For everyone and about everything. Deep sea diving: the most significant achievements in history

On January 23, 1960, a year before Yuri Gagarin's flight into space, a grand event happened: Jacques Picard (Switzerland) and Don Walsh (USA) plunged in the Trieste bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, to its deepest point - the Challenger Abyss ( Challenger Deep). It took 52 years before a similar dive was carried out by an apparatus under the control of one person. In March 2012, American director James Cameroon made a successful dive into the Challenger Deep. Read more.

Space has become more accessible to us than the depths of the oceans of our planet. In the entire history of ocean exploration, a person has reached the maximum depths only twice, and both times the dives were organized under the US flag.

At the moment, a Russian-Australian project is being developed to create a deep-sea vehicle for two pilots. The project is being implemented under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society. Pilots Artur Chilingarov and Fedor Konyukhov plan not only to reach the bottom of the depression, but also to stay there for 48 hours in order to conduct scientific experiments, including taking soil samples from two tectonic plates (Philippine and Pacific) that form this depression. The width of the depression is from 2 to 5 kilometers

The project belongs to the highest category in terms of complexity. In the entire history of the development of the World Ocean, two vehicles have plunged into the Mariana Trench:

Trieste (1960) Switzerland-USA.
Deep Sea Challenger (2012). USA.

The Russian project aims not only to touch the bottom of the deepest basin of the World Ocean, but also to spend 48-50 hours there, covering dozens of nautical miles and conducting unique research.

Bathyscaphe is created based on two people (pilot and scientist) with the participation of the Australian company Ron Allum Deepsea Services. The company was founded by leading specialist in the creation of deep-sea vehicles Ron Allum. Ron has been exploring the oceans with deep-sea submersibles for over 40 years.

In 1983, he led an expedition to explore the deepwater Cocklebiddy Cave off the coast of Australia. As part of that expedition, the team managed to dive to 6,250 meters and set a world record.

Since 2001, Ron has been working with American director James Cameron on the filming of Titanic. Then the Russian deep-sea vehicles Mir-1 and Mir-2 were used in the work. The immersion limit of these devices is 6 thousand meters. The depth of the Mariana Trench is 11 thousand meters.

At the same time, James Cameron had the idea to create a deep-sea vehicle capable of diving into the Mariana Trench. In 2005, Ron Allum was involved in the design of a unique deep-sea vehicle. The dive took place in March 2012.

To date, only a few countries have scientific deep-sea vehicles:

Russia - apparatus "Mir-1" and "Mir-2". Capable of diving to depths of up to 6,000 meters

France - Nautile apparatus, diving limit up to 6,000 meters

Japan - "Shinkai-6500", plunged to 6,527 meters

In 2012, China's Jiaolong submersible successfully dived to a depth of 7,000 meters in the Pacific Ocean.

The tests took place in the Mariana Trench. The device overcame a depth of 7 thousand 15 meters, which was a record for China. During the dive, three oceanologists were in the apparatus. The Jiaolong deep-sea submersible was created by the Research Institute No. 702 of the Chinese Shipbuilding Industry Corporation as part of the so-called "Project 863" - a deep-sea submersible development program.

China has become the fifth country in the world, after the United States, France, Russia and Japan, to have the technology to submerge crewed vehicles to a depth of more than 5,000 meters.

Although Mir-1 and Mir-2 are called Russian, neither Russian nor Soviet industry has ever produced deep-sea vehicles. The same Mirs were ordered by the USSR from the Finnish Rauma-Repola Oceanics.

Due to the enormous pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the working group will have to solve problems in four main areas:

production of material for the hull;
creation of a habitable gondola for pilots;
creation of a ballast system;
sources of electricity.

Based on the experience of past dives, it is planned that the device will have a vertical design and will be lowered under water under the load of ballast. The device will rotate around its axis during the dive. Rotation gives the apparatus an optimal hydrodynamic position, allowing it to dive strictly vertically, without deviating from a given trajectory. The weight of the ballast is about 500 kg. The ballast will be dumped at the bottom of the ocean, before surfacing. The steel ballast is attached with electromagnets and resets at the push of a button. There is a fallback option for ballast release - the galvanic connection of the ballast and the deep-sea vehicle begins to break down after a certain number of hours of being under water, which ultimately leads to the release of ballast.

The float will be made of syntactic IsoFloat foam, which has the necessary pressure resistance and positive buoyancy. The foam is developed by the Australian company McConagy Boats (also built a sailing trimaran for Helen MacArthur). Syntactic foam is used in the marine and aerospace industries where strong, lightweight cores are required. The use of IsoFloat foam will eliminate the heavy metal hull, allowing more useful equipment to be placed on board.

Engines. The device will have 12 horizontal engines to move along the ocean floor at a speed of up to 3 knots.

Gondola. The pilots will be in a thick-walled titanium sphere attached to the hull with polyester straps. While in the gondola, the pilot controls the instruments of the device. The life support system consists of two liquefied oxygen cylinders. This volume will enable the team to work 50 hours underwater. The carbon dioxide will be removed from the gondola using a scrubber.

The device will be equipped with two manipulator masts for collecting soil and biosamples, as well as several HD video cameras, 2D and 3D cameras for shooting small inhabitants of the depths.

Project budget. Design and construction of a deep-sea vehicle for two researchers - 12 million US dollars.

The Mariana Trench stretches along the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean for 1500 km. It has a V-shaped profile, steep (7-9°) slopes, a flat bottom 1-5 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times higher than 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.

Wall Street trader reaches bottom of Atlantic in bid to conquer five oceans. www.theguardian.com

For the first time, man reached the deepest point of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Mariana Trench is one of the most famous places on the planet. But this does not prevent him from being the keeper of secrets and mysteries. What is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and which of the living creatures is able to withstand these incredible conditions?

The unique depth of the planet

The bottom of the Earth, the abyss of the Challenger, the deepest place on the planet ... What titles were given to the little-studied Mariana Trench. It is a V-shaped bowl with a diameter of about 5 km with steep slopes located at an angle of only 7-9 ° and a flat bottom. According to measurements in 2011, the depth of the trench is 10,994 km below sea level. It is hard to imagine, but Everest, the highest mountain on the planet, can easily fit in its depths.

The deep sea trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. The unique geographical point got its name in honor of the Mariana Islands located in the immediate vicinity. Along them, it stretched for 1.5 km.

This amazing place on the planet was formed as a result of a tectonic fault, where the Pacific plate partially overlaps the Philippine one.

Secrets and mysteries of the "Womb of Gaia"

There are many secrets and legends around the little-studied Mariana Trench. What is hidden in the depths of the gutter?

Japanese scientists who have been studying goblin sharks for a long time claim that they saw a gigantic creature while feeding predators. It was a 25-meter shark that came to feed on goblin sharks. It is assumed that they had the good fortune to see a direct descendant of the megalodon shark, which, according to the official version, died out 2 million years ago. In support of the fact that these monsters could well have survived in the depths of the gutter, scientists have provided giant teeth found at the bottom.

The world knows many stories about how corpses of unknown giant monsters were found thrown out by the waters on the shores of nearby islands.

An interesting case is described by the participants in the descent of the German bathyscaphe "Highfish". At a depth of 7 km there was a sudden stop of the self-propelled vehicle. To find out the reason for the stop, the researchers turned on the searchlights and were horrified by what they saw. In front of them was a prehistoric deep-sea lizard that was trying to chew through an underwater vessel. The monster was scared away only by a tangible electrical impulse from the outer skin of the self-propelled vehicle.

Another inexplicable incident occurred during the sinking of an American deep-sea vessel. At the moment of lowering the apparatus on titanium cables, the researchers heard the rattle of metal. To find out the reason, they removed the apparatus back to the surface. As it turned out, the ship's beams were bent, and the titanium cables were practically sawn through. Which of the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench tried their teeth remained a mystery.

Amazing Gutter Dwellers

The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa. This parameter is more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. It is not surprising that for a long time people believed that there was no life at the bottom of the trough in the icy cold and unbearable pressure.

But in spite of everything, at a depth of 11 kilometers, there are deep-sea monsters that have managed to adapt to these terrible conditions. So who are these representatives of the animal world, who have successfully mastered the deepest place on the planet and feel comfortable within the walls of the Mariana Trench?

sea slug

These amazing creatures, living at a depth of 7-8 km, in appearance are more reminiscent of not the “surface” fish we are used to, but rather tadpoles.

The body of these amazing fish is a jelly-like substance, the density parameter of which is slightly higher than water. This feature of the device allows sea slugs to swim with minimal energy costs.

The body of these deep-sea inhabitants is predominantly dark in color from pink-brown to black. Although there are also colorless species, through the transparent skin of which muscles are visible.

The size of an adult sea slug is only 25-30 cm. The head is pronounced and strongly flattened. A well-developed tail is more than half the length of the body. A powerful tail and well-developed fins are used by the fish for locomotion.

Jellyfish traditionally live in the upper water layers. But bentocodon feels comfortable at a depth of about 750 meters. Outwardly, the amazing inhabitant of the Mariana Trench resembles a red flying saucer D 2-3 cm.

Bentocodon feeds on unicellular and crustaceans, which exhibit bioluminescent properties in the depths of the sea. According to marine biologists, the red coloring was donated by nature to these jellyfish for the purpose of camouflage. If they had a transparent color, as their high waters gather, then when swallowing the crustaceans glowing in the dark, they would immediately become noticeable to larger predators.

macropina barrel-eye

Among the amazing inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, an unusual fish called the small-mouthed macropina arouses genuine interest in itself. She is awarded by nature with a transparent head. The eyes of the fish, located deep inside the transparent dome, can rotate in different directions. This allows the side eye to search in all directions without moving, even in dim and diffused light conditions. False eyes located at the front of the head are actually organs of smell.

The laterally compressed body of the fish is shaped like a torpedo. Thanks to this structure, it is able to "hang" in one place for several hours. To give the body acceleration, the macropin simply presses the fins to the body and begins to actively work with the tail.

A cute animal that lives at a depth of 7 thousand meters, is the deepest octopus known to science. Due to the wide bell-shaped head and sweeping elephant "ears", it is often called the Dumbo octopus.

The deep-sea creature has a soft semi-gelatinous body and two fins located on the mantle, interconnected by wide membranes. The octopus carries out soaring movements above the bottom surface due to the work of the siphon funnel.

Soaring along the seabed, he looks out for prey - bivalve molluscs, worm-like animals and crustaceans. Unlike most cephalopods, Dumbo does not peck at its prey with its beak-like jaws, but swallows it whole.

Small fish with bulging telescopic eyes and huge open mouths live at a depth of 200-600 meters. They got their name for the characteristic shape of the body, resembling a cutting tool equipped with a short handle.

Hatchet fish living in the depths of the Mariana Trench have photophores. Special luminous organs are located in the lower half of the body in small groups along the abdomen. By emitting diffused light, they create an anti-shadow effect. This makes hatchets less visible to bottom-dwelling predators.

Osedax Bone Eaters

Among those who live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench are polychaete worms. They reach a length of only 5-7 cm. As food, osedax use substances contained in the bones of dead marine life.

By secreting an acidic substance, they penetrate the skeleton, extracting from it all the microelements necessary for life. Tiny bone eaters breathe through fluffy processes on the body that can extract oxygen from the water.

Of no less interest is the way these creatures adapt. Males, whose size is ten times smaller than females, live on the body of their ladies. Inside the dense gelatinous cone framing the body, up to a hundred males can simultaneously coexist. They leave their shelter only at the moments when the female prey finds a new source of food.

active bacteria

During the last expedition, Danish scientists found colonies of active bacteria at the bottom of the trench, which are of great importance in maintaining the carbon cycle of the ocean.

It is noteworthy that at a depth of 11 km, bacteria are 2 times more active than their counterparts, but living at a depth of 6 km. Scientists explain this by the need to process the colossal volumes of organic material that fall here, sinking from shallower depths, and as a result of earthquakes.

underwater monsters

The vast thickness of the ocean in the Mariana Trench is filled with not only cute and harmless creatures. The deep monsters leave the most indelible impression.

Unlike the above-mentioned inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, the needlefish has a very formidable appearance. Its long body is covered with slippery scaleless skin, and its terrible muzzle is "decorated" with huge teeth. The monster lives at a depth of 1800 m.

Since the sun's rays practically do not penetrate into the depths of the gutter, many of its inhabitants have the ability to glow in the dark. Iglorot is no exception.

On the body of the fish there are photophores - glow glands. Their deep-sea dweller uses them for three purposes at once: to protect against large predators, communicate with their own kind, and bait small fish. During hunting, the needleworm also uses a special mustache - a luminous thickening. A potential victim takes a luminous strip for a small fish and, as a result, she falls for the bait herself.

Fish are amazing not only in appearance, but also in their way of life. She got the nickname "angler" for a remarkable process on her head filled with bioluminescent bacteria. Attracted by the glow of the "fishing rod", a potential victim swims up to a close distance. The angler can only open his mouth to meet her.

These deep sea predators are very voracious. To accept prey that exceeds the size of the predator itself, the fish is able to stretch the walls of its stomach. For this reason, in the event of an anglerfish attacking a prey that is too large, both may die as a result.

The predator has a very unusual appearance: a long body with short fins, a frightening muzzle with a giant beak-like nose, huge jaws retracting forward and unexpectedly pink skin.

Biologists believe that a long outgrowth in the form of a beak is necessary for a predator to find food in pitch darkness. For such an unusual and even terrible appearance of a predator, the goblin shark is often called.

It is noteworthy that goblin sharks do not have a swim bladder. This is partially offset by an enlarged liver, which can weigh up to 25% relative to the body.

You can meet a predator only at a depth of at least 900 m. It is noteworthy that the older the individual, the deeper it will live. But even adults of goblin sharks cannot boast of impressive size: body length is on average 3-3.5 m, and weight is about 200 kg.

frilled shark

This dangerous creature that lives in the depths of the Mariana Trench is rightfully considered the king of the underwater world. The most ancient species of sharks has a serpentine body, covered with folded skin. The gill membranes intersecting in the throat area form a wide bag from the skin folds, outwardly resembling a wavy cloak 1.5-1.8 meters long.

The prehistoric monster has a primitive structure: the spine is not divided into vertebrae, all the fins are concentrated in one area, the caudal fin consists of only one mouth. The main pride of the cloaked man is his mouth, dotted with 3 hundred teeth arranged in several rows.

Land Unknown: Mariana Trench

Despite the fact that humanity has stepped far ahead, a large amount of technology has appeared that allows us to accomplish the seemingly impossible, there are such 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.

The Mariana Trench (or the Mariana Trench) is an 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 the highest mountain of our planet, Everest, can easily fit in the depths of the Mariana Trench, and more than a kilometer of water will remain above it 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 ranges 2.5 kilometers high were discovered, crossing the surface of the Mariana Trench at the point of contact of the Pacific and Philippine lithospheric plates.

One of the researchers commented on this as follows: “In this place, the geological structure of 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, and the rapidly developing world of technological progress allows you to penetrate deeper and deeper into the secret world of 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 a sensational discovery - at the bottom they found flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder!

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

On May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic underwater vehicle (see Nereus, ancient Greek mythology) sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. 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 ...

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. At the highest 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 these formations were discovered in one of the most mysterious and unexplored places is amazing.

Deep ocean trenches (troughs) are one of the most typical elements of the relief of the transition zone between the mainland and the ocean. They are a long narrow depression of the ocean floor with a depth of more than 6000 m. They are usually located on the outer, oceanic, side of the ridges of island arcs. The deepest trenches are in the Pacific Ocean. The deepest is the Mariana Trench - up to 11022 m.

The Mariana Trench is a narrow depression in the western Pacific Ocean, stretching along the Mariana Islands for almost 1,500 km, with its center at 15°N. and 147°30′ E It has a V-shaped profile, slopes steep at 7-9°, a flat bottom 1-5 km wide, divided by rapids into several closed depressions with a depth of 8-11 km. The maximum depth - 11022 m - is located in the southern part, measured by the Soviet research vessel "Vityaz" in 1957; it is also the greatest depth of the oceans.

The Mariana Trench is a type of peripheral trench. These are trenches located along the periphery of the oceans. This type of trenches is widespread in the Pacific Ocean, limited in the Indian Ocean, and strongly localized in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. They are usually parallel to island arcs and young coastal mountains and tend to have a highly asymmetric transverse profile. On the ocean side, trenches of this type adjoin the deep ocean floor, and on the opposite side, an island ridge or a high mountain range. The excess of the crests of mountain ranges or island ridges above the deep-water bottom can be more than 17 km.

Studies of the Mariana Trench were initiated by an expedition (December 1872 - May 1876) of the English ship Challenger (HMS Challenger), which 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.

"Vityaz" in Kaliningrad on the eternal parking

Also, a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana Trench was made by Soviet researchers. In 1958, an expedition on the Vityaz established the existence of life at depths of more than 7000 m, thereby refuting the then prevailing idea that life was impossible at depths of more than 6000-7000 m. In 1960, the Trieste bathyscaphe was immersed to the bottom Mariana Trench to a depth of 10915 m.

Half a century ago, on January 23, 1960, a significant event took place in the history of the conquest of the oceans. Bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by the French explorer Jacques Piccard (Jacques Piccard, 1922–2008) and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, reached the deepest point of the ocean floor - the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench and named after the English the vessel "Challenger", from which in 1951 the first data about it were received.

The dive lasted 4 hours 48 minutes and ended at 10911 m relative to sea level. At this terrible depth, where a monstrous pressure of 108.6 MPa (which is more than 1,100 times greater than normal atmospheric pressure) flattens all living things, the researchers made the most important oceanological discovery: they saw two 30-centimeter fish, similar to 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, for research purposes, were already 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.

Bathyscaphe was named after the Italian city of Trieste, in which 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 this figure was later slightly corrected - 10,918 meters.

The dive took about five, and the rise - about three hours, the researchers spent only 12 minutes at the bottom. But even 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 !

(Piccard Auguste, Piccard) (1884—1962) , Swiss physicist. In flights on stratospheric balloons of his own design, he reached a height 15,780 m (1931) and 16,370 m (1932). On bathyscaphes of his own design, he descended to a depth 1380 m (1948) and 3160 m (1953).)

Bathyscaphe Trieste was designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Picard, taking into account his previous development, the world's first bathyscaphe FNRS-2.

Great help in the construction of the bathyscaphe was provided by his son, Jacques Picard. The device got its name in honor of the city of Trieste, Italy, where the main work on its creation was carried out. Trieste was launched in August 1953 and made several dives in the Mediterranean from 1953 to 1957. Jacques Picard became the main pilot, and his father, who at that time was already 69 years old, also participated in the first dives. In one of the dives, the device reached a record depth of 3150 m at that time.

In 1958, Trieste was bought by the US Navy, since at that time the United States began to show interest in exploring the ocean depths, but did not yet have such devices. After the purchase, the design of the bathyscaphe was finalized - a stronger and more durable gondola was manufactured at the Krupp plant in Essen, Germany. The new gondola turned out to be somewhat heavier, and the float capacity also had to be increased. The main pilot and technician of the apparatus in 1958-1960 remained Jacques Picard, who by that time had extensive diving experience.

Trieste, like other bathyscaphes, was a pressurized spherical steel gondola for the crew, attached to a large float filled with gasoline to provide buoyancy. The main technical characteristics of the device:

The length of the float is 15 m.

Float capacity - 85 mі.

The diameter of the gondola is 2.16 m.

The wall thickness of the gondola is 127 mm.

The weight of the gondola in the air is 13 tons.

The weight of the gondola in the water is 8 tons.

The crew of the bathyscaphe - 2 people.

The Trieste dive proved that the time has come when a person can directly, visually study the world of the bottom depths of the oceans. During this extraordinary expedition, one of the most pressing modern hypotheses about the non-movement of layers of water at great depths was refuted. 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 deepest trench in the World Ocean - the Mariana (11022), it stopped three times, meeting some invisible obstacle. As you know, gasoline plays the same role in a bathyscaphe as hydrogen or helium plays 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.

What prevented the bathyscaphe from descending?

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.

For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at great depths - more than 6000 meters - in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous - from 600 kg / sq. cm and above - pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life can exist. However, the results of studies by French scientists in the Pacific Ocean showed that even in these "hellish depths", far below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms.

And in 1994, the 10.5-ton Japanese bathyscaphe Kaiko sank to a record depth of 11 kilometers! - and during his 35-minute journey along the ocean floor, he photographed the life of marine life where the pressure of water on a living organism is comparable to the overload created by fifty jet planes!

However, in 2003, while exploring another part of the ocean, a towing steel cable broke during a storm, and the robot was lost.

On May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic underwater vehicle sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. According to measurements, he sank 10,902 meters below sea level.

At the bottom, Nereus filmed a video, took some photos, and even collected sediment samples from the bottom.

On May 31, 2009, mankind again reached the deepest point of the Pacific, and indeed of 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.

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

During the current dive, Nereus' instruments recorded a depth of 10,902 meters. The Kaiko, which first landed here in 1995, measured 10,911 meters, while Picard and Walsh measured a value of 10,912 meters. On many Russian maps, the value of 11,022 meters is still given, obtained by the Soviet oceanographic vessel Vityaz during the 1957 expedition. Of course, 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 has repeatedly frightened researchers with 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 start of the descent of the apparatus, the sound-recording device began to transmit some kind of metallic rattle to the surface, reminiscent of the sound of sawn metal. At this time, some indistinct 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 the NASA laboratory from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel, having a spherical structure, 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 retrieved from the depths for more than eight hours, and as soon as it appeared on the surface, they immediately put it on a special raft. The TV camera and echo sounder were raised on 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-cm steel cable on which the “hedgehog” was lowered, the scientists were not mistaken in the nature of the sounds transmitted from the abyss of water - the cable was half sawn. Who tried to leave the device at a depth and why - will forever remain a mystery. Details of this incident were published in 1996 by the New York Times.

The British magazine New Scientist spoke in detail about the mysterious sounds in the depths of the Pacific Ocean detected by the underwater sensors of the American SOSUS tracking system. It was created during the Cold War to monitor Soviet submarines. Experts who studied the data obtained using highly sensitive hydrophones soon isolated a much more powerful sound, clearly emitted by some creature living in the ocean, against the background of noise, which is the "call signs" of various marine life. This mysterious signal, first recorded in 1977, is much more powerful than those infrasounds that large whales, located at a distance of hundreds of kilometers from each other, communicate with each other.

At the bottom of the world's deepest Mariana Trench in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Japanese researchers have discovered 13 species of unicellular organisms unknown to science that have existed unchanged for almost a billion years. Microorganisms were found in soil samples, which in the autumn of 2002 he took there in the so-called. the Challenger fault, the Japanese automatic bathyscaphe "Kaiko" at a depth of 10,900 meters.

In 10 cubic centimeters of soil, a group of specialists led by Professor Hiroshi Kitazato from the Japanese Organization for the Study and Development of the Ocean discovered 449 previously unknown primitive unicellular round or elongated shapes 0.5 - 0.7 mm in size. After several years of research, they were divided into 13 species. All these organisms almost completely correspond to the so-called. “unknown biological fossils” that were discovered in Russia, Sweden and Austria in the 80s in soil layers from 540 million to a billion years old.

Based on genetic analysis, Japanese researchers claim that the unicellular organisms found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench have existed unchanged for more than 800 million, or even a billion years. Apparently, these are the most ancient of all the inhabitants of the Earth now known. According to Professor Kitazato, unicellular organisms from the Challenger Fault were forced to go to extreme depths in order to survive, since in the shallow layers of the ocean they could not compete with younger and more aggressive organisms.

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 is the Mariana Trench hiding in its depths?”

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.

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

Barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);

Of 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);

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

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 frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, unprecedented octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.

From time to time, the ocean throws ashore huge half-decomposed bodies of unknown marine life, reaching a length of 70 meters or more. Nowadays, highly sensitive sensors and sonars have repeatedly recorded the movement of massive bodies of unknown animals at great depths. But so far, no one has ever managed to see these legendary sea monsters with their own eyes.

But if they do exist, then the “fourth pole” is the most appropriate address for their habitat. According to some ichthyologists, due to the presence of active hydrothermal springs at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, there can be entire colonies of prehistoric marine animals that have survived to this day.

In 1918, lobster fishermen from the city of Port Stephens (Australia) saw an amazing transparent white fish 35 meters long in the sea. It was clear that this fish had surfaced from great depths and that its "home" was hidden somewhere out there, in the ocean depths. Many researchers believe that the Mariana Trench hides in its unexplored depths the last surviving representatives of the giant prehistoric shark species Carcharodon megalodon. This monstrous predator lived in the earth's seas 2-2.5 million years ago. Based on the few surviving remains, scientists have recreated the appearance of the megalodon. It was a very impressive creature about 24 meters long, weighing 100 tons, and the width of its mouth, studded with 10-centimeter teeth, reached 1.8-2.0 m - the megalodon could easily swallow a car.

Clickable 10,000 px

Recently, while exploring the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, oceanographers found perfectly preserved megalodon teeth. One of the finds was 24 thousand years old, and the other was even younger - 11 thousand years! So, not all megalodons died out 2 million years ago?

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?

On March 26, 2012, 50 years after the first dive, a man again sank to the bottom of the deepest trench on Earth: the Deepsea Challenge bathyscaphe with Canadian director James Cameron sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Cameron became the third person to reach the deepest point in the ocean and the first to do it alone.

This is the Deepsea Challenge Deep Sea Bathyscaphe, on which James Cameron sank to the bottom of the ocean. It was developed in an Australian laboratory, weighs 11 tons and has a length of more than 7 meters:

The dive began on March 26 at 05:15 am local time. James Cameron's last words were: "Lower, lower, lower."

When diving to the bottom of the ocean, the bathyscaphe turns over and falls vertically down:

The compartment in which Cameron was during the dive is a metal sphere with a diameter of 109 cm with thick walls that can withstand pressures of more than 1,000 atmospheres:

James Cameron spent more than 3 hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, during which he took photos and videos of the underwater world. The result of this underwater journey will be a joint film with National Geographic. The photo shows manipulators with cameras:

However, the underwater expedition was not entirely successful. Due to malfunction metal "hands", controlled by hydraulics, James Cameron was unable to take samples from the ocean floor that scientists need to study geology:

Many were tormented by the question of animals that live at such a monstrous depth. “Probably everyone would like to hear that I saw some kind of sea monster, but it was not there ... There was nothing alive, more than 2-2.5 cm.”

A few hours after the dive, the Deepsea Challenge bathyscaphe with the 57-year-old director successfully returned from the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Let's watch the video of this dive:

This project still exists:

Let's look at the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench:

The pressure at the bottom of the depression is 1100 times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, but living creatures have been found there too. Moreover, earlier scientists could not imagine that even at a shallower depth of 6000 m, life is generally possible. But it is there, though the appearance of the animals that are found there is very unusual compared to the more "civilized" upper animals.

Inhabitants of depths above 10 km. these are long worms (up to 1.5 meters), amphipods, isopods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods. Most of them have photophores used for hunting and communication. The source of food for these animals will be the "rain" of carrion and the simplest microorganisms. When a man was immersed to the bottom of the depression, the crew of the bathyscaphe Trieste I noticed several flat fish, similar to flounder, about 30 cm in size.

If these are really ordinary fish, then the presence of oxygen in the water is necessary for their vital activity. Because at such a depth, the process of photosynthesis is impossible due to the fact that light does not penetrate there and there are no plants, then scientists assume the presence of vertical currents in the Mariana Trench that bring oxygen from above.

Hunters for the inexplicable claim that underwater sensors and sonars have repeatedly recorded the movements of large objects in the Mariana Trench. According to them, some species of large prehistoric animals could continue to exist at such depths. However, 4 dives to the bottom of the trench failed to record any "monsters" and at the moment 20 species of the inhabitants of the trench have been described, among which 13 species of unicellular species taken from the soil by a Japanese swimming apparatus.

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

People have always been attracted to something elusive, some kind of mystery, something that can keep a secret. For example, the highest point of the Earth is Everest or the deepest point in the ocean is the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench). But if about 4 thousand people have already managed to visit Everest, then only three people visited the "bottom of the Earth" - the first dive as part of two people - Don Walsh and Jean Picard in 1960, the next after them was a very famous director who shot such masterpieces like Titanic, Terminator, Aliens, Avatar - James Cameron.

Bathyscaphe "Trieste" - it was on it that people made the first dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench

Facts about the Mariana Trench:

The depth of the trough is 10,994 ± 40 m below sea level, as measured in 2011;
The Mariana Islands, located nearby, gave the name to the deepest point of the Earth;
The trench stretched for one and a half thousand kilometers along these same islands;
The geology of the basin is a large tectonic fault, where one plate comes under another.

The pressure at the bottom is 1100 times greater than at the surface of the Earth, but this does not interfere with life at these depths. It also has its inhabitants who have adapted to live in darkness and under such pressure.

Basically, these are tiny unicellular organisms - Foraminifera:

The size of such living creatures is only 1 mm, although during the first dive of the bathyscaphe in history with people, the researchers noted that they met flat fish, up to 30 cm in diameter, resembling a flounder in appearance.

History of measurements and diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench:

For the first time, the British tried to measure the lowest point of the Earth in 1875, but their lot (a device for measuring depths) reached a depth of just over 8 thousand meters. After 76 years in 1951, another British ship, but interestingly with the same name - the Challenger, using an echo sounder, calculated a depth of 10,863 meters. Since then, the lowest point of the Mariana Trench has been called the Challenger Deep. In 1957, already the Soviet ship "Vityaz" conducted research here and determined the depth of 11,023 meters.

Each new expedition that measured the depth brought its own figures, which differed from the previous ones. Such errors are associated primarily with the properties of water, which can vary depending on the depth.

The latest updated depth information is 10,994 meters with an accuracy of ±40 m.

The first people to visit the bottom of the ocean were explorers Don Walsh and Jacques Picard on January 23, 1960.

"Trieste" - the so-called bathyscaphe on which scientists descended to the ocean depths. The descent took 4 hours 48 minutes, having stayed there for 20 minutes, the bathyscaphe went to the top and the ascent took 3 hours

Bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger on which the director carried out his dive

The next human descent took place 52 years later in 2012. James Cameron is a legendary director, the third person in history to descend to this place, and the first to do it alone. Unlike his predecessors, Cameron spent 6 hours at the bottom and took a number of photographs and high-quality video recordings. The dive took 2 hours and the ascent only 1 hour.

And finally, a video filmed from the Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe, in which James Cameron made his dive.

Video from the Mariana Trench:

I suggest you watch another interesting video from National Geographic from the last dive: