The deepest ocean trench in the world. Deep-sea basins of the World Ocean. What is the Mariana Trench

Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench- an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest known on Earth geographical objects.
The depression stretched along Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7–9°) slopes, and 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 on the border of the junction of two tectonic plates, in the fault movement zone where the Pacific Plate goes under the Philippine Plate.

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).

This is not the only case of a collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench. Something similar happened to the German research vehicle "Hyfish" with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the malfunction, 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, biting its teeth into a bathyscaphe, tried to crack it like a nut. Having come to their senses, the crew activated a device called an "electric gun". The monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss.

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

Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were found:
- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure),
- from protozoa - foraminifera (a detachment of protozoa of the subclass of rhizopods with a cytoplasmic body dressed in a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);
- from multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.

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

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.

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 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

This absolute depth got its name thanks to the nearby Mariana Islands. 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 Mariana Trench- this is the deepest place of this kind) Its slopes are steep, on average about 7-9 °, and the bottom is flat, from 1 to 5 kilometers wide, and divided by rapids 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!

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 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 next explorers of the Mariana Trench were already Soviet scientists - in 1957, during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel Vityaz, they not only announced maximum depth depression equal to 11,022 meters, but also established the existence of life at depths of more than 7000 meters, thereby refuting the then prevailing idea of the impossibility of life 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

On January 23, 1960, the first and only human dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was carried out. Thus, the only people who have been “at the bottom of the Earth” were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard.

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

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 sensational discovery- at the bottom they found flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder !

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

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.

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 ...

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.

Thanks to modern technologies, the researchers managed to capture a few representatives Mariana Trench I invite you to get to know them :)

So, now we know that different octopuses live in the Marianas Depths

Scary and not so scary fish)

And various other obscure creatures :)

Perhaps not much time is left before the moment when technology will allow you to get to know the inhabitants in all their diversity. Mariana Trench and others ocean depths but so far we have what we have

Not far from Japan, in the depths of the sea, the deepest trench in the world's oceans, the Mariana Trench, hid. This geographical feature got its name due to the islands of the same name located nearby. Scientists call this phenomenon the "Fourth Pole", along with the South, North and the highest point on the planet - Mount Everest.

Geolocation

The coordinates of the Mariana Trench are 11°22` north latitude and 142°35` east longitude. coastal islands the trench surrounds for a length of more than 2.5 thousand km, and a width of about 69 km. In its form, it resembles English letter V, widened at the top and narrowed at the bottom. This formation was the result of the impact of the boundaries of tectonic plates. The maximum depth of the world ocean in this place is 10994 (plus or minus 40 m).

Rice. 1. Mariana Trench on the map

Compared to Everest, the largest depression is farther from the surface of the Earth than the largest high peak. The mountain has a length of 8848 m, and climbing it was much easier than overcoming the incredible pressure, plunging into the abyss of the sea.

The deepest place in the Mariana Trench is the Challenger Deep point, which means “Challenger Deep” in English. It was first explored by a British ship of the same name. They recorded a depth of 11521m.

First studies

The most deep point The world ocean was conquered only in 1960 by two daredevils: Don Walsh and Jacques Picard. They dived on the Trieste bathyscaphe and became the first people in the world to descend first to a depth of 3,000 meters, and then to 10,000 meters. The bottom mark was recorded as early as 30 minutes after the dive. In total, they spent about 3 hours at a depth, and froze significantly. After all, in addition to the huge pressure, there is also a low water temperature - about 2 degrees Celsius.

Rice. 2. Mariana Trench in section

In 2012, famous director James Cammeron (“Titanic”) conquered the deepest trench, becoming the third person on Earth to descend this far. It was the most important expedition, during which unique photo and video materials were obtained, as well as bottom samples were taken. Contrary to popular belief, at the bottom is not sand, but mucus - a product of processing the remains of fish bones and plankton.

Flora and fauna

The underwater world of the largest crack has been studied very poorly. It was first discovered that life in this part of the Earth is possible in 1950. Then Soviet scientists suggested that some of the simplest creatures managed to adapt in chitinous pipes. The new family was named pogonophores.

What have we learned?

We learned which part of the Earth is the deepest. This is the Mariana Trench. The deepest point is the Challenger Abyss (11,521 m). The first expedition to the bottom ended successfully in 1960. In conditions of pitch darkness, pressure and constant toxic fumes, a special world with their unique animals and protozoa. It is very difficult to say what the world of the Mariana Trench really is, because it has only been studied by 5%.

Topic quiz

Report Evaluation

Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 149.

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

In shape, the Mariana Trench resembles a grandiose crescent - 2550 km long and 69 km wide. The deepest point - 10994 m below sea level - is called the "Challenger Abyss".

Discovery and first observations

The Mariana Trench began to explore the British. In 1872, the Challenger sailing corvette entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean with scientists and the most advanced equipment of those times. After taking measurements, we set the maximum depth - 8367 m. The value, of course, differs markedly from the correct result. But this was enough to understand: the deepest point was discovered the globe. So the next riddle of nature was “challenged” (translated from English “Challenger” - “challenging”). Years passed, and in 1951 the British carried out "work on the mistakes." Namely: a deep-sea echo sounder recorded a maximum depth of 10863 meters.

Then the baton was intercepted by Russian researchers who sent the Vityaz research vessel to the area of the Mariana Trench. In 1957, with the help of special equipment, they were not only able to fix the depth of the depression, equal to 11022 m, but also established the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. Thus, making a small revolution in scientific world the middle of the 20th century, where there was a strong opinion that there are no such deeply living beings and cannot be. This is where the fun begins ... Many stories about underwater monsters, huge octopuses, crushed into a cake by huge paws of animals, unprecedented bathyscaphes ... Where is the truth, and where is the lie - let's try to figure it out.

Secrets, riddles and legends

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

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

In 1996, the New York Times published a shocking story about equipment from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger diving into the Mariana Trench. The spherical apparatus for deep-sea travel was affectionately nicknamed the “hedgehog” by the team. Some time after the start of the dive, the instruments recorded terrifying sounds, reminiscent of the grinding of metal on metal. The “Hedgehog” was immediately raised to the surface, and they were horrified: the huge steel structure was crushed, and the strongest and thickest (20 cm in diameter!) Cable seemed to be sawn. There were many explanations immediately. Some said that these were the "tricks" of the inhabitants natural object monsters, others leaned towards the version of the presence of an alien mind, and still others believed that there were mutated octopuses! True, there was no evidence, and all assumptions remained at the level of conjecture and speculation ...

Same mysterious case happened with a German research team that decided to launch the Highfish apparatus into the waters of the abyss. But for some reason he stopped moving, and the cameras impartially showed on the monitor screens an image of the shocking size of the lizard, which was trying to gnaw through the steel "thing". The team was not taken aback and by an electric discharge from the device “scared away” an unknown beast. He sailed away, and did not appear again ... It remains only to regret that for some reason those who came across such unique inhabitants of the Mariana Trench did not have the equipment that would allow them to be photographed.

In the late 90s of the last century, at the time of the "discovery" by the Americans of the monsters of the Mariana Trench, the "fouling" of this geographical feature legends. Fishermen (poachers) talked about glows from its depths, lights running back and forth, various unidentified flying objects emerging from there. Crews of small ships reported that ships in the area were "towing at great speed" by a monster with incredible strength.

Confirmed testimonies

Depth of the Mariana Trench

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

Found giant shark tooth

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

This find allows us to be sure that not all megalodons died out two million years ago. Perhaps the waters of the Mariana Trench hide these incredible predators from human eyes? Research continues, the depths are still fraught with many unsolved mysteries.

Features of the deep sea world

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

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

The temperature in the Mariana Trench is also very favorable - from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. The "black smokers" took care of that. Being the antipode of "white smokers", hydrothermal springs contain a large amount of ore substances, and therefore they are dark in color. These springs are located here at a depth of about 2 kilometers and spew water, the temperature of which is about 450 degrees Celsius. I immediately recall the school physics course, from which we know that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. So what's going on? Does the spring spew boiling water? Fortunately, no. It's all about the colossal pressure of water - it is 155 times higher than on the surface of the Earth, so H 2 O does not boil, but pretty much "warms up" the waters of the Mariana Trench. The water of these hydro thermal springs incredibly saturated with various minerals, which also contributes to the comfortable habitation of living beings.

Incredible Facts

How many more mysteries and incredible miracles is fraught with this incredible place? A bunch of. At a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano is located here, which served as another proof that life originated here, at the deepest point on the globe. In the crater of the volcano, under water, there is a lake of the purest molten sulfur. In this "cauldron" sulfur seethes at a temperature of 187 degrees Celsius. The only known analogue of such a lake is located on Jupiter's moon Io. There is nothing else like it on Earth. Only in space. It is no wonder that most of the hypotheses about the origin of life from water are associated with this mysterious deep-sea object in the Pacific Ocean.

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

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

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Research continues

Everything secret and unknown has always attracted a person. And with each secret revealed, there were no fewer new mysteries on our planet. All this fully applies to the Mariana Trench.

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

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

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

During his stay at the deepest point not only of the oceans, but of the entire Earth, James Cameron did not meet any scary monsters, or representatives of extinct animal species, or alien bases, not to mention some incredible miracles. The feeling that he was completely alone here was a real shock. The ocean floor seemed deserted and, as the director himself said, "lunar ... lonely." The feeling of complete isolation from all mankind was such that it was beyond words. However, he still tried to do it in his documentary. Well, the fact that the Mariana Trench is silent and shocking with its emptiness should probably not be surprising. After all, she simply sacredly keeps the secret of the origin of all life on Earth ...

most deep depression The world ocean is considered to be the Mariana Trench (or the Mariana Trench). between Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Sea, the trench was first measured in 1875 and got its name from the Mariana Islands.

Numerous studies and measurements have established that the deepest point of the World Ocean is at a level of 10,994 m and has the name "Challenger abyss" (after the name of the corvette of the same name, which first explored the trench). The length of the trench is about 1500 km. Despite such a significant depth and extent, there are no signs of the presence of the Mariana Trench under the ocean water on the surface. Every year, hundreds of ships make commercial voyages from Japan to Australia, as well as from North America to the Philippines, pass over it unhindered.

The whole history of mankind is an ongoing research. Considering that 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by the little-studied World Ocean medium depth 3.7 km., there are still a lot of secrets and mysteries that mankind has not yet unraveled.

On this moment The most studied and deepest underwater plain is the Abyssal Plain. Its depth varies from 2 to 6 km. Only with the use of modern equipment has it become possible to study the landscape of the plain. In addition, hundreds of volcanoes and mountain ranges, formed as a result of the movement of ancient tectonic plates, remain unexplored under the thickness of oceanic waters. Landscape depressions at the bottom of the oceans, having a depth of more than 6 kilometers, are commonly called trenches. Similar trenches are found in all the oceans of the Earth, but their maximum accumulation is in the Pacific.

The main difficulty associated with the study of the flora and fauna of such extreme depths is associated with an insufficient level of development of technology. To take samples from the bottom of depressions, plains and trenches, the "capture" method is used. This method is quite economical, but the pressure at such colossal depths reaches 108.6 MPa (1072 times higher than atmospheric pressure), which necessitates the use of the most durable materials.

So, one of the latest studies of the Mariana Trench was made in March 2012 by the American film director James Cameron. A single-seat bathyscaphe was used to take samples of living organisms and rocks, as well as to take photos and videos. « Deepsea Challenger» (see photo above), which reached a depth of 10,908 meters.

In areas of more active thermal springs, coral polyps that live at sufficient depth grow up to 1.5 meters with meter tentacles, while their relatives from shallower depths have a growth of about 10 centimeters. Currently, the study of the Mariana Trench continues. Scientists claim that about 2-5% of the filling of the bottom of the deepest place on the planet has been investigated.