working on a project" Deep Search"—one or two-seater bathyscaphe.

4. In 2017, the famous Russian traveler Fedor Konyukhov announced that he plans to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

1. In 2009 it was created Maritime Marianas National Monument. It does not include the islands themselves, but only covers their marine territory, with an area of ​​more than 245 thousand km². Almost the entire Mariana Trench was included in the monument, although its deepest point, the Challenger Deep, was not included in it.

2. At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the water column exerts a pressure of 1,086 bar. This is a thousand times more than standard atmospheric pressure.

3. Water compresses very poorly and at the bottom of the gutter its density increases by only 5%. This means 100 liters of ordinary water at a depth of 11 km. will occupy a volume of 95 liters.

4. Although the Mariana Trench is considered the deepest point on the planet, it is not the closest point to the center of the Earth. Our planet is not an ideal spherical shape, and its radius is approximately 25 km. less at the poles than at the equator. Therefore, the deepest point on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean is 13 km. closer to the center of the Earth than in the Challenger Abyss.

5. The Mariana Trench (and other deep-sea trenches) have been proposed to be used as nuclear waste cemeteries. It is assumed that the movement of the plates will “push” waste under the tectonic plate deeper into the Earth. The proposal is not without logic, but the dumping of nuclear waste is prohibited by international law. In addition, the zones of junctions of lithospheric plates give rise to earthquakes of enormous force, the consequences of which are unpredictable for buried waste.

The Mariana Trench is the deepest place on our planet. I think almost everyone has heard about it or studied it at school, but I myself, for example, have long forgotten both its depth and the facts about how it was measured and studied. So I decided to “refresh” my and your memory

This absolute depth got its name thanks to the nearby Mariana Islands. The entire depression stretches along the islands for one and a half thousand kilometers and has a characteristic V-shaped profile. In fact, this is an ordinary tectonic fault, the place where the Pacific plate comes under the Philippine plate, just Mariana Trench- this is the deepest place of its kind) Its slopes are steep, on average about 7-9°, and the bottom is flat, 1 to 5 kilometers wide, and divided by rapids into several closed areas. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1100 times more than normal atmospheric pressure!

The first who dared to challenge the abyss were the British - the three-masted military corvette Challenger with sail equipment was rebuilt into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work back in 1872. But the first data on the depth of the Mariana Trench were obtained only in 1951 - according to measurements, the depth of the trench was declared equal to 10,863 m. After that, the deepest point of the Mariana Trench began to be called the “Challenger Deep”. It’s hard to imagine that the highest mountain of our planet, Everest, could easily fit in the depths of the Mariana Trench, and above it there would still be more than a kilometer of water left to the surface... Of course, it would fit not in area, but solely in height, but the numbers are still amazing...

The next researchers of the Mariana Trench were already Soviet scientists - in 1957, during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel Vityaz, they not only declared the maximum depth of the trench equal to 11,022 meters, but also established the presence of life at depths of more than 7,000 meters , thereby refuting the prevailing idea at that time about the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6000-7000 meters. In 1992, “Vityaz” was transferred to the newly formed Museum of the World Ocean. The ship was repaired at the plant for two years, and on July 12, 1994, it was permanently moored at the museum pier in the very center of Kaliningrad

On January 23, 1960, the first and only human dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench took place. Thus, the only people who visited “the bottom of the Earth” were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Piccard

During the dive, they were protected by the armored, 127-millimeter-thick walls of the bathyscaphe called “Trieste.”

The bathyscaphe was named after the Italian city of Trieste, where the main work on its creation was carried out. According to the instruments on board the Trieste, Walsh and Picard dived to a depth of 11,521 meters, but later this figure was slightly adjusted - 10,918 meters

The dive took about five hours, and the ascent took about three hours; the researchers spent only 12 minutes at the bottom. But this time was enough for them to make a sensational discovery - at the bottom they found flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder !

Research in 1995 showed that the depth of the Mariana Trench is about 10,920 m, and the Japanese Kaik? probe, lowered into the Challenger Deep on March 24, 1997, recorded a depth of 10,911.4 meters. Below is a diagram of the depression - when clicked, it will open in a new window in normal size

The Mariana Trench has repeatedly frightened researchers with the monsters lurking in its depths. For the first time, the expedition of the American research vessel Glomar Challenger encountered the unknown. Some time after the descent of the apparatus began, the device recording sounds began to transmit to the surface some kind of metallic grinding sound, reminiscent of the sound of sawing metal. At this time, some unclear shadows appeared on the monitor, similar to giant fairy-tale dragons with several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists became worried that the unique equipment, made in a NASA laboratory from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel, having a spherical design, the so-called “hedgehog” with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss of the Mariana Trench forever - so it was decided to immediately raise apparatus on board the ship. The “hedgehog” was extracted from the depths for more than eight hours, and as soon as it appeared on the surface, it was immediately placed on a special raft. The television camera and echo sounder were lifted onto the deck of the Glomar Challenger. The researchers were horrified when they saw how deformed the strongest steel beams of the structure were; as for the 20-centimeter steel cable on which the “hedgehog” was lowered, the scientists were not mistaken in the nature of the sounds transmitted from the watery abyss - the cable was half sawn through. Who tried to leave the device at depth and why will forever remain a mystery. Details of this incident were published in 1996 by the New York Times.

Another collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench happened with the German research vehicle Haifish with a crew on board. At a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly stopped moving. To find out the cause of the problem, the hydronauts turned on the infrared camera... What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, sinking its teeth into the bathyscaphe, tried to chew it like a nut. Having recovered from the shock, the crew activated a device called an “electric gun”, and the monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss...

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.

Thanks to modern technologies, researchers were able to capture few representatives Mariana Trench, I suggest you get to know them too :)

So, now we know that different octopuses live in the Mariana depths

Now anyone can watch the fantastic underwater world of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on our planet, captured on video, or even enjoy a live video broadcast from an 11-kilometer depth. But until relatively recently, the Mariana Trench was considered the most unexplored point on the map of the Earth.

Sensational discovery by the Challenger crew

We also know from the school curriculum that the highest point on the earth’s surface is the top of Mount Everest (8848 m), but the lowest is hidden under the waters of the Pacific Ocean and is located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (10994 m). We know quite a lot about Everest; climbers have conquered its peak more than once; there are enough photographs of this mountain taken both from the ground and from space. If Everest is all in plain sight and does not pose any mystery to scientists, then the depths of the Mariana Trench keep many secrets, because so far only three daredevils have managed to reach its bottom.

The Mariana Trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean; it got its name from the Mariana Islands, which are located next to it. This uniquely deep place on the seabed has received the status of a US national monument; fishing and mining are prohibited here; in fact, it is a huge marine reserve. The shape of the depression is similar to a huge crescent, reaching 2550 km in length and 69 km in width. The bottom of the depression has a width from 1 to 5 km. The deepest point of the depression (10,994 m below sea level) was named “Challenger Deep” in honor of the British ship of the same name.

The honor of discovering the Mariana Trench belongs to the team of the British research vessel Challenger, which in 1872 carried out depth measurements at a number of points in the Pacific Ocean. When the ship found itself in the area of ​​​​the Mariana Islands, during the next depth measurement a hitch arose: the kilometer-long rope all went overboard, but it was not possible to reach the bottom. At the captain’s direction, a couple more kilometer sections were added to the rope, but, to everyone’s surprise, they were not enough and had to be added again and again. Then it was possible to establish a depth of 8367 meters, which, as it became known later, was significantly different from the real one. However, the underestimated value was quite enough to understand: the deepest place has been discovered in the World Ocean.

It is amazing that already in the 20th century, in 1951, it was the British who, using a deep-sea echo sounder, clarified the data of their compatriots; this time the maximum depth of the depression was more significant - 10,863 meters. Six years later, Soviet scientists began studying the Mariana Trench, arriving in this area of ​​the Pacific Ocean on the research vessel Vityaz. Using special equipment, they recorded the maximum depth of the depression at 11,022 meters, and most importantly, they were able to establish the presence of life at a depth of about 7,000 meters. It is worth noting that in the scientific world at that time there was an opinion that due to the monstrous pressure and lack of light at such depths, there were no manifestations of life.

Dive into the world of silence and darkness

In 1960, people visited the bottom of the depression for the first time. How difficult and dangerous such a dive was can be judged by the colossal water pressure, which at the lowest point of the depression is 1072 times higher than the average atmospheric pressure. The dive to the bottom of the depression using the Trieste bathyscaphe was carried out by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard. Bathyscaphe "Trieste" with walls 13 cm thick was created in the Italian city of the same name and was a rather massive structure.

They lowered the submersible to the bottom for five long hours; Despite such a long descent, the researchers spent only 20 minutes at the bottom at a depth of 10,911 meters; it took them about 3 hours to rise. Within minutes of being in the abyss, Walsh and Picard were able to make a very impressive discovery: they saw two 30-centimeter flat fish, similar to flounder, that swam past their porthole. Their presence at such a depth became a real scientific sensation!

In addition to discovering the presence of life at such a mind-boggling depth, Jacques Piccard was able to experimentally refute the then prevailing opinion that at depths of more than 6000 m there is no upward movement of water masses. In terms of ecology, this was a major discovery, because some nuclear powers were planning to bury radioactive waste in the Mariana Trench. It turns out that Picard prevented large-scale radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean!

After the dive of Walsh and Picard, for a long period only unmanned automatic bathyscaphes descended into the Mariana Trench, and there were only a few of them, because they were very expensive. For example, on May 31, 2009, the American deep-sea vehicle Nereus reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench. He not only took underwater photography and video at incredible depths, but also took soil samples. The instruments of the deep-sea vehicle recorded the depth it reached at 10,902 meters.

On March 26, 2012, a man again found himself at the bottom of the Mariana Trench; it was the famous director, creator of the legendary film “Titanic,” James Cameron.

He explained his decision to make such a dangerous journey to the “bottom of the Earth” as follows: “Almost everything on the earth’s land has been explored. In space, bosses prefer to send people circling around the Earth, and send machine guns to other planets. For the joys of discovering the unknown, there is only one field of activity left - the ocean. Only about 3% of its water volume has been studied, and what’s next is unknown.”

Cameron made a dive on the DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe, it was not very comfortable, the researcher was in a half-bent state for a long time, since the diameter of the internal space of the device was only about 109 cm. The bathyscaphe, equipped with powerful cameras and unique equipment, allowed the popular director to film fantastic landscapes of himself deepest place on the planet. Later, together with The National Geographic, James Cameron created the exciting documentary “Challenging the Abyss.”

It is worth noting that during his stay at the bottom of the deepest depression in the world, Cameron did not see any monsters, or representatives of an underwater civilization, or an alien base. However, he literally looked into the eyes of the Challenger Abyss. According to him, during his short trip he experienced sensations indescribable in words. The ocean floor seemed to him not only deserted, but somehow “lunar... lonely.” He experienced a real shock from the feeling of “complete isolation from all humanity.” True, problems with the equipment of the bathyscaphe may have interrupted the “hypnotic” effect of the abyss on the famous director in time, and he rose to the surface among the people.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

In recent years, many discoveries have been made during the study of the Mariana Trench. For example, in bottom soil samples taken by Cameron, scientists found more than 20 thousand of a wide variety of microorganisms. Among the inhabitants of the depression there are also giant 10-centimeter amoebas, called xenophyophores. According to scientists, single-celled amoebas most likely reached such incredible sizes due to the rather hostile environment at a depth of 10.6 km in which they are forced to live. For some reason, high pressure, cold water and lack of light clearly benefited them, contributing to their gigantism.

Mollusks were also discovered in the Mariana Trench. It is unclear how their shells withstand enormous water pressure, but they feel very comfortable at depth, and are located next to hydrothermal vents that emit hydrogen sulfide, which is lethal to ordinary mollusks. However, local mollusks, having demonstrated incredible abilities for chemistry, somehow adapted to process this destructive gas into protein, which allowed them to live where, at first
look, it’s impossible to live.

Many of the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are quite unusual. For example, scientists discovered here a fish with a transparent head, in the center of which are its eyes. Thus, during the course of evolution, the eyes of the fish received reliable protection from possible injury. At great depths there are many bizarre and sometimes even scary fish; here we managed to capture on video a fantastically beautiful jellyfish. Of course, we don’t yet know all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench; in this regard, scientists still have many discoveries to make.

There is a lot of interesting things in this mysterious place for geologists. Thus, in a depression at a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano was discovered, in the crater of which there is a lake of seething molten sulfur right under the water. As scientists say, the only analogue of such a lake known to them is only on Jupiter’s satellite, Io. Also in the Mariana Trench, scientists found the only underwater source of liquid carbon dioxide on earth, called “Champagne” in honor of the famous French
alcoholic drink. There are also so-called black smokers in the depression; these are hydrothermal springs operating at a depth of about 2 kilometers, thanks to which the water temperature in the Mariana Trench is maintained within fairly favorable limits - from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.

At the end of 2011, scientists discovered very mysterious structures in the Mariana Trench; these are four stone “bridges” stretching from one end of the trench to the other for 69 kilometers. Scientists are still at a loss to explain how these “bridges” arose; they believe that they were formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.

The study of the Mariana Trench continues. This year, from April to July, scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration worked here on the Okeanos Explorer vessel. Their ship was equipped with a remotely controlled vehicle, which was used to film the underwater world of the deepest place in the World Ocean. The video broadcast from the bottom of the depression could be seen not only by scientists, but also by Internet users.

The Mariana Trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, not far from the Mariana Islands, just two hundred kilometers away, thanks to its proximity to which it received its name. It is a huge marine reserve with the status of a US national monument, and therefore is under state protection. Fishing and mining are strictly prohibited here, but you can swim and admire the beauty.

The shape of the Mariana Trench resembles a colossal crescent - 2550 km long and 69 km wide. The deepest point - 10,994 m below sea level - is called the Challenger Deep.

Discovery and first observations

The British began to explore the Mariana Trench. In 1872, the sailing corvette Challenger entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean with scientists and the most advanced equipment of those times. After taking measurements, we established the maximum depth - 8367 m. The value, of course, is noticeably different from the correct result. But this was enough to understand: the deepest point on the globe had been discovered. Thus, another mystery of nature was “challenged” (translated from English as “Challenger” - “challenger”). Years passed, and in 1951 the British carried out “work on the mistakes.” Namely: the deep-sea echo sounder recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters.

Then the baton was intercepted by Russian researchers, who sent the research vessel Vityaz to the Mariana Trench area. In 1957, with the help of special equipment, they were not only able to record the depth of the depression as 11,022 m, but also established the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. Thus, making a small revolution in the scientific world of the mid-20th century, where there was a strong opinion that there are no and cannot be such deeply living creatures. This is where the fun begins... Many stories about underwater monsters, huge octopuses, unprecedented bathyscaphes crushed into a cake by the huge paws of animals... Where is the truth and where is the lie - let's try to figure it out.

Secrets, riddles and legends

The first daredevils who dared to dive to the “bottom of the Earth” were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard. They dived on the bathyscaphe "Trieste", which was built in the Italian city of the same name. A very heavy structure with thick 13-centimeter walls was immersed in the bottom for five hours. Having reached the lowest point, the researchers stayed there for 12 minutes, after which an ascent was immediately begun, which took approximately 3 hours. At the bottom, fish were found - flat, flounder-like, about 30 centimeters long.

Research continued, and in 1995 the Japanese descended into the “abyss”. Another “breakthrough” was made in 2009 with the help of the automatic underwater vehicle “Nereus”: this miracle of technology not only took several photographs at the deepest point of the Earth, but also took soil samples.

In 1996, the New York Times published shocking material about the diving of equipment from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger into the Mariana Trench. The team affectionately nicknamed the spherical apparatus for deep-sea travel “the hedgehog.” Some time after the start of the dive, the instruments recorded terrifying sounds reminiscent of the grinding of metal on metal. “The Hedgehog” was immediately raised to the surface, and they were horrified: the huge steel structure was crushed, and the strongest and thickest (20 cm in diameter!) cable seemed to have been sawed off. Many explanations were immediately found. Some said that these were the “tricks” of the monsters inhabiting the natural object, others were inclined to the version of the presence of an alien intelligence, and still others believed that it could not have happened without mutated octopuses! True, there was no evidence, and all assumptions remained at the level of conjecture and conjecture...

The same mysterious incident occurred with a German research team that decided to lower the Haifish apparatus into the waters of the abyss. But for some reason he stopped moving, and the cameras impartially displayed on the monitor screens an image of the shocking size of a lizard that was trying to chew through the steel “thing.” The team was not at a loss and “scared away” the unknown beast with an electric discharge from the device. He swam away and never appeared again... One can only regret that for some reason those who came across such unique inhabitants of the Mariana Trench did not have the equipment that would allow them to photograph them.

At the end of the 90s of the last century, at the time of the “discovery” of the monsters of the Mariana Trench by the Americans, this geographical object began to become “overgrown” with legends. Fishermen (poachers) talked about glows from its depths, lights running back and forth, and various unidentified flying objects floating up from there. Crews of small ships reported that ships in the area were being “towed at great speed” by a monster possessing incredible strength.

Confirmed evidence

Depth of the Mariana Trench

Along with many legends associated with the Mariana Trench, there are also incredible facts supported by irrefutable evidence.

Found a giant shark tooth

In 1918, Australian lobster fishermen reported seeing a transparent white fish about 30 meters long in the sea. According to the description, it is similar to the ancient shark of the species Carcharodon megalodon, which lived in the seas 2 million years ago. Scientists from the surviving remains were able to recreate the appearance of a shark - a monstrous creature 25 meters long, weighing 100 tons and an impressive two-meter mouth with teeth 10 cm each. Can you imagine such “teeth”! And it was they who were recently found by oceanologists at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean! The “youngest” of the discovered artifacts… is “only” 11 thousand years old!

This find allows us to be sure that not all megalodons went extinct two million years ago. Perhaps the waters of the Mariana Trench hide these incredible predators from human eyes? Research continues; the depths still conceal many unsolved secrets.

Features of the deep sea world

The water pressure at the lowest point of the Mariana Trench is 108.6 MPa, that is, 1072 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. A vertebrate animal simply cannot survive in such monstrous conditions. But, oddly enough, mollusks have taken root here. How their shells withstand such colossal water pressure is unclear. The discovered mollusks are an incredible example of “survival”. They exist next to serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which not only do not pose a threat to the “population” found here, but also contribute to the formation of living organisms in such a seemingly aggressive environment. But hydrothermal springs also emit gas that is lethal to shellfish - hydrogen sulfide. But “cunning” and life-hungry mollusks have learned to process hydrogen sulfide into protein, and continue, as they say, to live happily in the Mariana Trench.

Another incredible mystery of a deep-sea object is the Champagne hydrothermal spring, named after the famous French (and not only) alcoholic drink. It's all about the bubbles that “bubble” in the waters of the source. Of course, these are by no means bubbles of your favorite champagne - these are liquid carbon dioxide. Thus, the only underwater source of liquid carbon dioxide in the whole world is located precisely in the Mariana Trench. Such sources are called “white smokers”; their temperature is lower than the ambient temperature, and there is always vapor around them, similar to white smoke. Thanks to these sources, hypotheses were born about the origin of all life on earth in water. Low temperature, abundance of chemicals, colossal energy - all this created excellent conditions for ancient representatives of flora and fauna.

The temperature in the Mariana Trench is also very favorable - from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. “Black smokers” took care of this. Hydrothermal springs, the antipode of “white smokers,” contain a large amount of ore substances, and therefore they are dark in color. These springs are located here at a depth of about 2 kilometers and spew out water whose temperature is about 450 degrees Celsius. I immediately remember a school physics course, from which we know that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. So what's going on? Is the spring spewing boiling water? Fortunately, no. It's all about the colossal water pressure - it is 155 times higher than on the surface of the Earth, so H 2 O does not boil, but it significantly “heats up” the waters of the Mariana Trench. The water of these hydrothermal springs is incredibly rich in various minerals, which also contributes to the comfortable habitat of living creatures.

Incredible facts

How many more mysteries and incredible wonders does this incredible place conceal? A bunch of. At a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano is located here, which served as further evidence that life originated here, at the deepest point of the globe. In the crater of the volcano, underwater, there is a lake of pure molten sulfur. In this “boiler”, sulfur bubbles at a temperature of 187 degrees Celsius. The only known analogue of such a lake is located on Jupiter’s satellite Io. There is nothing else like it on Earth. Only in space. It is no wonder that most hypotheses about the origin of life from water are associated precisely with this mysterious deep-sea object in the vast Pacific Ocean.

Let's remember a little school biology course. The simplest living creatures are amoebas. Tiny, single-celled, they can only be seen through a microscope. They reach, as it is written in textbooks, a length of half a millimeter. Giant toxic amoebas 10 centimeters long were discovered in the Mariana Trench. Can you imagine this? Ten centimeters! That is, this single-celled living creature can be clearly seen with the naked eye. Isn't this a miracle? As a result of scientific research, it was established that amoebas acquired such gigantic sizes for their class of single-celled organisms by adapting to the “unsweetened” life at the bottom of the sea. Cold water, coupled with its colossal pressure and the absence of sunlight, contributed to the “growth” of amoebae, which are called xenophyophores. The incredible abilities of xenophyophores are quite surprising: they have adapted to the effects of most destructive substances - uranium, mercury, lead. And they live in this environment, just like mollusks. In general, the Mariana Trench is a miracle of miracles, where everything living and nonliving is perfectly combined, and the most harmful chemical elements that can kill any organism not only do not harm living things, but, on the contrary, promote survival.

The local bottom has been studied in some detail and is not of particular interest - it is covered with a layer of viscous mucus. There is no sand there, there are only the remains of crushed shells and plankton that have been lying there for thousands of years, and due to water pressure have long since turned into thick grayish-yellow mud. And the calm and measured life of the seabed is disturbed only by the bathyscaphes of researchers that descend here from time to time.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Research continues

Everything secret and unknown has always attracted man. And with each secret revealed, new mysteries on our planet did not become fewer. All this fully applies to the Mariana Trench.

At the end of 2011, researchers discovered unique natural stone formations in it, shaped like bridges. Each of them stretched from one end to the other for as much as 69 km. Scientists had no doubt: this is where the tectonic plates – the Pacific and the Philippine – come into contact, and stone bridges (four in total) were formed at their junction. True, the very first of the bridges - Dutton Ridge - was opened in the late 80s of the last century. He impressed then with his size and height, which were the size of a small mountain. At its highest point, located just above the Challenger Deep, this deep-sea “ridge” reaches two and a half kilometers.

Why did nature need to build such bridges, and even in such a mysterious and inaccessible place for people? The purpose of these objects still remains unclear. In 2012, James Cameron, the creator of the legendary film Titanic, dived into the Mariana Trench. Unique equipment and powerful cameras installed on his DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe made it possible to film the majestic and deserted “bottom of the Earth.” It is unknown how long he would have been observing local landscapes if some problems had not arisen on the device. In order not to risk his life, the researcher was forced to rise to the surface.

Together with The National Geographic, the talented director created the documentary film “Challenging the Abyss.” In his story about the dive, he called the bottom of the depression “the border of life.” Emptiness, silence, and nothing, not the slightest movement or disturbance of the water. No sunlight, no shellfish, no algae, much less sea monsters. But this is only at first glance. Over twenty thousand different microorganisms were found in the bottom soil samples taken by Cameron. Great amount. How do they survive under such incredible water pressure? Still a mystery. Among the inhabitants of the depression, a shrimp-like amphipod was also discovered that produces a unique chemical substance that scientists are testing as a vaccine against Alzheimer's disease.

While staying at the deepest point not only of the world's oceans, but of the entire Earth, James Cameron did not encounter any terrible monsters, or representatives of extinct animal species, or an alien base, not to mention any incredible miracles. The feeling that he was completely alone here was a real shock. The ocean floor seemed deserted and, as the director himself said, “lunar... lonely.” The feeling of complete isolation from all humanity was such that it cannot be expressed in words. However, he still tried to do this in his documentary. Well, you probably shouldn’t be surprised that the Mariana Trench is silent and shocking with its desolation. After all, she simply sacredly guards the secret of the origin of all life on Earth...