What is the pressure in the Mariana Trench. The mysterious "thirst" of the Mariana Trench: the deepest place on Earth absorbs tons of water to nowhere

The Mariana Trench is not a vertical abyss. It is a crescent-shaped trough that stretches 2,500 km east of the Philippines and west of Guam, USA. The deepest point of the basin, the Challenger Deep, is located at a distance of 11 km from the surface. Pacific Ocean. Everest, if it were at the bottom of the depression, 2.1 km would not be enough to sea level.

Map Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench (as the trench is also commonly called) is part of a global network of troughs that cross the seabed and were formed as a result of ancient geological events. They occur when two tectonic plates when one layer sinks under another and goes into the Earth's mantle.

The underwater trench was discovered by the British research ship Challenger during the first global oceanographic expedition. In 1875, scientists tried to measure the depth with a diplot - a rope with a load tied to it and meter markings. The rope was only enough for 4,475 fathoms (8,367 m). Almost a hundred years later, the Challenger II returned to the Mariana Trench with an echo sounder and set the current depth to 10,994 m.

The bottom of the Mariana Trench is hidden in eternal darkness - the sun's rays do not penetrate to such a depth. The temperature is only a few degrees above zero - and close to the freezing point. The pressure in the abyss of the Challenger is 108.6 MPa, which is about 1,072 times the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. This is five times the pressure that is created when a bullet hits a bulletproof object and is approximately equal to the pressure inside a reactor for the synthesis of polyethylene. But people have found a way to get to the bottom.

man in the deep

The first people to visit the Challenger abyss were the US military Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh. In 1960, on the Trieste bathyscaphe, they descended 10,918 m in five hours. At this point, the researchers spent 20 minutes and saw almost nothing because of the silt clouds raised by the apparatus. Except for the fish from the flounder species, which was hit by a searchlight beam. The presence of life under such high pressure was the main discovery of the mission.

Before Piccard and Walsh, scientists believed that fish could not live in the Mariana Trench. The pressure in it is so great that calcium can only exist in liquid form. This means that the bones of vertebrates must literally dissolve. No bones, no fish. But nature has shown scientists that they are wrong: living organisms are able to adapt even to such unbearable conditions.

A bathyscaphe discovered many living organisms in the Challenger abyss Deepsea Challenger, on which director James Cameron alone descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2012. In soil samples taken by the apparatus, scientists found 200 species of invertebrates, and at the bottom of the depression - strange translucent shrimps and crabs.

At a depth of 8 thousand meters, the bathyscaphe discovered the deepest-sea fish - a new representative of the species of lipar or sea slugs. The head of the fish resembles that of a dog, and its body is very thin and elastic - while moving, it resembles a translucent napkin that is carried by the current.

A few hundred meters below live giant ten-centimeter amoeba called xenophyophores. These organisms show amazing resistance to several elements and chemicals such as mercury, uranium and lead that would kill other animals or humans in minutes.

Scientists believe that there are many more species at depth waiting to be discovered. In addition, it is still not clear how such microorganisms - extremophiles - can survive in such extreme conditions.

The answer to this question will lead to a breakthrough in biomedicine and biotechnology and will help to understand how life began on Earth. For example, researchers from the University of Hawaii believe that thermal mud volcanoes near the basin could provide conditions for the survival of the first organisms on the planet.

Volcanoes at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

What's the break?

The depression owes its depth to the fault of two tectonic plates - the Pacific layer goes under the Philippine, forming a deep trench. The regions in which such geological events have occurred are called the subduction zone.

The thickness of each plate is almost 100 km, and the depth of the fault is at least 700 km from the lowest point of the Challenger Deep. “This is an iceberg. The man wasn't even at the top - 11 was nothing compared to the 700 lurking in the depths. The Mariana Trench is the boundary between the limits of human knowledge and a reality that is inaccessible to man,” says geophysicist Robert Stern from the University of Texas.

Plates at the bottom of the Mariana Trench Photo: NOAA

Scientists suggest that through the subduction zone into the Earth's mantle, water in large volumes - the rocks at the boundaries of the faults act like sponges, absorbing water and transporting it to the bowels of the planet. As a result, the substance is at a depth of 20 to 100 km below the seabed.

Geologists from the University of Washington have found that over the past million years, more than 79 million tons of water have entered the bowels of the earth through the junction - this is 4.3 times more than previous estimates.

The main question is what happens to the water in the bowels. Volcanoes are thought to complete the water cycle by returning water to the atmosphere as water vapor during eruptions. This theory was supported by previous measurements of the volume of water penetrating into the mantle. Volcanoes ejected into the atmosphere approximately equal to the absorbed volume.

A new study refutes this theory - calculations suggest that the Earth absorbs more water than returns. And this is really strange - provided that the level of the World Ocean over the past few hundred years has not only not decreased, but also increased by several centimeters.

A possible solution is to abandon the theory of equal capacity of all subduction zones on Earth. It is likely that the conditions in the Mariana Trench are more extreme than in other parts of the planet, and more water enters the bowels through a rift in the Challenger Deep.

“Does the amount of water depend on the structural features of the subduction zone, for example, on the angle of the bend of the plates? We assume that similar faults exist in Alaska and in Latin America, but so far, humans have not been able to detect a deeper structure than the Mariana Trench,” added study lead author Doug Vines.

Water hiding in the bowels of the Earth is not the only mystery of the Mariana Trench. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls the region an amusement park for geologists.

This is the only place on the planet where carbon dioxide exists in liquid form. It is thrown out by several underwater volcanoes located outside the Okinawa Trough near Taiwan.

At a depth of 414 m in the Mariana Trench is the Daikoku volcano, which is a lake of pure sulfur in liquid form, which constantly boils at a temperature of 187 ° C. 6 km below are geothermal springs ejecting water at a temperature of 450 °C. But this water does not boil - the process is hindered by the pressure exerted by a 6.5-kilometer water column.

The ocean floor has been less explored by man today than the moon. Probably, scientists will be able to detect faults deeper than the Mariana Trench, or at least explore its structure and features.

Who was the first to descend to the deepest point in the world. (Marian Trench)

The Mariana Trench is the deepest known geographical feature in the Pacific Ocean. Depth up to 11022 meters; located east and south of Mariana Islands at 11°21"0" N. 142°12"0" East

The most mysterious and inaccessible point of our planet - the Mariana Trench - is called the "fourth pole of the Earth."

This "womb of Gaia" is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and extends 2926 km long and 80 km wide. At a distance of 320 km south of the island of Guam ( Mariana archipelago) is the deepest point of the Mariana Trench and the entire planet - 11,022 meters.

US Navy officer Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Picard - dared to challenge the abyss. Bathyscaphe "Trieste" was designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Picard, taking into account his previous development, the world's first bathyscaphe FNRS-2.

On January 23, 1960, Jacques Picard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh dived to a depth of 11,022 m, which is an absolute depth record for manned and unmanned vehicles.

The dive took about 5 hours, the rise - about 3 hours, the time spent at the bottom was 12 minutes. One of the most important scientific results of the dive was the discovery of highly organized life at such depths.

During this expedition, one of the hypotheses about not moving to great depths layers of water. Two fish were observed from the bathyscaphe at the maximum depth. This testified to the existence of underwater currents in the vertical direction: after all, living beings need oxygen brought by the current from the surface. This conclusion warned scientists against the idea of ​​using the depths of the ocean for the disposal of waste from the nuclear industry.

When the bathyscaphe "Trieste" sank to the bottom of the depression, it stopped three times, meeting some invisible obstacle. As you know, gasoline plays the same role in a bathyscaphe as hydrogen or helium in an airship. To continue the submersion of the bathyscaphe, it was necessary to release a certain amount of gasoline, this made the apparatus heavier.

An obstacle on the way was a sharp increase in the density of water. In the ocean, with depth, as a rule, the temperature decreases and the salinity of water increases, as a result of which its density increases. At some depths, these changes occur abruptly. The layer in which there is a sharp change in temperature and density of water is called the "jump layer". There are usually one or two such layers in the ocean. Trieste found another third.

The two brave men were the only people in the world who approached the center of the planet as close as possible. close quarters- only 6366 kilometers remained before him. This record has never been broken.

I would like to note that the Piccard family are record holders - the grandfather conquered the height, the father - the depth, but the grandson flew around the Earth.

Now anyone can watch the fantastic film captured on video. undersea world Mariana Trench, the deepest place on our planet, 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.

The sensational discovery of the Challenger team

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 point 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 sight and does not present any mystery to scientists, then the depths of the Mariana Trench hold many secrets, because getting to its bottom on this moment only three daredevils succeeded.

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. A place of unique depth seabed received the status national monument United States, it is forbidden to fish and mine minerals 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 of 1 to 5 km. The deepest point of the depression (10,994 m below sea level) was named the Challenger Abyss 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 was in the area of ​​the Mariana Islands, during the next measurement of the depth, a hitch arose: the kilometer-long rope went overboard, but it was not possible to reach the bottom. At the direction of the captain, a couple more kilometer sections were added to the rope, but, to everyone's surprise, they were not enough, they 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, even an underestimated value was quite enough to understand: the most deep place.

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 to study the Mariana Trench, who arrived in this region of the Pacific Ocean on the Vityaz research vessel. 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, in scientific world then there was an opinion that due to the monstrous pressure and lack of light at such depths, there are no manifestations of life.

Dive into the world of silence and darkness

In 1960, people first visited the bottom of the depression. 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 the average atmospheric pressure. The dive to the bottom of the trench with the help of the Trieste bathyscaphe was made by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard. Bathyscaphe "Trieste" with walls 13 cm thick was created in the same name. Italian city and was a fairly massive structure.

They lowered the bathyscaphe to the bottom for five long hours; despite such a long descent, the researchers stayed at the bottom at a depth of 10911 meters for only 20 minutes, 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 that looked like a flounder that swam past their porthole. Their presence at such a depth has become a real scientific sensation!

In addition to discovering the existence of life at such a breathtaking depth, Jacques Picard managed 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, it was major discovery, because some nuclear powers were going to carry out burial in the Mariana Trench radioactive waste. It turns out that Picard prevented a large-scale radioactive contamination of the Pacific Ocean!

After the dive of Walsh and Picard for a long period, only unmanned submachine guns 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. He not only conducted underwater photo and video shooting at an incredible depth, but also took soil samples. The instruments of the deep-sea vehicle recorded the depth reached by it at 10,902 meters.

On March 26, 2012, a man again appeared at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, it was the famous director, creator of the legendary film "Titanic" James Cameron.

Your decision to make dangerous journey to the “bottom of the Earth,” he explained as follows: “On the earth’s land, almost everything has been explored. 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.”

Cameron made a dive on the DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe, it was not very comfortable, researcher long time was in a half-bent state, since the diameter interior The device was only about 109 cm. Bathyscaphe, equipped with the most powerful cameras and unique equipment, allowed the popular director to shoot fantastic landscapes of the deepest place on the planet. Later, together with The National Geographic, James Cameron created a breathtaking documentary"Challenge to the Abyss".

It should be noted that during the stay at the bottom deepest depression world Cameron did not see any monsters, no representatives of the underwater civilization, no alien base. However, he literally looked into the eyes of the Challenger Abyss. According to him, during his short trip he experienced indescribable sensations. 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 mankind." True, the malfunctions that arose with the equipment of the bathyscaphe, perhaps, interrupted the "hypnotic" effect of the abyss on the famous director in time, and he rose to the surface to the people.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Behind last years During the study of the Mariana Trench, many discoveries were made. For example, in samples of the bottom soil taken by Cameron, scientists found more than 20 thousand of a wide variety of microorganisms. There are among the inhabitants of the depression and giant 10-centimeter amoeba, called xenophyophores. According to scientists, single-celled amoeba most likely reached such an incredible size due to the rather hostile environment at a depth of 10.6 km in which they are forced to live. High pressure, cold water and the absence of light for some reason clearly benefited them, contributing to their gigantism.

Mollusks have also been found in the Mariana Trench. It is not clear how their shells withstand the enormous pressure of water, but they feel very comfortable at depth, and are located near hydrothermal springs that emit hydrogen sulfide, which is deadly for ordinary molluscs. However, local mollusks, having shown 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 inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are rather unusual. For example, scientists have found here a fish with a transparent head, in the center of which are its eyes. Thus, in the course of evolution, the eyes of fish received reliable protection from possible injury. At a great depth there are many bizarre and sometimes even scary fish, here we managed to capture on video a fantastically beautiful jellyfish. Of course, we still do not know all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, in this regard, scientists still have many discoveries.

There are many interesting things in this mysterious place and for geologists. So, in a depression at a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano was discovered, in the crater of which there is a lake of bubbling molten sulfur right under the water. As scientists say, the only analogue of such a lake known to them is only on the satellite of Jupiter - 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 that function 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.

The most mysterious and inaccessible point of our planet - the Mariana Trench - is called the "fourth pole of the Earth." It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and stretches 2926 km long and 80 km wide. At a distance of 320 km south of the island of Guam is the deepest point of the Mariana Trench and the entire planet - 11022 meters. These little-studied depths hide living creatures whose appearance is as monstrous as the conditions of their habitat.

The Mariana Trench is called the "fourth pole of the Earth"

Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench- an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest known on Earth geographical objects. Studies of the Mariana Trench were laid by the expedition ( December 1872 - May 1876) English ship Challenger ( HMS Challenger), who carried out the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This three-masted, sail-rigged military corvette was rebuilt as an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological, and meteorological work in 1872.

In 1960, a great event took place in the history of the conquest of the oceans

Bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by French explorer Jacques Picard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh, reached the highest deep point ocean floor - the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench and named after the English ship Challenger, from which the first data about it were obtained in 1951.

Bathyscaphe "Trieste" before diving, January 23, 1960

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 1100 times the normal atmospheric) flattens all living things, the researchers made the most important oceanological discovery: they saw two 30-centimeter fish resembling a flounder swim past the porthole. Before that, it was believed that at depths exceeding 6000 m, no life exists.

Thus, an absolute record of diving depth was set, which cannot be surpassed even theoretically. Picard and Walsh were the only people to visit the bottom of the Challenger abyss. All subsequent dives to the deepest point of the oceans, with research purposes, have already been made by unmanned bathyscaphes-robots. But there were not so many of them either, since “visiting” the Challenger abyss is both time-consuming and expensive.

One of the achievements of this dive, which had a beneficial effect on the ecological 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 opinion that prevailed at that time that at depths of more than 6000 m there is no upward movement of water masses.

In the 1990s, three dives were made by the Japanese Kaiko, controlled remotely from the "mother" vessel via a fiber-optic cable. However, in 2003, while exploring another part of the ocean, a towing steel cable broke during a storm, and the robot was lost. Underwater catamaran Nereus became the third deep-sea vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

In 2009, humanity again reached the deepest point in the world's oceans.

On May 31, 2009, mankind again reached the deepest point of the Pacific, and indeed the entire world ocean - the American deep-sea vehicle Nereus sank into the Challenger sinkhole at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The device took soil samples and conducted underwater photo and video shooting at the maximum depth, illuminated only by its LED spotlight. During the current dive, Nereus' instruments recorded a depth of 10,902 meters. The indicator was 10,911 meters, and Picard and Walsh measured a value of 10,912 meters. On many Russian maps, the value of 11,022 meters obtained by the Soviet oceanographic vessel Vityaz during the 1957 expedition is still given. All this testifies to the inaccuracy of measurements, and not to 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, which is 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 trough is the Challenger Deep, named after the English ship.

The inexplicable and incomprehensible has always attracted people, so scientists around the world are so eager to answer the question: “ What hides in its depths the Mariana Trench?»

The inexplicable and incomprehensible has always attracted people

For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at depths of more than 6000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life could exist to be insane. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even at these depths, well below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms of pogonophores, a type of marine invertebrates that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends.

IN Lately the veil of secrecy was opened by manned and automatic, made of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, a rich animal community was discovered, consisting of both well-known and less familiar marine groups.

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

- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);

- from the protozoa - foraminifera (a detachment of the protozoan subclass of rhizopods with a cytoplasmic body dressed in a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);

- from multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.

Not at depth sunlight, no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?

Studies have shown that at a depth of more than 6000 meters there is life

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

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

Despite the fact that humanity has stepped far ahead, there has appeared a large number of technology that allows us to accomplish the seemingly impossible, there are corners of the Earth where it is almost impossible to reach. Thanks to this, in such corners, pristine nature has been preserved, untouched by man.

Mariana Trench (or Mariana Trench) - oceanic deep sea trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the deepest known on Earth. It is 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 Mariana Trench is the deepest place on our planet. I think almost everyone 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

The entire depression stretched 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, just the Mariana Trench is the deepest place of this kind) Its slopes are steep, on average about 7-9 °, and the bottom is flat, with a width of 1 to 5 kilometers , and divided by thresholds into several closed sections. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1100 times more than normal atmospheric pressure!

Shot from space

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

The device recording sounds began to transmit noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, vague shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails.

An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became worried that the unique apparatus, made from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel in the NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called "hedgehog" with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever.

It was decided to raise it immediately. "Hedgehog" was removed from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately put on a special raft. The TV camera and echo sounder were lifted onto the deck of the Glomar Challenger. It turned out that the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered turned out to be half sawn. Who tried to leave the “hedgehog” at depth and why is an absolute mystery. The details of this most interesting experiment, conducted by American oceanologists in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996 by the New York Times (USA)

Research vessel "Vityaz"

Soviet scientists were also researchers of the Mariana Trench - 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 existence of life at depths of more than 7,000 meters, thus refuting the then prevailing idea that life was impossible at depths of more than 6000-7000 meters. In 1992, the Vityaz was handed over to the newly formed Museum of the World Ocean. For two years, the ship was being repaired at the plant, and on July 12, 1994, it was permanently moored at the museum pier in the very center of Kaliningrad

According to the results of measurements carried out in 1957 during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel "Vityaz" (headed by Alexei Dmitrievich Dobrovolsky), the maximum depth of the chute is 11023 m (updated data, the depth of 11034 m was originally reported) in that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which are different at different depths, so these properties must also be determined at several horizons with special instruments (such as a bathometer and a thermometer), and a correction has been made to the depth value shown by the echo sounder .Studies in 1995 showed that it is about 10920 m, and studies in 2009 - that 10971 m. The latest research in 2011 gives a value of - 10994 m with an accuracy of ± 40 m

Single-seat Deepsea Challenger

It should be noted that the latest research conducted by the American oceanographic expedition from the University of New Hampshire (USA) discovered real mountains on the surface of the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

The research took place from August to October 2010, when a bottom area of ​​400,000 square kilometers was studied in detail using a multibeam echo sounder. As a result, at least 4 oceanic mountain range 2.5 kilometers high, crossing the surface of the Mariana Trench at the point of contact between the Pacific and Philippine lithospheric plates.

One of the researchers commented on this: “In this place geological structure the oceanic crust is very complex ... These ridges were formed about 180 million years ago in the process of constant movement of lithospheric plates. Over the course of millions of years, the marginal part of the Pacific plate gradually “creeps” under the Philippine one, as it is older and “heavier” ... During this process, folding is formed ”

diving

So, a person could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, but the rapidly developing world technical progress allows deeper penetration into secret world the most inhospitable and recalcitrant environment in the world - the oceans. There will be enough objects for research in the Mariana Trench for many years to come, given that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, unlike Everest (altitude 8848 m), was conquered only once.

So, on January 23, 1960, US Navy officer Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Picard, protected by armored, 12-centimeter-thick walls of a bathyscaphe called Trieste, managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters. Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, new mysteries have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss knows how to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future?

The first human dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was made on January 23, 1960 by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard in the Trieste bathyscaphe, designed by Jacques' father Auguste Picard. The instruments recorded a record depth of 11521 meters (corrected value - 10918 m). At the bottom, the researchers unexpectedly met flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder. During the dive, they were protected by armored, 127 mm thick walls of a bathyscaphe called “Trieste”

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

Japanese probe Kaiko, which was lowered into the area maximum depth depressions on March 24, 1995, recorded a depth of 10911.4 meters Living organisms were found in the samples of silt taken by the probe - foraminifera

On May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic underwater vehicle sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (see Nereus, ancient Greek mythology). The device descended to a depth of 10,902 meters, where it filmed a video, took several photos, and also collected sediment samples at the bottom.

to the Mariana Trench

While he was at the deepest point in the world's oceans, he came to the shocking conclusion that he was completely alone. There were no scary sea monsters or any miracles in the Mariana Trench. According to Cameron, the very bottom of the ocean was "lunar...empty...lonely" and he felt "complete isolation from all mankind"

On March 26, 2012, director James Cameron became the third person in history to reach the deepest point in the world's oceans, and the first to do it alone. Cameron dived on a single Deepsea Challenger equipped with everything necessary for photography and video filming. Filming was carried out in 3D, for this the bathyscaphe was equipped with special lighting equipment. Cameron reached the "Challenger Abyss" - a section of the depression at a depth of 10898 meters (accurate calculations show that the bathyscaphe reached a depth of 10908 meters, and not 10898 - the depth recorded by the device during the dive). He took samples of rocks, living organisms and filmed using 3D cameras. The footage shot by the director formed the basis of the eponymous scientific documentary film (2013) on the National Geographic Channel

Another collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench occurred with the German research apparatus "Highfish" with a crew on board. At a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly stopped moving. To find out the cause of the malfunctions, 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 crack it like a nut. Recovering from the shock, the crew activated a device called an "electric gun", and the monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss ...

Can living organisms live at such a great depth, and how should they look, given that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean water, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at depths of more than 6000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life could exist to be insane.

However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even at these depths, far below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophora ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). Recently, the veil of secrecy has been opened by manned and automatic, made of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, a rich animal community was discovered, consisting of both well-known and less familiar marine groups.

Scheme of the formation of the Mariana Trench.
The trench stretched along the Mariana Islands for 1,500 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 about 1072 times the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the border of the docking of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.

Thus, at depths of 6,000 - 11,000 km, the following were found: - barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure); - from multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.

At depths there is no sunlight, no algae, salinity is constant, temperatures are low, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat? The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of "corpses" and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals or blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluores; in other forms, the surface of the body or parts of it glow. Therefore, the appearance of these animals is as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them - a frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.

Going down to such a depth, we expect that it will be very cold there. The temperature here reaches just above zero, varying from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.

However, at a depth of about 1.6 km from the surface of the Pacific Ocean, there are hydrothermal vents called "black smokers". They shoot water that heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.

This water is rich in minerals that help support life in the area. Despite the temperature of the water, which is hundreds of degrees above the boiling point, it does not boil here due to the incredible pressure, 155 times higher than on the surface.

Giant toxic amoeba

A few years ago, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, they discovered giant 10-centimeter amoebas, called xenophyophores.

These single-celled organisms probably got so big because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. The cold temperature, high pressure, and lack of sunlight most likely contributed to these amoeba got huge.

In addition, xenophyophores have incredible abilities. They are resistant to many elements and chemicals, including uranium, mercury and lead,which would kill other animals and people.

shellfish

The strong water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance to survive. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trough near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form.

TO How did mollusks keep their shells under such pressure?, remains unknown.

In addition, hydrothermal vents release another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is deadly to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.

Pure liquid carbon dioxide

hydrothermal source Champagne The Mariana Trench, which lies outside the Okinawa Trench near Taiwan, is the only known underwater area where liquid carbon dioxide can be found. The spring, discovered in 2005, got its name from the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.

Many believe that these springs, called "white smokers" because of the lower temperature, may be the source of life. It was in the depths of the oceans with low temperatures and an abundance of chemicals and energy that life could originate.

Slime

If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, then we would feel that it covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its usual form, does not exist there.

The bottom of the depression mainly consists of crushed shells and plankton residues that have accumulated at the bottom of the depression for many years. Due to the incredible pressure of the water, almost everything there turns into fine greyish-yellow thick mud.

liquid sulfur

Volcano Daikoku, which is located at a depth of about 414 meters on the way to the Mariana Trench, is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on our planet. Here is lake of pure molten sulfur. The only place where liquid sulfur can be found is Jupiter's moon Io.

In this pit, called "cauldron", a seething black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this place in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. It may reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth.

According to the Gaia hypothesis, our planet is one self-governing organism in which all living and non-living things are connected to support its life. If this hypothesis is correct, then a number of signals can be observed in the natural cycles and systems of the Earth. So the sulfur compounds created by organisms in the ocean must be stable enough in the water to allow them to pass into the air and back to land again.

Bridges

At the end of 2011, in the Mariana Trench, it was discovered four stone bridges, which stretched from one end to the other for 69 km. They appear to have formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.

One of the bridges Dutton Ridge, which was discovered back in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. In the high point, the ridge reaches 2.5 km over the Challenger Deep.

Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that in one of the most mysterious and unknown places discovered these formations is amazing.