Life in the Mariana Trench. Depth of the Mariana Trench

In our article, we want to talk about the mysterious Mariana Trench. This is the deepest point on the surface of the Earth. By and large, this is where our knowledge of this place ends. But the Mariana Trench, the monsters that live in it - is eternal and assumptions. Her secrets are as deep as she is.

The first mystery of the Mariana Trench

One of the mysteries of the cavity is its depth. Until recently, it was believed that the Mariana Trench, so it is more correct to call this place from a scientific point of view, has a depth of more than eleven kilometers. However, the latest modern technical measurements give a value of 10994 kilometers. Although, it is worth noting that this value is very relative, since diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench is a technically very difficult event, which is influenced by many factors. Scientists talk about a possible error of forty meters.

Where is the Mariana Trench located?

The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Guam and Micronesia. Its deepest point is called the Challenger Abyss and is located 340 kilometers from

Answering the question of where the Mariana Trench is located, it is possible to give its exact geographical coordinates - 11 ° 21 ′ s. w. 142 ° 12 ′ in e. This place got its name due to the fact that it is located nearby that are part of a state such as Guam.

What is the Mariana Trench?

What is the Mariana Trench? The ocean carefully conceals its true size. One can only guess about them. This is not just a “very deep hole”. The gutter itself stretched along the seabed for one and a half thousand kilometers. The cavity has a V-shape, that is, from above it is much wider, and narrowing of the walls goes down.

The bottom of the Mariana Trench is characterized by a flat relief, and the width varies from 1 to 5 kilometers. Its upper part is eighty kilometers wide.

This place is one of the most inaccessible in our land.

Is it necessary to explore the hollow?

It seems that life at such depths is simply impossible. Therefore, it makes no sense to study such an abyss. However, the secrets of the Mariana Trench have always interested and attracted researchers. It’s hard to believe, but space today is easier to explore than such depths. Many people visited the Earth, and only three brave men plunged to the bottom of the gutter.

Gutter study

The first to explore the Mariana Trench, the British began. In 1872, the Challenger ship with scientists entered the Pacific Ocean to study the gutter. It was found that this point is the deepest on the globe. Since then, the mysteries and creatures of the Mariana Trench have been haunting people.

Time passed, research was conducted, a new depth value was established - 10863 meters.

Research is carried out by lowering deep-sea vehicles. Most often these are unmanned automatic vehicles. And in 1960, at the Trieste bathyscaphe, Jacques Picard and Don Walsh descended to the very bottom. In 2012, he ventured to Jace Cameron on the apparatus of Deepsea Challenger.

Russian researchers also studied the Mariana Trench. In 1957, the Vityaz vessel headed for the gutter area. Researchers not only measured the depth of the gutter (11022 meters), but also discovered the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. This event made a revolution in the world of science in the mid-twentieth century. At that time it was believed that at such depths there can be no living things. This is where all the fun begins. How many stories and legends exist about this place - just do not count. So what exactly is the Mariana Trench? Are monsters really living here or are they just fairy tales? Let's try to figure it out.

Mariana Trench: monsters, puzzles, secrets

As we mentioned earlier, the first brave daredevils to descend to the bottom of the hollow were Jacques Picard and Don Walsh. They came down on a heavy bathyscaphe called Trieste. The wall thickness of the structure was thirteen centimeters. She was sunk for five hours. Reaching the deepest point, the researchers managed to stay there for only twelve minutes. Then immediately began the rise of the bathyscaphe, which took three hours. No matter how amazing this may seem, living organisms were discovered at the bottom. The fish of the Mariana Trench are flat creatures similar to flounders, no more than thirty centimeters long.

In 1995, the Japanese descended into the abyss. And in 2009, a miracle machine called Nereus descended to the deepest point. He not only took a series of photos, but also took soil samples.

In 1996, the New York Times published materials on the next dive of the apparatus from the Challenger research vessel. It turns out that when the equipment began to be lowered, after a while the devices recorded a strong metal rattle. This fact caused the immediate rise of equipment to the surface. What the researchers saw stunned them. The steel structure was pretty dented, and the thick, sturdy cable was like a file. Here is such an unexpected surprise presented by the Mariana Trench. Whether the monsters were so crushed by the technique or by representatives of an alien mind, or mutated octopuses ... A variety of proposals were made, each of which was more incredible than the previous one. However, no one found the true reason, since there was no evidence of any of the theories. All assumptions were at the level of fantastic conjecture. But the secrets of the Mariana Trench are still not revealed.

Another mysterious story

Another incredibly mysterious incident occurred with a team of German researchers, who sank to the bottom of their device called "Highfish". At some point, the device stopped diving, and the cameras installed on it gave an image of the enormous size of a lizard, which was actively trying to gnaw at an unknown thing. The team drove the monster away from the device using an electric discharge. The creature was frightened and swam away and never appeared again. It is unfortunate that such events were not recorded by the apparatus, so that there was irrefutable evidence.

After this incident, the Mariana Trench began to acquire new facts, legends and speculation. The ship’s teams kept reporting on a huge monster in these waters, which towed ships with great speed. It has become difficult to make out where the truth is and where is the speculation. The Mariana Trench, whose monsters haunted many people, still remains the most mysterious point on the planet.

Indisputable facts

Along with the most incredible legends regarding the Mariana Trench, there are very specific, but incredible facts. They have no doubt, because they are supported by evidence.

In 1948, lobster hunters (Australian) told of a large transparent fish that was at least thirty meters long. They saw her in the sea. Judging by their description, it looks like a very ancient shark (a species of Carcharodon megalodon), which lived several million years ago. Scientists from the remains managed to restore the appearance of a shark. The monstrous creature was 25 meters long and weighed one hundred tons. Her mouth was two meters in size, and each tooth was at least ten centimeters. Just imagine this monster. It was the teeth of such a creature that were discovered by oceanologists at the bottom of the vast Pacific Ocean. The youngest of them is at least eleven thousand years old.

This unique find makes it possible to assume that not all such creatures became extinct a couple of million years ago. Perhaps, at the very bottom of the cavity, these incredible predators are hiding from human eyes. Research into the mysterious depths continues to this day, because the abyss is fraught with many secrets, to the disclosure of which people have not yet come close.

At the bottom of the trench, living organisms are under tremendous pressure. It would seem that under such conditions nothing living can exist. However, this opinion is erroneous. Mollusks live quietly here, their shells do not suffer from pressure at all. They are not affected even by hydrothermal sources emitting methane and hydrogen. Incredible, but true!

Another mystery is the hydrothermal spring called Champagne. Carbon bubbles bubble in its waters. This is the only such object in the world and it is located in the hollow, which gave scientists an occasion to talk about the possible origin of life in water in this place.

In the Mariana Trench there is a volcano Daikoku. In its crater there is a lake of molten sulfur, which boils at a huge temperature of 187 degrees. Nowhere else on earth can you meet such a thing. The only analogue of such a phenomenon is in space (on Jupiter’s satellite called Io).

Amazing place

Giant single-celled amoeba live in the Mariana Trench, whose dimensions reach ten centimeters. They live next to destructive for living things uranium, lead, and mercury. However, they not only do not die from them, but also feel great.

The Mariana Trench is the greatest miracle on earth. It combines all inanimate and living. Everything that kills life under ordinary conditions, at the bottom of a depression, on the contrary, gives strength to living organisms. Isn't that a miracle? How much more is unknown about this place!

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

The shape of the Mariana Trench resembles a crescent of enormous size - 2550 km long and 69 km wide. The deepest point - 10994 m below sea level - is called the "Challenger Void".

Discovery and first observations

The Mariana Trench began to explore the British. In 1872, the Challenger sailing corvette with scientists and the most advanced equipment of the time entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean. After measuring, we set the maximum depth - 8367 m. The value, of course, is noticeably different from the correct result. But this was enough to understand: the deepest point of the globe was discovered. So the next mystery of nature was “challenged” (in translation from English “Challenger” - “challenging”). Years passed, and in 1951, the British carried out "work on mistakes." Namely: a deep-sea echo sounder recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters.

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

Mysteries, riddles and legends

The first daredevils who ventured to plunge to the "bottom of the Earth", were US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard. They plunged into the bathyscaphe "Trieste", which was built in the Italian city of the same name. A very heavy construction with thick 13-cm walls was immersed at the bottom for five hours. Having reached the lowest point, the researchers stayed there for 12 minutes, after which an ascent, which took about 3 hours, was immediately started. At the bottom were found fish - flat, like a 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 automatic underwater vehicle “Nereus”: 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 shocking material about the immersion of equipment in the Mariana Trench from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger. Spherical apparatus for deep-sea travel the team affectionately nicknamed the "hedgehog." Some time after the start of the dive, the instruments recorded terrifying sounds resembling the rattle of metal on metal. The hedgehog was immediately raised to the surface, and was horrified: the huge steel structure was crumpled, and the sturdy and thick (20 cm diameter!) Cable seemed to be sawn. There were many explanations immediately. Some said that these were "tricks" of monsters inhabiting a natural object, others were inclined to the version about the presence of an alien mind, and still others believed that mutated octopuses could not do without! True, there was no evidence, and all assumptions remained at the level of conjecture and speculation ...

A similar mysterious incident occurred with a German research team that decided to lower the Highfish apparatus into the waters of the abyss. But for some reason, he stopped moving, and the cameras impartially displayed on the monitor screens an image of the shocking size of a lizard, which was trying to gnaw through a steel “contraption”. The team was not at a loss and “scared away” an unknown beast by the electric discharge from the apparatus. 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 lacked equipment to photograph them.

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 object with legends began. Fishermen (poachers) spoke about the glow from its depths, the lights running back and forth, various unidentified flying objects floating up from there. Teams of small ships reported that the vessel in this area was "towing with great speed" a monster with incredible strength.

Confirmed Evidence

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

In 1918, Australian lobster fishers talked about a transparent white fish about 30 meters in length, which 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, 100 tons in weight and an impressive two-meter mouth with 10 cm teeth each. You can 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!

This finding allows us to be sure that not all megalodons became extinct two million years ago. Perhaps the waters of the Mariana Trench hide these incredible predators from human eyes? Research continues, the depths still conceal many unsolved secrets.

Features of the deep sea

The water pressure at the lowest point of the Mariana Trench is 108.6 MPa, that is, 1072 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. A vertebrate simply cannot survive in such monstrous conditions. But, oddly enough, the mollusks took root here. How their shells withstand such a colossal water pressure is not clear. Discovered mollusks are an incredible example of "survival." They exist next to 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 sources emit a deadly gas for mollusks - hydrogen sulfide. But the "cunning" and life-hungry mollusks learned to process hydrogen sulfide into protein, and continue, as they say, to live happily in the Mariana Trench.

Another incredible mystery of a deep-sea object is the Champagne hydrothermal spring, named after the famous French (and not only) alcoholic beverage. It's all about the bubbles that "boil" in the waters of the source. Of course, this is by no means the bubbles of your favorite champagne - it is liquid carbon dioxide. Thus, the world's only underwater source of liquid carbon dioxide is located in the Mariana Trench. Such sources are called “white smokers”, their temperature is below ambient temperature, and around them there are always vapors similar to 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. "Black smokers" took care of this. The hydrothermal springs that are the antipode of the “white smokers” contain a large amount of ore substances, and therefore they are dark in color. These sources 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 a school physics course, from which we know that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. So what is going on? A source spewing boiling water? Fortunately not. The thing is the colossal pressure of the water - it is 155 times higher than on the surface of the Earth, therefore N 2 O does not boil, but it prettyly “heats up” the water of the Mariana Trench. The water of these hydrothermal springs is incredibly saturated with various minerals, which also contributes to the comfortable living environment of living creatures.

Incredible facts

How many more mysteries and incredible miracles does this incredible place hold in itself? A bunch of. At a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano is located here, which served as further evidence that life originated here, at the deepest point of the globe. In the crater of the volcano, under water, is a lake of pure molten sulfur. In this "boiler", sulfur boils at a temperature of 187 degrees Celsius. The only known analogue of such a lake is located on the satellite of Jupiter - Io. There is nothing like this on Earth. Only in space. It is not surprising that most hypotheses about the origin of life from water are associated with this mysterious deep-sea object in the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean.

Let us recall a school biology course. The simplest living things are amoeba. Tiny, unicellular, they can only be examined under a microscope. As it is written in the textbooks, they reach a length of half a millimeter. In the Mariana Trench, giant toxic amoebas 10 centimeters long were discovered. Can you imagine that? Ten centimeters! That is, this unicellular living creature can be perfectly seen with the naked eye. Isn't this a miracle? As a result of scientific research, it was found that the amoeba acquired such gigantic single-celled sizes for its class, adapting to "unsweetened" life at the bottom of the sea. Cold water, coupled with its colossal pressure and the absence of sunlight, contributed to the "growth" of amoebas, which are called xenophiophores. The incredible ability of xenophiophores is pretty surprising: they 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 nonliving 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 sufficient detail and is not of particular interest - it is covered with a layer of viscous mucus. There is no sand there, there are only the remains of crushed shells and plankton that have been lying there for thousands of years, and due to water pressure they have long turned into thick grayish-yellow mud. But only the bathyscaphe of researchers, descending here from time to time, violates the calm and measured life of the bottom of the sea.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Research continues

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

At the end of 2011, researchers discovered unique natural stone formations resembling bridges in it. Each of them stretched from one end to the other for as much as 69 km. Scientists had no doubt: it is here where tectonic plates - Pacific and Philippine plates come in contact, and stone bridges (there are four in all) formed at their junction. True, the very first of the bridges - Dutton Ridge - was opened in the late 80s of the last century. He was impressed then with its size and height, which were from a small mountain. At its highest 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 Titanic movie, plunged into the Mariana Trench. The unique equipment and powerful cameras installed on his DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe made it possible to remove the majestic and desolate "bottom of the Earth." It is not known how long he would have watched the local landscapes without some problems on the device. 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 film “Challenge the Abyss”. In his story of immersion, he called the bottom of the cavity "the boundary of life." Emptiness, silence, and - nothing, not the slightest movement or agitation of water. Neither sunlight, nor mollusks, nor algae, nor even sea monsters. But this is only at first glance. In the samples of bottom soil that Cameron took, 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 cavity, a shrimp-like amphipod is also discovered, producing a unique chemical substance that is being tested by scientists as a vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.

During his stay at the deepest point not only of the oceans, but of the whole Earth, James Cameron did not meet any scary monsters, or representatives of extinct animal species, or an alien base, 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 of humanity was such that beyond words. However, he still tried to do this in his documentary. Well, and the fact that the Mariana Trench is silent and shocking with its desert is probably not surprising. After all, she simply sacredly keeps the secret of the origin of all life on Earth ...

We all in childhood read many legends about the incredible sea monsters that inhabit the ocean floor, always knowing that these are just fairy tales. But we were wrong! These incredible creatures can be found even today, if you sink to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth. What the Mariana Trench hides and who its mysterious inhabitants are, read in our article.

The deepest place on the planet is the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench  - It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean near Guam, east of the Mariana Islands, from which its name came. In its shape, the gutter resembles a crescent moon with a length of about 2550 km and an average width of 69 km.

According to the latest depth Mariana Trench  It is 10 994 meters ± 40 meters, which even exceeds the highest point on the planet - Everest (8 848 meters). So this mountain could well be placed at the bottom of the depression, moreover, about 2,000 meters of water would still remain above the top of the mountain. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure.

Man only sank to the bottom twice   Mariana Trench. The first dive was on January 23, 1960 by US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard at the Trieste bathyscaphe. They stayed at the bottom for only 12 minutes, but even during that time they managed to meet flat fish, although by all possible assumptions life at this depth should have been absent.

The second human dive was on March 26, 2012. The third person who touched secrets Mariana Trench  became a filmmaker James Cameron. He immersed himself in the single-seat Deepsea Challenger and spent enough time there to take samples, take pictures and film in 3D. Later, the footage he shot formed the basis of the documentary for the National Geographic Channel.

Due to strong pressure, the bottom of the cavity is not covered with ordinary sand, but with viscous mucus. For many years, the remains of plankton and crushed shells accumulated there, which formed the bottom. And again, because of the pressure, almost everything at the bottom Mariana Trenchturns into fine grayish-yellow thick dirt.

Sunlight never hit the bottom of the trough, and we expect the water to be icy there. But its temperature varies from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. IN Mariana Trench  at a depth of about 1.6 km are the so-called "black smokers", hydrothermal springs that shoot water up to 450 degrees Celsius.

Thanks to this water in Mariana Trench  life is maintained, as it is rich in minerals. By the way, despite the fact that the temperature significantly exceeds the boiling point, the water does not boil due to very strong pressure.

At a depth of 414 meters, there is the Daikoku volcano, which is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on the planet - a lake of pure molten sulfur. In the solar system, this phenomenon can only be found on Io, the satellite of Jupiter. So, in this "boiler" the seething black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. So far, scientists have not been able to study it in detail, but if in the future they can advance in their research, they may be able to explain how life appeared on Earth.

But the most interesting in Mariana Trench  - these are its inhabitants. After it was established that there is life in the hollow, many expected to find incredible sea monsters there. For the first time, an expedition of the Glomar Challenger research vessel was confronted with something unidentified. They lowered a device, the so-called "hedgehog" with a diameter of about 9 m, made in the NASA laboratory from beams of heavy-duty titanium-cobalt steel.

Some time after the start of the descent of the apparatus, the sound-recording device began to transmit some kind of metal rattle to the surface, resembling the grinding of saw teeth on metal. And on the monitors appeared obscure shadows resembling dragons with several heads and tails. Soon, scientists were worried that a valuable device could forever remain in the depths of the Mariana Trench and decided to raise it to the ship. But when they removed the hedgehog from the water, their surprise only intensified: the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the steel 20-cm cable on which it was lowered into the water was half sawn.

However, perhaps this story was too embellished by newspaper men, since later on researchers discovered there very unusual creatures, but not dragons.

Xenophiophores - giant, 10-centimeter amoeba that live at the very bottom Mariana Trench. Most likely, due to strong pressure, lack of light and relatively low temperatures, these amoebas have acquired huge dimensions for their appearance. But in addition to their impressive size, these creatures are also resistant to many chemical elements and substances, including uranium, mercury and lead, which are deadly to other living organisms.

Pressure in M the arian trenchturns glass and wood into powder, therefore only creatures without bones or shell can dwell here. But in 2012, scientists discovered a clam. How he preserved his shell is still not known. In addition, hydrothermal sources emit hydrogen sulfide, which is fatal to mollusks. However, they learned how to bind a sulfur compound to a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.

And that's not all. Below you can see some of the inhabitants Mariana Trench  which scientists managed to capture.

Mariana Trench and its inhabitants

While our eyes are directed to the sky to the unsolved mysteries of the cosmos, an unsolved mystery remains on our planet - the ocean. To date, only 5% of the world's oceans and secrets have been studied. Mariana Trench  this is only a small part of the secrets that are hidden under the water.

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. In these little-known depths, living creatures are hiding, the appearance of which is as monstrous as the conditions of their habitation.

The Mariana Trench is called the “fourth pole of the Earth”

The Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the west of the Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographic object known on Earth. Studies of the Mariana Trench were laid by the expedition ( december 1872 - May 1876) of the English ship Challenger ( Hms challenger), who conducted the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted corvette with sailing equipment was rebuilt into 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 Bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by French explorer Jacques Picard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh, reached the deepest point of the ocean floor - the Challenger abyss, located in the Mariana Trench and named after the English ship Challenger, from which the first data were received in 1951 about her.

Bathyscaphe Trieste before the dive, January 23, 1960

The dive lasted 4 hours 48 minutes and ended at 10,911 meters relative to sea level. At this terrible depth, where the monstrous pressure of 108.6 MPa ( which is more than 1100 times more than normal atmospheric) flattening all living things, the researchers made a major oceanological discovery: they saw two 30-cm-long fish resembling a flounder swimming past a porthole. Prior to this, it was believed that at depths exceeding 6000 m, no life exists.

Thus, an absolute record was set for the depth of immersion, which cannot be surpassed even theoretically. Picard and Walsh were the only people who visited the bottom of the Challenger abyss. All subsequent dives to the deepest points of the oceans, for research purposes, were already made by unmanned robotic bathyscaphes. But there were not so many of them, since “visiting” the Challenger abyss is both laborious 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 dump radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The fact is that Jacques Picard experimentally refuted the opinion that was prevailing at that time that there was no upward movement of water masses at depths over 6000 m.

In the 90s, three dives were made by the Japanese Kaiko apparatus, which was controlled remotely from the “mother” vessel via fiber-optic cable. However, in 2003, when exploring another part of the ocean, a steel towing cable broke during a storm and the robot was lost. The Nereus submarine catamaran became the third deep-sea vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

In 2009, mankind 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 oceans - the American deep-sea vehicle Nereus descended into the Challenger failure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The device took soil samples and conducted underwater photo and video shooting at a maximum depth, illuminated only by its LED spotlight. During the current dive, Nereus’s 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 11,022 meters obtained by the Soviet oceanographic vessel Vityaz during the 1957 expedition is still shown. All this indicates the inaccuracy of the measurements, and not about a real change in depth: no one carried out the 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, part of the so-called Pacific volcanic ring of fire, stretching over 40 thousand km, the region with the most frequent eruptions and earthquakes in the world. The deepest point of the gutter is the Challenger Abyss, named after the English ship.

The inexplicable and the incomprehensible has always attracted people, so scientists all over the world want to answer the question: What lies in its depths the Mariana Trench?»

Inexplicable and incomprehensible always attracted people

For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis insanity that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean showed that in these depths, well below the 6,000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms, pogonophores, a type of marine invertebrate animal living in long chitinous tubes open at both ends.

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

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

- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);

   - of the protozoa — foraminifera (a group of protozoa of the subclass of the roots in the cytoplasmic body wearing a shell) and xenophiophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);

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

There is no sunlight at the depths, no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?

Studies have shown that there is life at a depth of over 6,000 meters

Food sources of deep animals - bacteria, as well as 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 photofluorides; in other forms, the surface of the body or its parts glows. Therefore, the appearance of these animals is just as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them are the frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures of two meters in length, which have not yet been identified at all.

Despite the fact that scientists have taken a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, questions have not diminished, new riddles have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss is able to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future? We will follow the news.

Today we will talk about the deepest oceanic place on the planet - the Mariana Trench and its deepest point - "Challenger Abyss".

“The Mariana Trench (or the Mariana Trench) is an oceanic deep-sea trench in the west of the Pacific Ocean, the deepest known on Earth. Named by the nearby Mariana Islands.

The deepest point of the Mariana Trench - "Challenger Abyss" (Eng. Challenger Deep). It is located in the southwestern part of the basin, 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 deepest point of the hollow, called the "Challenger Deep" (Eng. Challenger Deep) is located further from sea level than Mount Everest - above it. "

From school, many people know that the depth of the Mariana Trench is 11 km, and this is the deepest place on the planet.  However, with a slight amendment - the deepest of the known. That is, theoretically, even deeper troughs may exist ... but they are still unknown. Even the highest mountain in the world - Everest - successfully fit into the gutter and still have a place.

The Mariana Trench is rich in records and titles: it is famous not only for its depth, but also for its mystery, terrible inhabitants of the underwater depths, “monsters” protecting the earth’s bottom, secrets, uncharted, pristine, darkness, etc. In general - Cosmos inside out is the bottom of the Mariana Trench. There are versions that life was buzzing in the Mariana Trench.

MARIANA TRENCH. Riddles  Mariana  Troughs:

The video shows and tells that at such a huge depth, the pressure is higher than from powder gases when fired from a hunting rifle, about 1100 times more than atmospheric pressure: 108.6 MPa (Mariana Trench - bottom) 104 MPa (powder gases). Glass, wood under such conditions turn into powder.

Still, it is not clear then how there is life and ominous underwater monsters about which legends go?

The length of the gutter along the Mariana Islands is 1.5 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.

"The depression is located at the border of the docking of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along the faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate."

The opening of the Mariana Trench took place in 1875:

“The first measurements (and discovery) of the Mariana Trench were made in 1875 from the British three-masted corvette Challenger (“ Challenging ”). Then, using a deep-water lot, a depth of 8367 meters was established (with repeated measurement - 8184 m).

In 1951, an English expedition on the Challenger research vessel, using an echo sounder, recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters. ”

In 1951, this point was given the name Abyss of Challenger.

Later, during several expeditions, the depth of the Mariana Trench was found to be more than 11 km, the last measurement (end of 2011) recorded a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m):

“According to the results of measurements taken in 1957 during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel Vityaz (supervisor Aleksey Dmitrievich Dobrovolsky), the maximum depth of the gutter is 11,023 m (updated data, the initial depth was 11,034 m).

On January 23, 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Picard dived on the Trieste bathyscaphe. They recorded a depth of 10,916 m, which also became known as the “depth of Trieste”.

The Japanese Kaiko unmanned submarine in March 1995 collected soil samples at this location and recorded a depth of 10,911 m.

On May 31, 2009, an Nereus unmanned submarine took soil samples at this location. Collected sludge for the most part consists of foraminifera. With this dive, a depth of 10 902 m was recorded.

More than two years later, on December 7, 2011, researchers at the University of New Hampshire published the results of an immersion in an underwater robot that recorded sound depths of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m) using sound waves. ”

And yet, despite many obstacles, difficulties, and dangers, three people in the entire history of the Mariana Trench have managed to reach the bottom, naturally, being in special devices. On March 26, 2012, director James Cameron, on the Deepsea Challenger, single-handedly reached the bottom of the Abyss.

The plot of the First channel "James Cameron - Immersion at the bottom of the Mariana Trench":

And here is Jace Cameron’s film “Challenging the Abyss 3D | Journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench”:

The film was created in conjunction with National Geographic, created in a documentary format. Before some of his box-office creations (like “Titanic”), the director also sank to the bottom of the depths to the place of events, and before his “visit” to the Mariana Trench in 2012, many were waiting for either a grandiose masterpiece, or a video with monsters living in the darkness of the ocean .

The documentary film, but most importantly, Cameron did not see giant octopuses, monsters, "leviathans", many-headed creatures there, although for the first time he spent more than three hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. There were small marine derivatives of no more than 2.5 cm ... but there weren’t any creatures that were outlandish, flat, huge, biting a steel cable, although he had not been there for 12 minutes.

To questions about whether the director saw any terrible creature at the bottom of the hollow, he answered: “Probably everyone would like to hear that I saw some sea monster, but he was not there ... There was nothing alive, more than 2- 2.5 cm. "

The public reaction to Cameron's film about the Abyss was mixed. To some, the picture seemed boring and could not be compared with his works like Titanic, Avatar, someone said that the film is real and in its “tediousness” the way of interaction of one of the seven billion people on the planet and shown the deepest abyss.

From the reviews for the film:

“Of course, the content of the film is hardly exciting. Most of the time the viewer spends in endless tedious meetings and tests in the laboratory. But I believe that this difficult and long journey from a dream to its realization must have been shown. It is he who most of all inspires to work for the sake of his idea. ”

I mentioned the film precisely because the path that led the director to create creation is the basis for the interaction of the secrets of nature and mortal man.

People are frightened and attracted by the unknown, rebellion, depth, danger, mortality, mystery, eternity, loneliness, independence of the depths, distant, heights of nature. And the name of the film - “Challenging the Abyss ...” - is naturally not without reason: at a certain stage of development of potential, a person either wants to touch the unknown, or even forget about his existence, to live the everyday life.

Cameron, with the capabilities and zeal, decided to take this jump into the depths. This is the desire to step on a step close to God, and pride, and to perpetuate the abyss in oneself and to perpetuate oneself in the abyss, realizing the mortality of matter and much more.

Drop in, many are interested, some from curiosity, some from nothing to do. But units will risk coming close.

Let us recall the famous saying of F. Nietzsche: “If you peer into the abyss for a long time, the abyss will begin to peer into you”, or another translation: “For a person who looks into the abyss for a long time, the abyss begins to live in the eyes”, or the full text of the quote: “Who fights with monsters, he should beware so that he himself does not become a monster. And if you look long into the abyss, then the abyss also looks into you. " Here we are talking about the dark sides of the soul and the world, if you attract evil - evil will attract you, although there are many options for interpretation.

But the very words "abyss", "abyss" mean something dangerous, dark, akin to the source of dark forces. Around the Mariana Trench there are a lot of legends, legends far from good, who just couldn’t come up with: monsters live there and monsters of unclear etiology can swallow deep-sea research apparatuses with and without people, gnaw 20-centimeter cables, and terrible devilish creatures in hell scurry between the deep black waves, terrify extremely rare guests-people, and in circles discussing the deepest gutter there are versions that people lived here who knew how to breathe under water, and almost life began here t. e. People want to see in this abyss of darkness. And, in general, they see her ...

Before the conquest of the Mariana abyss, Cameron did this in 1960:

  “On January 23, 1960, Jacques Picard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh dived into the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,920 meters at the Trieste bathyscaphe. The dive took about 5 hours, and the time spent at the bottom was 12 minutes. It was an absolute record of depth for manned and unmanned vehicles.

Two researchers then discovered at a terrible depth only 6 species of living creatures, including flat fish up to 30 cm in size. "

The monsters were frightened of James Cameron, either they didn’t have the mood to pose for the camera that day or there really was nobody there - it would remain a mystery, however, during the previously completed underwater expeditions, including without the participation of people, various life forms, fish, had been discovered nowhere seen, strange creatures, creatures that look like monsters, giant octopuses. But let’s not forget that “monsters” are just unexplored beings on everything.

Several times without the people descended into the depths of the Mariana Trench (with people only two times), for example, on May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic submersible sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. According to measurements, it sank 10,902 meters below sea level. At the bottom, Nereus shot a video, took some photos, and even collected sediment samples at the bottom.

Here are some photos of those who were met in the depths of the Mariana Trench expedition chamber:

In the photo the bottom of the Mariana Trench:

  “The riddle of the Mariana Trench. Great secrets of the ocean. " Ren-TV program.

Still, it remains a big secret that there, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench ... We are frightened by monsters in absentia, but in reality no one, in particular Cameron, who spent 3 hours at the bottom of the gutter, found strange objects there ... silence ... depth ... eternity.

And the most important questions are “how can monsters live there, if there is enormous pressure at the bottom, there is no light, oxygen ??”. The answer of scientific experts:

“The inexplicable and incomprehensible has always attracted people, so scientists all over the world so want to answer the question:“ What is hidden in the depths of the Mariana Trench? ”

Can living organisms dwell at such a huge depth, and what should they look like, given the fact that huge masses of ocean water pressure on them exceeds 1100 atmospheres?

The difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of creatures living at these unimaginable depths are enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis insanity that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero.

However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean showed that in these depths, well below the 6,000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophors ((ogonophora; from the Greek. Pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animal living in long chitin tubes open at both ends).

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

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

- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);

- of the protozoa — foraminifera (a group of protozoa of the subclass of the roots in the cytoplasmic body wearing a shell) and xenophiophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);

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

There is no sunlight at the depths, 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?

Food sources of deep animals - bacteria, as well as 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 photofluorides; in other forms, the surface of the body or its parts glows.

Therefore, the appearance of these animals is just as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them are the frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures of two meters in length, which have not yet been identified at all.

Despite the fact that scientists have taken a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, questions have not diminished, new riddles have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss is able to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future? ”

The Mariana Trench, given the fact that this is the most famous deep point on the planet, is too little studied, people flew into space ten times more, and we know more about space than about the bottom of the 11-kilometer trench. Probably all ahead ...