What is the Mariana Trench. Depth of the Mariana Trench. Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

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 most deep point Mariana Trench - "Challenger Abyss". 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 most deep 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!

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 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 research results of scientists in pacific ocean showed that even in 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, open from both tube 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.

Scheme of the formation of the Mariana Trench.
The chute stretched along 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.

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? 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.

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 bridge , 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.

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

The Trieste bathyscaphe, piloted by French explorer Jacques Picard 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 ship Challenger, from which the first data were obtained in 1951 about her.

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 from burial 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.

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);

- 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.

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?

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 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.

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.

The history of the conquest of the deepest point of the World Ocean is inextricably linked with the name Swiss scientist Auguste Picard, physicist and inventor.

Auguste Piccard, born in the family of a chemistry professor, became interested in aeronautics in the 1930s and developed the world's first stratostat - balloon with a spherical sealed aluminum gondola, allowing flights in the upper atmosphere while maintaining normal pressure inside.

On his apparatus, Picard, who by that time was already 47 years old, made 27 flights, reaching an altitude of 23,000 meters.

Swiss scientist, physicist and inventor Auguste Piccard, 1931. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

During his experiments with the stratospheric balloon, Picard realized that the same principles could be used to conquer sea ​​depths. So the Swiss scientist began to work on the creation of an apparatus capable of diving to great depths.

Second World War interrupted the work of Auguste Picard. Despite the fact that Switzerland remained a neutral country, scientific activity at that time was seriously complicated there as well.

Nevertheless, in 1945, Auguste Piccard completed the construction of a deep-sea vehicle, called the bathyscaphe.

Picard's bathyscaphe was a high-strength pressurized steel gondola for the crew, which was attached to a large float filled with gasoline to provide positive buoyancy. For diving, several tons of steel or cast iron ballast in the form of shot were used, held in bunkers by electromagnets. To reduce the rate of immersion and to ascend, the electric current in the electromagnets was turned off, and part of the shot spilled out. Such a mechanism ensured the ascent even in the event of equipment failure, after a certain time the batteries simply discharged - and all the shot spilled out.

Bathyscaphe was named FNRS-2. FNRS stood for the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique), which funded Picard's work.

It is curious that the name FNRS-1 was worn by ... Picard's stratostat. The scientist himself joked about this: “These devices are extremely similar to each other, although their purpose is opposite. Perhaps fate was pleased to create this similarity precisely in order to work on the creation of both devices could one scientist.

Creation of Trieste

The first test dive of the FNRS-2 took place in Dakar on October 25, 1948, and, of course, its creator himself was the pilot of the bathyscaphe. True, no records were set at that time - the device plunged only 25 meters.

Further work with the bathyscaphe was complicated by the fact that the Belgian foundation stopped funding. Auguste Piccard eventually sold the FNRS-2 to the French Navy, whose specialists invited a scientist to build a new model of a bathyscaphe, called the FNRS-3.

The ideas of bathyscaphes, meanwhile, took over the world, and new model intended to build in Italy. In 1952, Auguste Piccard, leaving the FNRS-3 to French engineers, went to Italy to develop and build a bathyscaphe, called Trieste.

Bathyscaphe Trieste. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Trieste was launched in August 1953. Auguste Picard was assisted in the construction of the bathyscaphe by his son, Jacques Picard, who was to become the chief pilot of the new deep-sea vehicle.

In 1953-1957, the Trieste conducted a series of successful dives in the Mediterranean Sea, and even reached a depth of 3100 meters, which was fantastic at that time. In the first dives of the Trieste, along with Jacques Picard, the creator of the bathyscaphe, Auguste Picard, who was 69 years old by that time, also participates.

Project "Nekton"

Trieste's research work required serious investments. Each descent of the apparatus had to be supported by several escort vessels. Picard's bathyscaphe had to be towed to the dive site, since he did not have his own horizontal course.

In 1958, the Trieste was acquired by the US Navy, which showed an interest in exploring the depths of the sea. Together with the apparatus, Jacques Picard also went to America, who was to teach American specialists how to control the bathyscaphe.

The strength inherent in the design of the Trieste made it possible to dive to the maximum depths known in the oceans. At the same time, Jacques Picard himself noted that this is simply not required for most studies, since 99 percent of the ocean floor is located at depths of no more than 6,000 meters. Picard's correctness was confirmed by subsequent history - later deep-sea submersibles, including the well-known Russian "Mir-1" and "Mir-2", were built precisely with the expectation of a depth of about 6000 meters.

However, humanity likes to set maximum goals for itself, so it was decided to send Trieste to conquer the deepest point of the World Ocean - the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, the depth of which reaches 11 km.

Bathyscaphe "Trieste" before diving, January 23, 1960. Photo: Public Domain

This operation, which involved US Navy forces, was codenamed Project Nekton. For its implementation, serious improvements were made to the apparatus, in particular, in Germany, a new, more durable gondola was manufactured at the Krupp plant.

At the end of 1959, the Trieste was delivered to the US naval base on the Pacific island of Guam. During the Second World War, the island was the scene of bloody battles, and by the time the Nekton Project was carried out, at least those who did not consider the war over continued to hide in the jungle.

However, this did not affect the preparation of the historical dive. After several trial descents of 5 km and 7 km (which was already a record for that time), the go-ahead was given to the so-called "Big Dive".

"Big Dive"

Here, however, there was a misunderstanding between Picard and the American side. The Americans said that Picard would not take part in the Big Dive. Perhaps the US Navy felt that the historic achievement should be purely American, not US-Swiss.

Unable to convince his colleagues, Picard gave the last argument - he took out a contract and showed a clause stating that he had the right to participate in "special dives". The fact that a dive to 11 km is a special case, the American representatives did not dispute, and allowed Picard to dive.

Mariana Trench. Photo: wikipedia.org / wallace

Picard himself later recalled that he persisted not just out of a desire to set a record - he dived on the Trieste more than 60 times, while his colleagues from the USA had a minimum number of independent dives.

Trieste was towed to the descent point on the night of January 23, 1960. It was heavy, stormy weather, the bathyscaphe was battered due to rough seas, and Picard had to decide whether to go diving or not. The Swiss gave the go-ahead.

On the morning of January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh began the historical dive. Picard wrote that due to the characteristics of the upper layers of the waters in this place, they spent a lot of time diving to a depth of 300 meters. The speed with which they dived suggested that the dive would last 30 hours, which was absolutely unrealistic. Fortunately, then the speed reached the calculated indicators.

At 13:06 on January 23, 1960, after five hours of diving, Picard and Walsh reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench at around 10,919 meters. According to Picard, the measurement accuracy was plus or minus several tens of meters.

The historic descent of the Trieste solved the question that tormented ocean scientists: can complex organisms live at such a depth. As soon as the apparatus reached the bottom, Picard and Walsh were "greeted" by a fish that looked like a stingray, caught in the bathyscaphe's searchlight. Although Picard's statement was subsequently questioned due to the lack of documentary evidence.

The researchers stayed at the bottom for 20 minutes, after which the apparatus returned to the surface for three hours. There, Picard and Walsh fell into the arms of other participants in the historical project.

The third in the abyss was the creator of "Avatar"

Weather conditions and technical difficulties led to the fact that Picard and Walsh's dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was the only one in the framework of the Nekton Project. And for Jacques Picard himself, it turned out to be farewell - from that moment on, Trieste finally passed into the hands of US Navy specialists, and the Swiss no longer worked with him.

Jacques Picard, in a book on historical immersion, wrote that with reaching the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a person will have nowhere else to set such records - all that remains is to go into space. The scientist was not mistaken: a little more than a year later, April 12, 1961.

The Picard family passion for inventions was passed on to the son of Jacques, Bertrand Picard. In 1999, he became the first person to commit trip around the world at the airport.

Bathyscaphe "Trieste" until 1963 was part of the US Navy, and now is an exhibit of the naval historical center in Washington.

In 2012, director James Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench on the Deepsea Challenger single-seat submersible. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

From 1960 to 2012, no person, except Picard and Walsh, sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 2012, on the single-seat bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger of the bottom of the Mariana Trench James Cameron, creator of "Titanic" and "Avatar". It was on the set of Titanic, diving on the Russian Mir submersibles to the wrecked ship, that the director got carried away deep sea diving. And in the preparation of Cameron's conquest of the bottom of the Mariana Trench, none other than Picard's partner in the historic dive, Don Walsh, participated.

The Mariana Trench (or the common name of the Mariana Trench) is the deepest known place on Earth. Based on recent research data, we can say that the depth of the low place of this trench, called the "Challenger Deep", is 11 kilometers (adjusted for 40 meters). The depression is so named because of the nearby Mariana Islands (which are part of the state of Guam). It is the most distant point from sea level (even further than, the height of which is 8,848 meters).

Geographical position

The Mariana Trench is a deep-sea trench located in the western Pacific Ocean off the coast of Micronesia and Guam. The deepest point in the gutter is Challenger Abyss, is located in the southwestern part, 340 kilometers from the island of Guam in a southwestern direction.

It is very difficult for a simple tourist to get to the place where the Mariana Trench is located, since visiting it requires a full preparation of the expedition, in accordance with all safety rules, and this costs a lot of money. Therefore, it is not surprising that the hollow is visited either by the very rich and famous people(like James Cameron - director of the films Titanic and Avatar), or scientific groups from various countries.

Diving in the Mariana Trench

The first mention of the gutter appeared in 1875, when the corvette British Empire Challenger surveyed the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near the Mariana Islands. Then, with the help of a deep-water lot (an instrument for measuring depth), an approximate depth of 8,137 m was established. this moment located.

Man first managed to visit the bottom of the Mariana Trench in early 1960 (01/23/1960). They were the son of the famous designer and engineer Jacques Picard (father, Auguste Picard, just designed the bathyscaphe, on which the dive was carried out) and Lieutenant of the US Navy Don Walsh.

The second dive was made not by a man, but by a probe of Japanese origin in March 1995 (03/25/1995). Then the device recorded a depth equal to 10,911 meters. After the device was lifted from the water, a large number of living organisms "foraminifers" were found in pieces of silt on it.

The next dive took place on May 31, 2009 by the American Nereus apparatus, which took several photographs at the bottom and collected soil samples.

The last dive you probably heard about took place March 26, 2012 renowned American director James Cameron(directed such films as Titanic and Avatar). The dive was carried out on DeepSea device challenger.

Mysteries of the Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench, if explored, is only 5%. According to recent studies of the trench, its area is about 400,000 square kilometers and the relief resembles mountainous areas of land.

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

1. Mariana Trench

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

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

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

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

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

2. Tonga Trench

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

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

3 Philippine Trench

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

4. Kermadec chute

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

5. Izu-Bonin Trench

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

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

6. Kuril-Kamchatsky Trench

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

7 Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the border of the Atlantic Ocean and caribbean. The maximum depth is 8385 m and it is the deepest place in Atlantic Ocean. The area where the trench is located is a zone of high seismic activity. The last disaster happened here in 2004, when eruptions underwater volcanoes caused a tsunami that hit the countries indian ocean. Recent studies have shown that it is possible that the depth of the trench is gradually increasing due to the fact that the North American tectonic plate- the southern "wall" of the gutter - gradually descends.

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

8. Japanese chute

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

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