What is hidden at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Mariana Trench: monsters, mysteries, secrets
Mariana Trench(or Mariana Trench) is the deepest place on the earth's surface. It is located on the western outskirts Pacific Ocean 200 kilometers east of the Mariana Archipelago.
It’s paradoxical, but humanity knows much more about the secrets of space or mountain peaks than about the depths of the ocean. And one of the most mysterious and unexplored places Our planet is just the Mariana Trench. So what do we know about him?
Mariana Trench - the bottom of the world
In 1875, the crew of the British corvette Challenger discovered a place in the Pacific Ocean where there was no bottom. Kilometer after kilometer the line of the lot went overboard, but there was no bottom! And only at a depth of 8184 meters the descent of the rope stopped. This is how the deepest underwater crack on Earth was discovered. It was called the Mariana Trench, named after the nearby islands. Its shape (in the form of a crescent) and the location of the deepest section, called the “Challenger Deep,” were determined. It is located 340 km south of the island Guam and has coordinates 11°22′ N. latitude, 142°35′ e. d. 
Since then this deep-sea depression has been called the “fourth pole”, “the womb of Gaia”, “the bottom of the world”. Oceanographers for a long time tried to find out its true depth. Research over the years has given different meanings. The fact is that at such a colossal depth, the density of water increases as it approaches the bottom, therefore the properties of the sound from the echo sounder in it also change. Using barometers and thermometers together with echo sounders different levels, in 2011, the depth value in the Challenger Deep was established as 10994 ± 40 meters. This is the height of Mount Everest plus another two kilometers above.
The pressure at the bottom of the underwater chasm is almost 1100 atmospheres, or 108.6 MPa. Most deep-sea vehicles are designed for a maximum depth of 6-7 thousand meters. During the time that has passed since the discovery of the deepest canyon, it was possible to successfully reach its bottom only four times. 
In 1960, the deep-sea bathyscaphe Trieste, for the first time in the world, descended to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Challenger Deep area with two passengers on board: US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard.
Their observations led to an important conclusion about the presence of life at the bottom of the canyon. The discovery of an upward flow of water also had important environmental significance: based on it, nuclear powers refused to bury it at the bottom of the Mariana Trench radioactive waste.
In the 90s, the trench was explored by the Japanese unmanned probe "Kaiko", which brought samples of silt from the bottom in which bacteria, worms, shrimp were found, as well as pictures of a hitherto unknown world.
In 2009, the American robot Nereus conquered the abyss, picking up from the bottom samples of silt, minerals, samples of deep-sea fauna and photos of the inhabitants of unknown depths. 
In 2012, James Cameron, the author of Titanic, Terminator and Avatar, dived alone into the abyss. He spent 6 hours at the bottom, collecting samples of soil, minerals, fauna, as well as taking photographs and 3D video filming. Based on this material, the film “Challenge the Abyss” was created.
Amazing discoveries
In the trench, at a depth of about 4 kilometers, there is an active Daikoku volcano, spewing liquid sulfur that boils at 187 ° C in a small depression. The only lake of liquid sulfur was discovered only on Jupiter’s moon, Io. 
“Black smokers” swirl 2 kilometers from the surface - sources of geothermal water with hydrogen sulfide and other substances that, upon contact with cold water, turn into black sulfides. The movement of sulfide water resembles clouds of black smoke. The water temperature at the point of release reaches 450° C. The surrounding sea does not boil only because of the density of the water (150 times greater than at the surface). 
In the north of the canyon there are “white smokers” - geysers spewing liquid carbon dioxide at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. Scientists suggest that it is in such geothermal “cauldrons” that one should look for the origins of life on Earth. Hot springs “warm up” icy waters, supporting life in the abyss - the temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is within 1-3 ° C. 
Life beyond life
It would seem that in an environment of complete darkness, silence, icy cold and unbearable pressure, life in the depression is simply unthinkable. But studies of the depression prove the opposite: there are living creatures almost 11 kilometers under water! 
The bottom of the hole is covered with a thick layer of slime from organic sediments that have been sinking from the upper layers of the ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. Mucus is an excellent breeding ground for barrophilic bacteria, which form the basis of nutrition for protozoa and multicellular organisms. The bacteria, in turn, become food for more complex organisms. 
The ecosystem of the underwater canyon is truly unique. Living beings have managed to adapt to aggressive, destructive normal conditions environment, with high blood pressure, lack of light, low amount of oxygen and high concentration toxic substances. Life in such unbearable conditions gave many of the inhabitants of the abyss a frightening and unattractive appearance. 
Deep-sea fish have incredibly large mouths lined with sharp, long teeth. High pressure made their bodies small (from 2 to 30 cm). However, there are also large specimens, such as the xenophyophora amoeba, reaching 10 cm in diameter. The frilled shark and goblin shark, which live at a depth of 2000 meters, generally reach 5-6 meters in length. 
Representatives live at different depths different types living organisms. The deeper the inhabitants of the abyss, the better developed their organs of vision are, allowing them to catch the slightest reflection of light on the body of prey in complete darkness. Some individuals themselves are capable of producing directional light. Other creatures are completely devoid of organs of vision; they are replaced by organs of touch and radar. With increasing depth, underwater inhabitants increasingly lose their color; the bodies of many of them are almost transparent. 
On the slopes where the “black smokers” are located, mollusks live that have learned to neutralize sulfides and hydrogen sulfide that are lethal to them. And, which still remains a mystery to scientists, under conditions of enormous pressure at the bottom, they somehow miraculously manage to keep their mineral shell intact. Other inhabitants of the Mariana Trench show similar abilities. The study of fauna samples showed many times higher levels of radiation and toxic substances. 
Unfortunately, deep-sea creatures die due to changes in pressure when any attempt is made to bring them to the surface. Only thanks to modern deep-sea vehicles has it become possible to study the inhabitants of the depression in their natural environment. Representatives of fauna unknown to science have already been identified. 
Secrets and riddles of the “womb of Gaia”
The mysterious abyss, like any unknown phenomenon, is shrouded in a mass of secrets and mysteries. What does she hide in her depths? Japanese scientists claimed that while feeding goblin sharks, they saw a shark 25 meters long devouring goblins. A monster of this size could only be a megalodon shark, which became extinct almost 2 million years ago! This is confirmed by the findings of megalodon teeth in the vicinity of the Mariana Trench, whose age dates back to only 11 thousand years. It can be assumed that in the depths of the hole there are still specimens of these monsters preserved. 
There are many stories about corpses washed ashore giant monsters. When descending into the abyss of the German bathyscaphe "Haifish", the dive stopped 7 km from the surface. To understand the reason, the passengers of the capsule turned on the lights and were horrified: their bathyscaphe, like a nut, was trying to chew some kind of prehistoric lizard! Only by impulse electric current using the outer skin we managed to scare away the monster.
Another time, when an American submersible was diving, the grinding of metal began to be heard from under the water. The descent was stopped. Upon inspection of the raised equipment, it turned out that the titanium alloy metal cable was half sawed (or chewed), and the beams of the underwater vehicle were bent. 
In 2012, the video camera of the Titan unmanned aerial vehicle from a depth of 10 kilometers transmitted a picture of metal objects, presumably a UFO. Soon the connection with the device was interrupted.
Unfortunately, there is no documentary evidence of these interesting facts none, they are all based only on eyewitness accounts. Each story has its fans and skeptics, its arguments for and against. 
Before the risky dive into the trench, James Cameron said that he wanted to see with his own eyes at least part of the secrets of the Mariana Trench, about which there are so many rumors and legends. But he did not see anything that went beyond the knowable. 
So what do we know about her?
To understand how the Mariana underwater gap was formed, it should be remembered that such gaps (trenches) are usually formed along the edges of the oceans under the influence of moving lithospheric plates. Oceanic plates, being older and heavier, “crawl” under continental plates, forming deep gaps at the junctions. The deepest is the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates near the Mariana Islands (Mariana Trench). The Pacific plate is moving at a rate of 3-4 centimeters per year, resulting in increased volcanic activity along both its edges. 
Along the entire length of this deepest failure, four so-called bridges—transverse mountain ridges—were discovered. The ridges were presumably formed due to the movement of the lithosphere and volcanic activity. 
The gutter is V-shaped in cross-section, greatly expanding at the top and narrowing downwards. The average width of the canyon in the upper part is 69 kilometers, in the widest part - up to 80 kilometers. The average width of the bottom between the walls is 5 kilometers. The slope of the walls is almost vertical and is only 7-8°. The depression stretches from north to south for 2,500 kilometers. The trench has an average depth of about 10,000 meters. 
Only three people to date have visited the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 2018, another manned dive to the “bottom of the world” in its deepest section is planned. This time, the famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov and polar explorer Artur Chilingarov will try to conquer the depression and find out what it hides in its depths. Currently, a deep-sea bathyscaphe is being manufactured and a research program is being drawn up.
The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean near the islands of the same name. On the world map there is no deeper, more mysterious and inaccessible place than the well-known and most explored oceanic deep-sea Mariana Trench, considered the lowest and deepest point on our planet.
The Mariana Islands are a territory of the state of Guam and are part of Micronesia. WITH reverse side New Guinea, Japan and the Philippines are located in a semicircle. Geographic coordinates: 11° 21´ northern latitude and 142° 12´ east longitude.
The depth of the failure (otherwise known as the “Challenger Abyss” or “Womb of Gaia”) is 11,022 m. For comparison: the highest mountain peak, Everest, is located 8,848 m above sea level (on the border between Nepal and China).
Depth, width, length of the Mariana Trench
What is known today about the deepest trench in the Pacific Ocean: 
| Depression shape | V-shaped |
| Depth | about 11022 m |
| Gutter width | 70 - 80 km, at the very bottom it can be from 1.5 to 2 km. |
| Length | 2926 km |
| Square | 400,000 sq. km |
| Relief | mostly - mountainous terrain, but there are also flat areas |
| Bottom pressure | 108.6 MPa - exceeds the norm of 1100 atm. |
| Population | there are living organisms in all the deep layers of the trench |
Temperature at the bottom of the depression
At the bottom of the abyss, where they never reach sun rays, positive temperature – from 1° to 4°. This is explained by the presence of hydrothermal vents, called “Black Smokers”. At a level of 1.6 km, they warm the water of the depression with shots of hot jets. The water temperature reaches 450°C.
But powerful pressure prevents it from boiling. Life in the deep cavity is also supported by the high mineral content.
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
There have been several dives in the history of the trench. Despite little knowledge of the fauna in the depression, it became known that it is inhabited by a variety of animals and bacteria.
At the level of 6000 – 11022 km live:
There is no direct evidence of the existence of monsters and alien civilizations in the trench, but there is plenty unexplained facts.
Some types of deep-sea mollusks are much larger than their ordinary counterparts. For example, xenophyophores are giant amoebas measuring 10 cm. You can hardly see ordinary ones with a microscope. Foraminifera, belonging to the order of protozoa, have a semi-liquid body and shell. Mollusks have learned to process sulfur compounds released by “black smokers” into protein.
The population of the depression is resistant to mercury, lead, uranium, and other deadly chemicals. Some inhabitants of the gloomy depths “created” their own lighting elements to attract prey.
Majority predatory fish The Mariana Trench is very different from previously known species. They are frankly terrible: they have terrifying mouths that occupy most of the body, and many long, sparse teeth. This structure is justified by ultra-high pressure and helps survival at great depths. Many of them have spines instead of fins.
Jaw deep sea shark at the moment of absorbing prey, it moves out of its mouth like a drawer from a chest of drawers. But along with ugly and terrible creatures, small cute creatures also live there. unique design.
The inhabitants of the gutter have telescopic or extremely developed visual organs; Some animals have eyes that rotate in all directions. There are some who are completely blind. Swimming there are overgrown 1.5-meter-long worms without a mouth or anus, modified octopuses, never-before-seen starfish, shapeless 2-meter-high animals with soft bodies.
The inhabitants of the depression feed on the remains of biological origin, constantly falling from upper layers ocean, bacteria, organic detritus - organomineral particles.
The most amazing thing is how the inhabitants of the gloomy depths endure supernatural pressure that can flatten metal, turn glass into powder - by 1 square. cm accounts for 3 tons! Every 10 m the pressure increases by 1 atm.
In 2012, a mollusk was found that retained its shell. Before this, it was believed that only boneless and shell-less creatures could live so deep. Later, an explanation for this phenomenon was found: the internal pressure of deep-sea inhabitants corresponds to the pressure in the external environment.
In 2002, with the help of the Kaiko bathyscaphe, soil samples were taken at a depth of 10,900 m. Research carried out by the Japanese in the trench showed the existence of 13 previously unknown species of single-celled organisms. They existed in the soil for more than a billion years without changes.
In the 80s of the last century, 449 unknown single-celled organisms were found in Austria, Sweden, and Russia. They belonged to the primitive era: from 540 million to 1 billion years. The find was compared with ancient organisms found in the Womb of Gaia, and a complete correspondence was revealed.
The inhabitants of the gutter are amazing. For example: fish of the opisthoproctaceae family with a transparent skull, football fish, hatchet fish, monkfish, frilled shark, Dumbo Actopus, Bentocodon jellyfish.
Football fish lives in the Mariana Trench There is evidence that in prehistoric times huge sharks weighing 100 tons, more than 25 m long and a mouth of 2 m lived here - huge teeth and bones were found. Megaladons should have disappeared 2-2.5 million years ago. However, the age of the teeth found in the cavity is much younger - they are a maximum of 24 thousand years old. It is possible that giant sharks preserved and continue to live in inaccessible depths.
The task of studying ocean trenches has been greatly facilitated by the creation of automatic manned underwater vehicles equipped with cameras.
Flora at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis, which does not penetrate deeper than 150 m. At a level of 150-200 m or more, nothing grows.
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench looks like a crescent on the world map. Its deepest point is located 340 m southwest from the state of Guam. In the relief of the Pacific Ocean there are 13 large trenches from 6150 to 11022 m in depth. These are narrow troughs of the ocean floor - very long, with a closed configuration.
The British found a unique depression in 1872. Three years later, the British ship Challenger studied the ocean floor of the trench. Depth measurements showed 8137 m.
More precise measurements The wombs of Gaia were made in 1957. Thanks to the research of the crew of the Vityaz ship of the USSR, barophilic bacteria were found for the first time at a level of more than 7 km. Before this, no one believed that life was possible in deep water. The mark was set at 11034 m. In 1992, the famous ship moored in the center of Kaliningrad, and is now a museum exhibit.
January 1960 was marked by an important event - for the first time, a manned descent into the abyss was made using the Trieste bathyscaphe, built to study the flora and fauna of the trench. It accommodated 2 people - engineer Jacques Piccard from Switzerland and US Navy officer Don Walsh. 
According to Walsh, the submersible was the size of a large refrigerator that could fit two healthy guys. The depth mark set by the crew was 10918 m. The bottom of the trench is covered with slimy mud, consisting of the remains of plankton and crushed shells - everything that falls from above and accumulates over the years.
History of gutter formation
On a world map in prehistoric times, the Mariana Trench would have looked different. Research has shown that its relief was formed about 180 million years ago. The folding of the bottom relief is explained by the continuous process of tectonic plates creeping onto each other over millions of years. 
In the summer of 2010, a detailed study of the base of the trench was carried out. A multibeam echo sounder was used over an area of 400,000 sq. m, which detected more than 4 mountain ranges with a maximum height of 2.5 km. Folds in the form of mountains and bridges cross the depression in the area where the oceanic plate is creeping under the lighter continental one.
Diving in the Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench on the world map has long attracted the attention of scientific researchers.
Project "Nekton"
The development of the underwater vehicle began in 1957. At first it was christened “Bathyscaphe 11000”, then renamed “Archimedes”. But on the initiative of Auguste Piccard (the famous Swiss scientist, physicist - inventor of the stratospheric balloon and bathyscaphe, father of the researcher Jacques Piccard), they decided to modernize the Trieste. In the new gondola, researchers could safely descend to greater depths.
Under the Nekton project in 1960, hydronauts made a series of underwater dives into the Challenger Deep, and eventually reached the bottom, marking 10,919 m - it was a victory - the first time a submersible manned by a man had descended to such a depth. 
The dive went like this: having received water ballast at 8:23 Guam time, the submersible dived 100 m. This took 10 minutes. Having reached the layer cold water, the device is frozen. To continue the descent, we poured out some gasoline. The same thing happened at 130 and 160 m. After 200 m, the gasoline contracted from the cold.
The device continued its descent without delay at a speed of about 0.9 m/s. When we reached 7800 m, we dropped some steel shot. We continued our descent to the bottom at a speed of 0.3 m/s. It was 3.3° Celsius outside and 4.5° in the gondola. At 13:06, the researchers informed the ship's crew that the target had been achieved.
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh stayed at the bottom of the depression for about 20 minutes. and made sure that it was inhabited - flat fish about 30 cm in size, resembling flounder in appearance, swam there.
During the dive, at a depth of approximately 5-6 km of water level, an unknown round object accompanied the bathyscaphe of Jacques and Walsh for several minutes.
It is still unknown what it was - an underwater vehicle of a highly developed civilization, or an ancient animal.
It took 3:27 minutes to lift the device up. To begin ascent within 10 minutes. ballast was dumped. Up to a depth of 6000 m, the bathyscaphe rose at a speed of 0.5 m/s, then the movement accelerated to 0.9 m/s. At a depth of 3000 m, the gasoline expanded again, and the speed increased to 1.5 m/s. The total dive and ascent time was 8 hours 25 minutes.
Submersible "Kaiko"
The Kaiko apparatus was created by JAMSET and, long before diving into the Mariana Trench, was used for research work at depth. Thanks to remote control, the probe made over 250 dives between 1955 and 2003, collecting 350 species of oceanic living creatures, including 180 species of bacteria. 
The Japanese submersible became the second vehicle to reach the base of the abyss. On March 24, 1995, the probe sank to a depth of 10911.4 m - sampling of extremophilic bethnoses showed the presence of foraminifera.
In February 1996, "Kaiko" visited the trench a second time, taking sedimentary soil and microorganisms from the bottom. In May 1998, the device was sent to the Challenger Abyss for crustacean fauna.
The bathyscaphe was used for complex deep-sea work for a long time, until a typhoon hit the Shikoku coast in May 2003 - the cable holding the Kaiko next to the ship was broken, and it was carried into open waters.
Deep-sea submersible "Nereus"
"Nereus" is a small American-made deep-sea submersible, developed by Andy Bowen (Woodshall Institute of Oceanography), and is one of latest achievements humanity. It took 8 years of hard work to prepare it. 
On May 31, 2009, Nereus was lowered to the bottom of the depression. The device reached 10902 m and collected bottom sediments of organisms, I took photos and video material. Valuable footage of photofluoric fish was obtained, emitting light. It was the first drone to visit the Womb of Gaia, and so far it has no competitors. The robot is controlled by pilots on board the research vessel Kilo Moana.
The device has the advantage of being able to operate both with a fine-fiber cable and in free-floating mode. The cable is no thicker than a human hair and does not interfere with maneuverability. The tensile strength of this thin thread is 3.6 kg. The device is not expensive.
It has a “arm” - a manipulator for collecting living organisms and soil, and takes underwater photography. “Lightweight, small, inexpensive and economical” – these were the engineers’ requirements for its design. "Nereus" is 4 times lighter than "Kaiko" and 10 times cheaper. Using a drone will allow you to penetrate into the deepest points of the world's oceans.
The robot was lowered 3 times, gradually increasing the depth. Is it strong enough? After the second dive the first battery had to be replaced. On the third descent, Nereus managed to reach the bottom. The device collected samples, but got caught on a rock. It was difficult to free him using a manipulator. 
Scientists are full of enthusiasm and are going to continue studying the trench. The crew, with the help of Nereus, managed to film a deep-sea polychaete 2 cm long and deliver it to the ship. Pieces earth's crust, raised up, lay directly above the mantle and are unique material For scientific research.
"Deepsea Challenger"
The Mariana Trench on the world map did not leave indifferent the American film director James Cameron, the author of the world famous films “The Abyss”, “Avatar”, “Titanic” and others, who On March 26, 2012, he made his first solo dive aboard the Deepsea Challenge. He became the third person to travel to the Womb of Gaia. 
The interior of the device was thought out in the smallest detail. The shooting was carried out in 3D format. For high-quality photography of the underwater world special attention paid attention to the installation of lighting fixtures
The bathyscaphe reached 10908 meters depth. It’s a pity that the camera lens didn’t catch as many deep-sea inhabitants at the bottom as expected—mostly shrimp and mollusks. Samples of rocks and living organisms were brought up.
In 2013, the National Geographic Channel aired the scientific documentary Deepsea Challenge 3D, which was based on footage taken during James Cameron's dive into the Challenger Abyss.
The descent took 2 hours 36 minutes, the ascent - 1 hour 10 minutes. The researcher spent 4 hours at the bottom of the depression. After surfacing, the bouncing Deepsea Challenge was lifted from the ocean waves by a crane and taken to the ship. 
At the end of the expedition, Jim Cameron met with retired US Navy captain Don Walsh, a member of the 2-man crew who dived into the Mariana Trench for the first time. His partner, engineer Jacques Picard, was no longer alive by that time. Don said he thought it was "a great moment to welcome Jim to the club" where they met.
The Mariana Trench on the world map is known even to schoolchildren. Children know about the possibility of the existence of the kraken and the megaladon, a prehistoric shark.
Here are some reliable facts that happened in the trench and near it:
Secrets of the Mariana Trench
Since life originated in water, the idea of the existence of an underwater civilization is quite acceptable. If so, then the intelligence of these humanoids is millions of years superior to human intelligence.
In 2012, when diving to a depth of 10 km, the Titan apparatus recorded a metallic glow. Next, large objects appeared several tens of meters away. “Titan” came as close as possible to them, and about 50 large cylindrical objects appeared on the scientists’ monitors. 
They filled an area of about 1 km and looked like a UFO. After 1-2 minutes. the objects disappeared, and at the same time the connection on the Titan was lost. Sometimes dead monsters up to 35 meters in size are found on the shore near the Mariana Trench. Scientists believe that the Mariana Trench is the most suitable place for the existence of a colony of prehistoric animals and unearthly civilizations.
Documentaries
A large number of documentaries have been created about the Challenger Abyss. They use video footage filmed during the dive. Also, these films use footage taken in different times about the creators of deep-sea vehicles and crew members.
There are a lot of films from the “Secrets of the Mariana Trench” series. Perhaps not all of them are strictly scientific in nature, but they provide an opportunity to immerse yourself in an unearthly atmosphere, full of secrets, and meet amazing creatures.
Everest and the Mariana Trench, which is called the “fourth pole of the Earth,” constitute the two geomorphological poles (geomorphology - the study of landforms) on the world map. Scientific researchers have high expectations for upcoming dives. New expeditions will launch in 2019 to study the trench. The Russians are preparing the Vityaz drone.
The bathyscaphe inherited its name from a Soviet scientific research vessel, whose crew first proved the existence of life at a depth of 11,022 m. Russian scientists promised a live broadcast from the bottom of the depression. The device consists of 2 parts located 150 m from each other. Around the teardrop-shaped base station, an online broadcast transmission device will be activated.
Article format: Vladimir the Great
Video about the Mariana Trench
Documentary about the Mariana Trench:
The most mysterious and inaccessible point on 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 extends 2926 km in length and 80 km in width. At a distance of 320 km south of the island of Guam there is the deepest point of the Mariana Trench and the entire planet - 11022 meters. In these little-explored depths hide living creatures whose appearance is as monstrous as their living conditions.
The Mariana Trench is called the "fourth pole of the Earth"
The Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographical feature known on Earth. Research of the Mariana Trench was initiated by the expedition ( December 1872 - May 1876) English ship "Challenger" ( HMS Challenger), which carried out the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted corvette with sail rig 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 world's oceans
The bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by French explorer Jacques Piccard 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. On this terrible depths, where the monstrous pressure is 108.6 MPa ( which is more than 1100 times more than normal atmospheric) flattens all living things, the researchers made a major oceanological discovery: they saw two 30-centimeter flounder-like fish swimming past the porthole. Before this, it was believed that no life existed at depths exceeding 6000 m.
Thus it was installed absolute record depth of immersion, which is impossible to surpass even theoretically. Picard and Walsh were the only people who visited the bottom of the Challenger Deep. All subsequent dives to the deepest point of the world's oceans, for research purposes, were made by unmanned robotic bathyscaphes. But there were not so many of them, since “visiting” the Challenger Abyss is both labor-intensive and expensive.
One of the achievements of this immersion, which had a beneficial effect on the ecological future of the planet, was the refusal nuclear powers from the burial of radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The fact is that Jacques Picard experimentally refuted the prevailing opinion at that time that at depths above 6000 m there is no upward movement of water masses.
In the 90s, three dives were made by the Japanese Kaiko device, controlled remotely from the “mother” ship via a fiber-optic cable. However, in 2003, while exploring another part of the ocean, the towing steel cable broke during a storm and the robot was lost. The 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 of the world's oceans.
On May 31, 2009, humanity again reached the deepest point of the Pacific, and indeed the entire world ocean - the American deep-sea vehicle Nereus sank into the Challenger failure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The device took soil samples and took underwater photos and videos at 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 indicates the inaccuracy of the measurements, and not 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 an extremely high zone seismic activity, 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 trench is the Challenger Deep, named after the English ship.
The inexplicable and incomprehensible have always attracted people, which is why scientists around the world want to answer the question: “ What does the Mariana Trench hide in its depths??»
The inexplicable and incomprehensible have always attracted people
For a long time, oceanographers considered the hypothesis that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under tremendous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, to be crazy. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even in these depths, much below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms, pogonophora, a type of marine invertebrate animals that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends.
IN lately The veil of secrecy was lifted by manned and automatic underwater vehicles made of heavy-duty materials, equipped with video cameras. The result was the discovery of a rich animal community consisting of both familiar and less familiar marine groups.
Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were discovered:
- barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);
- from protozoa - foraminifera (an order of protozoa of the subclass of rhizomes with a cytoplasmic body covered with a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);
- from multicellular organisms - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.
At the depths no sunlight, there are no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat?
Research has shown that there is life at depths of over 6,000 meters
The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of “corpses” and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals are either blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluoride; 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 or anus, mutant octopuses, extraordinary 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 researching the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, and 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? We will follow the news.
The height of Everest is 8848 meters. The mountain falls short of the Mariana Trench by more than two kilometers. The bottom of the depression is hidden under the water column. Light does not penetrate there; ordinary sea inhabitants prefer not to dive so deep.
But even in such an inhospitable place there is life. Research has shown that the absence of light and colossal pressure do not kill all organisms. True, those who live at the bottom have a specific appearance. Or maybe the bottom of the depression is inhabited by real monsters who are hiding from human eyes?
Secrets of the Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench was discovered by accident when the crew of the research vessel Challenger was conducting research on the bottom in the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly, near the Mariana Islands, the device sank heavily, pulling on a steel cable. The ship literally hung in the water. Then the rope was increased by a kilometer. And then more. And one more thing. As a result, the Challenger sank eight thousand meters into the water. It was dangerous to lower the device any further: the pressure would crush the structure like a tin can. Eventually, scientists realized that they had discovered the world's deepest point, and they named it the Challenger Deep.
In 1931, people first descended into the Mariana Trench. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Piccard were given a unique mission: to personally determine who actually lives at such depths. The apparatus, whose steel walls reached 13 centimeters in thickness, took five hours to descend. Picard and Walsh “laid” at the bottom for only 12 minutes. But this time was enough to establish that underwater world the depressions are not a sight for the faint of heart.
Picard and Walsh during the dive
The more advanced the devices became, the more frightening information came from the cavity. Some bathyscaphes recorded eerie sounds. Others are strange shadows of huge creatures. As a result, the scientific community was split in two. Some believed that prehistoric monster sharks were hiding in the waters of the trench. Someone, on the contrary, was convinced that the most terrible creatures in the cavity were eyeless flat fish. Who really lives at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
Monsters of the Mariana Trench
In 1996, the Glomar Challenger spherical apparatus plunged into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The researchers nicknamed him the “hedgehog” for his appearance. As soon as the “hedgehog” dropped halfway, the operators “caught” eerie sounds reminiscent of the grinding of metal. The device was immediately raised to the surface. The sides of the steel structure were crushed, as if someone had chewed on it. The 20 centimeter thick steel cable was almost cut through. The researchers came to what they thought was the only conclusion: the “hedgehog” encountered an unknown monster.
In addition, German scientists also claimed that they had encountered the inexplicable. At the beginning of the 2000s, the Highfish apparatus descended into the Mariana Abyss. At some point, the device froze and froze halfway. Cameras began to transmit images directly from the scene. According to the researchers, they saw with their own eyes the dark silhouette of a huge lizard. The creature swam from left to right, taking aim. Then the device began to shake. "Highfish" responded to the attack with an electrical discharge. The shaking ended and the creature disappeared.
Moreover, fishermen fishing in the waters of the Pacific Ocean absolutely agree with scientists. There have been repeated reports from the local population that a huge monster shark is swimming in the waters. The creature reaches a length of 30 meters and has sharp teeth. By the way, such teeth have been repeatedly found on the coast. The average size of each reaches ten centimeters. Scientists have not yet been able to catch the monster. All that is there is a scratched “Hedgehog”, teeth thrown out by the surf and terrible sounds. However, researchers are convinced that Carcharodon megalodon, a dinosaur that ruled the ocean two million years ago, lives at the bottom of the depression.
And if the version with a prehistoric shark still stands up to criticism, then other legends of the Mariana Trench seem incredible. Thus, the scientists who launched the Titan spacecraft in 2012 are confident that they encountered aliens. The device was lowered to take photographs and film the underwater world. However, at some point the cameras recorded strange objects. “Titan” seemed to be “surrounded” by several metal cylinders at once. They hovered motionless in the water. The device floated closer, and the researchers saw that the cylinders were somewhat reminiscent of flying saucers. “Titan” never surfaced, and the ocean swallowed all the records with it. Despite this, scientists are convinced that the Mariana Trench is inhabited by intelligent creatures. Of course, the bottom of the trench is inhabited. But organisms familiar to the Earth live there. Although some are a real miracle of nature.
Real inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
The most interesting and creepy fish specimens are found where light does not penetrate. Darkness gives birth to monsters who had to adapt to this way of life. For example, when hunting, angler fish use a luminous bait attached to a antennae just in front of the fish’s mouth. And in the anglerfish’s mouth there is a palisade of sharp teeth. The stomachs of these monsters stretch perfectly. As a result, they absorb prey that is several times larger than themselves, and then slowly digest it.
Bizarre sharks also live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. For example, the goblin shark lives here, which got its name because of its strange appearance. It is interesting that during all this time we managed to catch or find only 45 specimens. The goblin shark has a unique jaw structure. During the hunt, she is able to throw them forward, catching the victim. The monster then retracts its jaws, along with its prey. The growth on the nose, which is why the creature is nicknamed “goblin,” consists of many electrosensitive cells. Thanks to the growth, the shark perfectly senses prey and quickly determines its location.
It should be noted that deep-sea fish are extremely voracious. This is not due to greed, but to limited resources. The Black Crookshanks, or, as the scientific community calls it, Chiasmodon, is a champion in gluttony. Externally, the fish looks inconspicuous. Its length reaches only 20 centimeters. The live swallower does not have large fins, developed muscles or even scales. But the bones of the fish are extremely elastic. The mouth and stomach of the Crookshanks are also greatly stretched. Thanks to this, the small creature absorbs prey several times larger than itself. And the victim is often still trying to get out.
Almost all inhabitants of the Mariana Trench are predators. Due to the lack of light, the flora in the gutter is very sparse. All that remains for the underwater monsters is to devour each other. This explains why the Mariana fauna is so toothy. In addition, each fish has a unique mechanism for obtaining food. For example, the viper fish can open its mouth more than 100 degrees. To do this, the lower jaw with long teeth moves forward. The viper grabs the victim and literally pushes it into its mouth.
In addition, less toothy animals live at the bottom of the depression, but no less amazing creatures. Appearance fish called macropinna is, to put it mildly, specific. The creature's forehead is transparent. Hidden under a layer of transparent fabric are the eyes, which rotate freely in their beds. The space around the eyes is filled with clear liquid. Thanks to this unusual structure, macropinna sees perfectly in almost complete darkness. Moreover, the fish notices the prey even when it suddenly changes direction: the viewing angle of the eyes is impressive.
In our article we want to talk about the mysterious Mariana Trench. This is the deepest point on the Earth's surface. By by and large This is where our knowledge about this place ends. But the Mariana Trench and the monsters that live in it are an eternal matter of speculation. Her secrets are as deep as she is.
The first mystery of the Mariana Trench
One of the mysteries of the depression is its depth. Until recently, it was believed that the Mariana Trench, as 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 complex event, which is influenced by many factors. Scientists talk about a possible error of forty meters.
Where is the Mariana Trench?
The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Guam and Micronesia. Its deepest point is called the Challenger Deep and is located 340 kilometers from
Answering the question of where the Mariana Trench is located, you can give its exact geographical coordinates- 11°21′ N. w. 142°12′ E. d. The place received this name due to the fact that it is located nearby and is part of a state such as Guam.
What is the Mariana Trench like?
What is the Mariana Trench? The ocean carefully hides its true size. One can only guess about them. It's not just "very deep hole" The trench itself stretches along the seabed for one and a half thousand kilometers. The depression is V-shaped, that is, it is much wider at the top, and the walls narrow downwards.
The bottom of the Mariana Trench has a flat topography, and the width varies from 1 to 5 kilometers. Its upper part extends for eighty kilometers in width.
This place is one of the most inaccessible on our earth.
Is it necessary to explore the depression?
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 is easier to explore these days than such depths. Many people have been outside the Earth, but only three brave men dived to the bottom of the trench.
Study of the gutter
The British were the first to explore the Mariana Trench. In 1872, the Challenger ship with scientists entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean to study the trench. It was found that this point is the deepest on globe. Since then, people have been haunted by the secrets and creatures of the Mariana Trench.
As time passed, research was carried out, 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, Jacques Picard and Don Walsh descended to the very bottom on the bathyscaphe Trieste. In 2012, Jace Cameron ventured into the Deepsea Challenger.
Russian researchers also studied the Mariana Trench. In 1957, the ship "Vityaz" headed to the trench area. Scientists not only measured the depth of the trench (11,022 meters), but also discovered the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. This event made a kind of revolution in the world of science in the mid-twentieth century. At that time it was believed that there could be no living creatures at such depths. This is where all the fun begins. There are simply too many stories and legends about this place to count. So what exactly is the Mariana Trench? Do monsters really live here or are they just fairy tales? Let's try to figure it out.
Mariana Trench: monsters, mysteries, secrets
As we mentioned earlier, the first brave daredevils to descend to the bottom of the depression were Jacques Picard and Don Walsh. They descended on a heavy submersible called "Trieste". The thickness of the walls of the structure was thirteen centimeters. She was sank to the bottom for five hours. Having reached the deepest point, the researchers managed to stay there for only twelve minutes. Then the rise of the bathyscaphe immediately began, which took three hours. Whatever it may seem amazing phenomenon, but living organisms were found at the bottom. The fish of the Mariana Trench are flat creatures similar to flounder, no more than thirty centimeters long.
In 1995, the Japanese fell into the abyss. And in 2009, a miracle device called Nereus descended to the deepest point. He not only took a number of photos, but also took soil samples.
In 1996, The New York Times published materials from the next dive of the apparatus from the Challenger research vessel. It turns out that when the equipment began to be lowered, after some time the instruments recorded a strong metallic grinding sound. This fact was the reason for the immediate rise of the equipment to the surface. What the researchers saw stunned them. Steel structure was fairly dented, and the thick, durable cable seemed to have been sawed off. Like this unexpected surprise presented by the Mariana Trench. Were the monsters who crushed the equipment like this, or representatives of alien intelligence, or mutated octopuses... The most different offers, each one more incredible than the last. However the real reason no one ever found it, since there was no evidence for any of the theories. All assumptions were at the level of fantastic guesses. But the secrets of the Mariana Trench have still not been revealed.
Another mysterious story
Another incredible one mysterious case happened to a team of German researchers who lowered their apparatus called “Hayfish” to the bottom. At some point, the device stopped diving, and the cameras installed on it gave an image of the enormous size of the lizard, which was actively trying to chew on an unknown thing. The team drove the monster away from the device using an electrical discharge. The creature got scared and swam away and did not appear again. It is a pity that such events were not recorded by the apparatus so that there would be irrefutable evidence.
After this incident, the Mariana Trench began to acquire more and more new facts, legends and speculations. Ship crews kept reporting about a huge monster in these waters, which high speed tows ships. It has become difficult to discern what is truth and what is speculation. The Mariana Trench, whose monsters haunted many people, still remains the most mysterious point on the planet.
Undeniable facts
Along with the most incredible legends regarding the Mariana Trench, there are very specific, but incredible facts. There is no need to doubt them, since they are supported by evidence.
In 1948, lobster fishermen (Australian ones) reported a large transparent fish, which had a length of at least thirty meters. They saw her in the sea. Judging by their description, it looks like a very ancient shark (Carcharodon megalodon species) that lived several million years ago. Scientists were able to reconstruct the appearance of the shark using the remains. The monstrous creature was 25 meters long and weighed one hundred tons. Its 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 oceanographers 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 depression these incredible predators are hiding from human eyes. Research into the mysterious depths continues to this day, since the abyss conceals many secrets that people have not yet come close to revealing.
At the bottom of the depression, living organisms experience enormous pressure. It would seem that in such conditions nothing living could exist. However, this opinion is wrong. Mollusks live peacefully here, their shells do not suffer at all from pressure. They are not even affected by hydrothermal vents that produce methane and hydrogen. Incredible, but it's a fact!
Another mystery is a hydrothermal vent called “Champagne”. Bubbles of carbon dioxide bubble in its waters. This is the only such object in the world and it is located precisely in the depression, which has given scientists reason to talk about the possible origin of life in water in this very place.
There is a volcano called Daikoku in the Mariana Trench. In its crater there is a lake of molten sulfur, which boils at a huge temperature of 187 degrees. You won't find anything like this anywhere else on earth. The only analogue of this phenomenon is in space (on a satellite of Jupiter called Io).
Amazing place
In the Mariana Trench live giant single-celled amoebas, the size of which reaches ten centimeters. They live next to uranium, lead, and mercury that are destructive to living beings. However, they not only do not die from them, but also feel great.
The Mariana Trench is the greatest miracle on earth. Everything inanimate and living are combined here. Everything that kills life under normal conditions, at the bottom of the depression, on the contrary, gives living organisms strength to survive. Isn't this a miracle? How much still unknown this place conceals!
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