What is the deepest ocean and why is the water salty in it. Which is bigger - the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean? What is the largest and deepest ocean on Earth

The relief of the earth's surface is very diverse. From space it looks like a smooth ball, but in fact, on its surface there are both the highest mountains and the deepest depressions. Where is the most deep place on earth in ocean or land?

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The World Ocean is a huge expanse of water that occupies more than 71% of the Earth's surface. It includes all the seas and our planet. The relief of the ocean floor complex and varied, its waters are the habitat of millions of living organisms.

Most deep ocean in the world - Quiet. The map shows that it occupies a huge area and borders on Asia, North and South America, Australia, Antarctica. Over 49.5% of all body of water Earth contains the Pacific Ocean itself. Its bottom is a mixture of relict relief with transgressive plains. Most of the ocean floor elevations are of tectonic origin. There are hundreds of natural underwater canyons and ridges. In the body of water Pacific Ocean located the deepest depression in the world - Mariana Trench.

Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench (or the Mariana Trench) is a deep oceanic trench, considered deepest known on earth. It received its name in honor of Mariana Islands with which it is located. This is the deepest and mysterious place in the Pacific Ocean.

Scientists have been studying the Mariana Trench since the late 19th century. This is the deepest trench recorded by researchers.

Then they did not have good equipment, so the data that was received is not true. In 1875, a deep water lot set the depth. This the most low point Earth.

During the same period, the deepest place on Earth began to be called the "Challenger Abyss" on behalf of the British ship on which the explorers sailed. Secondarily, the Mariana Trench was measured in 1951.

In the middle of the last century, scientists managed to study the depression more and establish its depth at 10,863 m. In the future, many research ships visited the Challenger Deep. The most accurate results were obtained in 1957. Then the depth of the depression was 11,023 m.

Important! Now the depth of the Mariana Trench is 10,994 meters below sea level, this is the deepest place in the ocean known today.

Inhabitants of the ocean floor

Even at present, the bottom of the Pacific Ocean has not been fully studied, because it is the deepest ocean in the world. many places Mariana Trench remain unexplored, because at such a great depth too high pressure. But, despite all the difficulties, people managed to descend to the depth of the depression. The first dive into the deepest trench happened in 1960. Scientist Jacques Picard and US Navy soldier Don Walsh descended to a record depth of 10,918 meters. During the dive, people were inside the bathyscaphe. Scientists said that they saw at the bottom of the ocean flat 30-centimeter fish, outwardly similar to a flounder.

During further research, other living organisms were discovered:

1. In 1995, Japanese researchers found foraminifera - living organisms that live at a depth of 10,911 m.
2. During a series of dives by American scientists, fish of the opisthoproct family were found, football fish and frilled shark.
3. In the course of numerous studies, the bottom of the Mariana Trench was studied by special probes, which were photographed at a depth of 6000–8000 m of angler, sea devil and other terrifying fish.

There are legends that huge 25-meter sharks are found in the Mariana Trench. Scientists even found trophies - bones, shark teeth and other fossils. But this does not indicate that sharks still live there now. Perhaps they were here far in antiquity.

The deepest places in the world's oceans

Each of the four oceans has its own deep place. The lowest point is in the Pacific Ocean, but what about other trenches and depressions?

Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Ocean Trench is located at the junction caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. The absolute depth of the trench reaches 8385 m. This area, due to the structure of the relief, is often subject to tremors and high volcanic activity. Nearby islands suffer from constant tsunamis and earthquakes.

Java depression

Java Depression (or Sunda Trench) - the deepest place indian ocean. Gutter stretches for 4-5 thousand kilometers, and the lowest point reaches 7729 m. The name of the depression was due to the proximity to the island of Java. The bottom of the trench is an alternation of plains and canyons with ridges and ledges.

Greenland Sea

Part of the Northern Arctic Ocean which is on crossing Iceland with Greenland and Jan Mayen Island is called the Greenland Sea.

Sea area - 1.2 million square meters. km. The average depth of the body of water is 1444 m, and the deepest point is 5527 m below sea level. Most of seabed relief - a huge basin with underwater ridges.

This deepest trench in Europe. There is a lot of commercial fish here, which is caught by fishermen of nearby islands.

Inland basins of Russia

Deep depressions are located not only in the waters of the oceans. A prime example This is the Baikal Rift, located in. The lake itself is considered the deepest on Earth, so it is not surprising that the lowest inland place is located here. Lake Baikal is surrounded by mountains, so the elevation differences between ocean level and the rift exceeds the mark of 3615 m.

Important! The depression reaches 1637 m in depth and is the most great depth Lake Baikal.

Depression of Lake Ladoga. Ladoga lake located in the Republic of Karelia. He is considered the largest freshwater lake on the territory of Europe. The average depth of the lake ranges from 70-220 m, but it reaches its absolute maximum in one place - 223 m below sea level.

Caspian Sea. Caspian lake located on the border of Europe and Asia. It is the largest enclosed body of water on earth, which is why it is often referred to as the Caspian Sea.

On the Russian side, the reservoir borders on the Volga islands and, but most of the Caspian Sea is located on the territory of Kazakhstan. Max Depth lake is 1025 m below sea level.

Khanty lake. Occupies third place among the deepest places in Russia. The maximum depth here reaches 420 m. The reservoir is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. There is not much data about this place, but this is enough to make Khantai Lake one of the deepest places in Russia.

inland depressions

Our Earth is rich in relief. You can see many high mountains, thousands of endless plains and hundreds of depressions. Below is a list of the deepest places recorded worldwide:

• Jordanian rift valley(Ghor) - located at the intersection of Syria, Jordan and Israel. The deepest place is 804 m.
• The depression of Lake Tanganyika is located in Central Africa and is longest freshwater lake in the world. The deepest place is 696 m.
• The Great Slave Lake Depression is located in Canada. Maximum low place- 614 m. This is the deepest trench in North America.
• Great Bear Lake Depression - also located in Canada and is rich uranium deposits. The deepest place is 288 m.

Science's view of the deepest places

Dive to the bottom of the earth with Cameron

Conclusion

In fact, there are dozens of deep places in the world. Many of them can be found at the bottom of reservoirs, others - in the Earth itself. This topic is quite interesting, and scientists are studying such places. Now you know where the deepest place on Earth is located, in which ocean located deepest depression and what interesting places world are studied by experts.

Today, there are 5 oceans on our planet, each of which has its own characteristics, sizes and peculiar forms of life. The largest is the Pacific Ocean, which is also the deepest ocean in the world.

How big is the Pacific Ocean?

It occupies an area of ​​178,600,000 km2. The volume of ocean water is 710,000,000 km3. Looking at the map, you will see that the ocean extends from the Arctic Ocean to the Southern Ocean. Approximately forty-six percent of all surface water on our planet falls on this ocean, where the average depth is approximately 4000 m. great depth in the ocean is approximately 11,000 m. Such a place in the Pacific Ocean is the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest place in the world's oceans.

How did scientists determine the greatest ocean depth?

Scientists managed to find the deepest place in the ocean using special instruments - echo sounders. And this device works as follows. The echo sounder, which is located on the research vessel, sends a special signal to the bottom. The sent sound wave, having reached the bottom of the ocean, is reflected and, upon return, is recorded by the echo sounder. So, the time taken by the sound signal to reach the ocean floor and return back to the device is measured. The resulting time is divided in half, and then the distance is calculated depending on the speed of sound propagation in water.

Today, with the help of such devices, scientists have received information not only about the maximum depth, but also about the average ocean depth. Thanks to the data obtained, scientists were able to absolutely say that the deepest of all is the Pacific Ocean.

Features of the deepest ocean

The ocean is surrounded on all sides by 5 continents. In addition to being the deepest, it is also the largest in area and the warmest. The relief of its bottom is quite complex. At the equator, the ocean is divided into 2 parts - north and south. In addition, this ocean is considered the most insular - in these places you can count about ten thousand islands.

Mariana Trench

In the west of the Pacific Ocean there is a trench that has the shape of a crescent. The Mariana Trench is also called the Mariana Trench. Its length is 2550 km, and its width is 69 km. Deep into the depression goes about 11,000 m.

Despite the wide popularity of this place, scientists have very little information about its features. However, there are some facts that are already one hundred percent. Here are some of them:

1) Hot water. Many will say that the deeper you go into the water, the colder it will be. But in this depression at a depth of 1600 m, the water temperature reaches 450 degrees. And everything can be explained by the presence of hydro thermal springs operating in this location. The water here is incredibly rich in minerals that support life. But the water does not boil here, since its pressure is 155 times greater than the surface pressure.

2) The presence of shellfish. It would seem that the highest water pressure does not give a single chance for habitation at the bottom of the depression. But in 2012 scientists have discovered mollusks here, which have even adapted to the release of hydrogen sulfide from thermal springs, converting it into the protein necessary for life.

3) Slime at the bottom. Again, due to the high water pressure, everything that falls to the bottom turns into mucus, which covers the entire bottom of the gutter.

4) The emergence of liquid sulfur. When lowering into the gutter, one can observe the Daikoku volcano, which is the source of the formation of a lake of pure sulfur. Such sulfur, in addition to these places, is found only on the satellite of Jupiter.

5) The presence of toxic amoebae of enormous size. The researchers managed to find 10-centimeter amoebas at the bottom of the gutter. Scientists suggest that these large sizes amoebas reached because of the habitat and the lack of light of the sun. Amoebas also have excellent resistance to many chemicals.

Exploring the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean

The Mariana Trench was discovered in 1875. Since then, only three people have dared to visit this deepest place in the ocean. The latest of these daredevils was the film director J. Cameron. He plunged in a bathyscaphe to the bottom of the chute in 2012. The director carefully observed everything that surrounds him, and what is happening. Being at the lowest point of the depression, Cameron noted that he was alone here. He did not see any scary monsters, and the bottom seemed so empty and lonely.

Once I read a book that collected the legends of the inhabitants Pacific Ocean. According to one of them, in the deepest place lives giant octopus, whose tentacles hold the whole world. Who knows, because the deepest place has not been finally explored...

The deepest ocean in the world

Certainly this is a great Pacific Ocean- the oldest and largest of all the globe. Its area is so large that it can freely accommodate all the islands and continents. The widest place in the area equator, and the outer outline of the ocean resembles an oval. The deepest section Mariana Trench. This place is little studied, because the depth reaches 11000 meters.

In addition, the largest number of islands is concentrated in this ocean. Some are uninhabited and some are inhabited natives whose culture is very unique. The settlement of the islands began around 7000 years ago when the Asian natives migrated to the islands. Due to the insignificance of the population and the dispersal of the islands, they did not succeed at all in creating civilization.

Mysteries of the Pacific

In addition to the fact that the ocean is the deepest and most full-flowing, it is also "an ocean of mysteries". Within its boundaries are concentrated a lot of amazing and mysterious places . Here are some of them:

• Mount Kasimakaisan;
• sea ​​of ​​the Devil;

Mount Kasimakaisan. Despite the rather impressive height - 4000 meters, this mountain was known only to a few. And all because it seamount located close to the islands Japan. It was discovered in 1936, and according to the results of recent studies, it turned out that the peak was split in two.

Sea Devil. This place is no less mysterious than the enigmatic Bermuda Triangle . The sailors who sailed in this zone repeatedly recorded strange noises that came from the depths. Sometimes it was something like a rumbling, and sometimes a deafening gurgle. Some sounds last a few minutes, and some have been heard for many years. Scientists believe the sounds could be caused by eruptions, icebergs, and even unknown sea animal.

Easter Island. In the southern part of the ocean there is a popular island due to its idols. In total there are about 1000 statues carved from solid rock. The largest has a height 23 meters, and its weight is more 16 Tons. Each of them is unique and decorated with a special pattern. It is assumed that the statues were erected in honor of a deity or dead leaders, but the exact purpose is unknown.

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My element is water. As a child, my favorite cartoon was The Little Mermaid, in my games I imagined myself as an inhabitant sea ​​depths. Now that I'm older, I like movies about pirates, divers and underwater treasure hunters. The ocean fascinates me. And the fact that it has not been fully explored only fuels interest. And so I thought which ocean is the deepest And what secrets does he keep?

The deepest ocean is the Pacific

The Pacific Ocean is the most-most on our planet. He largest in area And deepest. It is the most violent and the most dangerous. It's surprising that it has such an inappropriate name. The fact is that Ferdinand Magellan, who gave the ocean its name, crossed it during the calm season and never got into a strong storm during the journey. In my opinion, this ocean is more suitable for the name "Great", which in 1753 was proposed by the French geographer ANDen-Nicholas Buache. However, this name did not take root, and the ocean is still called the Pacific Ocean.

Scientists say that the average depth of the Pacific Ocean is 3984 m. And the deepest place is in Mariana Trench and its depth is - 10 994 m. Just an incredible number! And I was wondering how you can measure such a depth?

How is ocean depth measured?

It turns out that people have been trying to measure the depth of the ocean for a very long time. Previously, the measurement was done using a rope with a load tied to the end. This load was lowered into the water and, along the length of the rope, a conclusion was drawn about the depth of the bottom in this place.

Later, oceanologists came up with an interesting way to accurately measure the depth of the seas and oceans. This method is called depth listening. It uses a special device to study the ocean floor - echo sounder.

The measurement method is as follows. The device on board the ship sends a sound signal. The sound travels through the water column and, reflected from the bottom, returns and is captured by the echo sounder. Scientists note the time it takes sound to travel to the bottom and back, and so calculate the depth. A modern echo sounder sends ultrasonic waves, which are registered by a special device and plotted on paper.

Studying the ocean floor, scientists came to the conclusion that at different depths the landscape is very different. This, of course, affected the inhabitants of the ocean. Appearance, the diet and behavior of deep-sea individuals are not at all similar to those that live at shallow depths.

Amazing inhabitants of the depths of the Pacific Ocean

When I look at photographs of these creatures, it's hard for me to imagine that they really exist. They look like some kind of fantastical creatures from an adventure novel to me.

These Pacific people impressed me the most:

• acupuncture;
• frilled shark;
• deep sea angler.

Iglorot looks intimidating. Despite its not impressive size, about 15 centimeters, this fish is able to scare anyone away from itself. This creature lives in the deep over 1800 meters where almost no sunlight penetrates. Therefore, the needlemouth itself illuminates its own path, using its bioluminescent organs to illuminate.

frilled shark looks like a prehistoric monster. At one glance, it seems that he fell into the era of dinosaurs. Study her behavior natural environment scientists have not been able to on the surface, this fish dies. What secrets this predator keeps, we can only guess.

It is hard to imagine how many more amazing discoveries we have to make while studying the deepest ocean on the planet.

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Found the latest news. On October 1, 2017, a video appeared on the network with two unidentified flying objects. The version that, at the bottom of the ocean, aliens are conducting their research - new hit among internet news. One of the UFOs apparently sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, the deepest in the world. And the second one disappeared. What's under the water?

What is hidden at the bottom of the deepest ocean in the world

big water hides terrible secrets. I remember from the lessons of history the terrible destruction Japanese islands nuclear weapons. The ill-fated ship USS Indianapolis, on which American sailors brought up components nuclear bomb, in August of this year found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

The ship and crew were left to fend for themselves. More likely, no one was going to save the sailors They might know things that shouldn't be told. So, in the conditions of the wild ocean, sailors died from shark attacks, impotence and disease. In such conditions, three hundred people out of two thousand miraculously survived.

Mysteries of the nature of the ocean

Peering into the depths, you can consider:

• Ostrov, which is not;
• crab migration;
• new types of living beings.

Near Panama at a depth of about 400 meters, an amazing phenomenon was accidentally filmed from a submarine. The crabs were moving in a certain direction, overtaking each other, at a slow pace. They climbed one over the other. What has become the cause of extraordinary behavior is a mystery, which oceanologists are studying today.

At a depth of four hundred thousand meters there is a plain, geographically it can be represented between California and Hawaii. It's very cold at the bottom. But unique living beings unknown to science live on the surface of the water. some of them cannot be attributed to any family of known organisms.

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As a child, I had a book - "The seas and oceans of the planet." In it I read about many amazing places oceans, including the deepest place on our planet.

deepest ocean

Most big ocean the planet is not at all distinguished by a calm "temper". In my time Magellan very lucky to pass its waters without encountering any serious storms, and therefore he named it "Quiet". If we count the entire water surface of our planet as 100%, then it turns out that this ocean accounts for almost 47%. And if we imagine that all the land is one mainland, then all of it will be significantly inferior in area to the great ocean. The deepest place is also within it - Mariana Trench - over 11,000 meters. In addition to the Mariana Trench, there are other deep points where the depth reaches 10,000 meters:

• Kemadek;
• Tonga;

• Philippine Trench.

As for the number of islands, Pacific Ocean- the undisputed leader, within which are scattered over 30,000 islands different sizes.

Features of the great ocean

fire ring. This is the name of the area at the junctions continental plates. It contains most of the active volcanoes of our planet, and the largest number of tremors is recorded. Why is it of interest to scientists? First of all, actually 95% of all earthquakes that occur recorded here, and most of them are among the strongest in the history of our planet. This is direct evidence that the process formation of continents in this area continues to this day.

Tsunami. These waves, which demolish everything in their path, in fact, " business card» Pacific Ocean. They differ from the usual waves not at all in height, as many believe. It's not exactly a wave, but movement of the entire water column. That is why they go on land, flooding coastal areas. Their number can be from 2 to 30, depending on the power of the earthquake. The ridges go one after another with an interval of up to 2 hours and even more. Therefore, after a tsunami, it is strictly forbidden to go ashore without waiting at least 4 hours. A characteristic sign of an approaching danger is abrupt retreat of the water from the shore, and the further the water goes, the higher the wave will be.

Most of the surface of our planet is covered by four oceans. The largest of them is . It contains 53% of the volume of water from the total. The Pacific Ocean is a leader in other indicators as well. Most living organisms live in its depths, the most a large number of islands.

It is also the deepest ocean on the planet. It has places where people, even with the help of the most innovative and high-tech equipment, do not yet have access. That is why the Pacific Ocean is the most big mystery our planet. Scientists say that even the Moon is much more studied than the expanses of the Pacific Ocean.

For the first time, serious studies of the depths of the Pacific Ocean were carried out in the middle of the last century. Using the most powerful echo sounder at that time, scientists from England, who conducted a scientific expedition, discovered a depression, the maximum depth of which, according to the data obtained, was 10,863 m.

After 6 years to myself deep gutter In the Pacific Ocean, a research group of Russian scientists arrived under the command of A.D. Dobrovolsky on the research vessel Vityaz. They managed to get a depth indicator of 11,034 meters. After conducting additional research, scientists received more accurate data, according to which the depth of the depression was 11,023 m.

Exploration of the Mariana Trench was quite difficult. To determine its exact depth, scientists had to use various equipment:

• echo sounder;
• thermometers;
• barometers.

Sound waves pass through the water column in different ways, which the researchers had to take into account. Changes in the temperature and pressure of water masses affect the speed of sound, so before studying the depression, scientists conducted many different experiments. A more accurate value could not be obtained by numerous expeditions that conducted research on the "Challenger Abyss" over the following years.

The Mariana Trench is still one of the most little explored places planets. It is not yet possible to reach its bottom due to the huge pressure of the water. To understand how huge the depth of the depression is, it is enough to imagine that the most high mountain in the world, Everest will easily fit in it and will even be covered with a layer of water, the thickness of which exceeds 2 km. The Pacific Ocean also has the largest average depth, which is 3984 m.

Other information about the Pacific Ocean

As already noted, the Pacific Ocean is larger than other bodies of water on the planet. Its area is 178.684 million km2. It stretches from South to North for 16 thousand km, and from East to West for 19 thousand km. Most of the ocean is desalinated in the Southern Hemisphere. Its basin contains 710.36 million km 3 of water. Its waters wash the shores of all 5 continents.

About 10 thousand islands are scattered across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Many of them were formed after volcanic eruptions. largest islands of this reservoir are New Guinea and Kalimantan. The largest group of islands in the world, called the Greater Sunda Islands, is located in the Pacific Ocean.

Climatic features

Despite its name, the Pacific Ocean is not a calm body of water. Only in its equatorial part, complete calm prevails throughout the year. This is due to the fact that the northern and southern trade winds do not converge, but have their own zones. Also for this reason, the equatorial zone is the most arid. The water of the Pacific Ocean in the equatorial part has the highest percentage of salinity. This is due to significant evaporation and low precipitation.

In tropical zones in the western and southern parts oceans, the most severe typhoons originate, which sweep along the continents, causing severe storms. These destructive winds die out near the Bering Sea.

Flora and fauna

The Pacific Ocean contains 50% of the biomass of the entire oceans. In tropical and subtropical areas, huge area the bottom of the reservoir is Coral reefs and mangroves. The ocean is teeming with microscopic algae. In the overwhelming majority, the most abundant vegetation is distributed in shallow water zones.

In the depths of the Pacific Ocean is found several times more various kinds living organisms than in any other ocean. More than 8.5 thousand species of fish were found in it. Some of them are very ancient and live only in this reservoir. In the Pacific Ocean, living organisms are often found that amaze with their huge size. In the northern region of the reservoir, giant mussels and oysters were found, and the equatorial part surprised by the presence of the largest tridactna mollusks, whose weight can reach 300 kg.

Ecology

The waters of the Pacific Ocean were heavily polluted due to economic activity people, which adversely affected the amount of biological wealth of the reservoir. Several species have been completely extirpated. marine life and some are on the brink of extinction. In the second half of the 20th century, due to the massive discharge of industrial waste into the waters of the Pacific Ocean, there was a threat of extinction not only of living organisms, but also of aquatic vegetation. Nuclear weapons tests caused great damage to the ecology of the reservoir.

Only in the 1980s did the world community become seriously concerned about the state of the water in the Pacific Ocean. There are strict restrictions on waste disposal. But this did not improve the situation. In the northern part of the reservoir formed whole island from plastic waste, with a length of 80 km, which is increasing every year. The flora and fauna of the Pacific Ocean also suffers due to disasters, as a result of which huge volumes of oil are poured into the reservoir.