The Mariana Trench, or as it is also called, the Mariana Trench is rightfully considered the most mysterious and inaccessible point of our planet. This is the deepest of the objects known to geographers in the Pacific Ocean. Its depth is approximately eleven kilometers, to be precise, it is 10994 ± 40 m. The Mariana Trench is located southeast of the Mariana Islands (11 ° 21'0 "N and 142 ° 12'0" E ), the length of this depression is 2926 km, and the bottom width is from 1 to 5 km. In the southern direction from the island of Guam of the Mariana archipelago, at a distance of 320 km, the deepest point of this trench, the Challenger Abyss, is fixed. The depression is located in the area of the docking of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates, in the area of the fault line.
Diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench
It is inherent in man to challenge nature and the Mariana Trench was no exception. January 23, 1960 for the first time, people ventured to descend to the bottom of this gigantic hollow. A pair of brave men were US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh and scientist Jacques Picard. With the help of the Trieste bathyscaphe, they managed to descend to a depth of 10918 meters. As it turned out, even at such a depth there is life - the researchers, to their surprise, found flat fish, up to 30 cm long, resembling flounder with their appearance.
At the end of March 1995, a probe of Kaiko-Japanese production was launched into the Mariana Trench. He reached a new depth of 10911.4 meters and took samples in which scientists found foraminifera - the simplest living organisms.
Four years later, the underwater vehicle Nereus plunged to the bottom of the gutter, to a depth of 10902 meters. This time, in addition to collecting samples of bottom sediments, it was possible to shoot a video and take several photographs.
James Cameron, the same Canadian producer who shot such masterpieces as Titanic, Avatar, Terminator, Aliens, on March 26, 2012 at the bathyscaphe with the proud name Deepsea Challenger, reached Challenger Abyss, becoming the third person who dared to descend to such a monstrous depth. There he made a filming in 3D format, which served as the basis for a scientific documentary film shown on the National Geographic channel.
There is life too
Scientists believe that the Mariana Trench can be the key to unraveling the emergence of life on our planet, and possibly beyond. Thanks to the deep-sea mission of James Cameron, it became known about new bizarre life forms.
It turned out that in addition to bacteria and microorganisms, crayfish, rhizopods,
gastropods, invertebrates with shells based on chitin, and even fish that can strike with huge teeth, eyes that rotate in different directions and with sharp spikes instead of fins are found at the bottom of the gutter. At the bottom, they also found the teeth of a megalodon - a giant prehistoric shark. It is believed that the jaws of this monster reached a width of 2 meters, its length was 24 meters, and its weight was about a hundred tons ...
The bottom of the cavity, the pressure on which is 1100 times more than the usual atmospheric, is literally teeming with various types of living organisms. According to researchers, it is here that the roots of metabolism are hidden - those that could trigger chemical processes that resulted in terrestrial, and possibly alien life, moreover, within the boundaries of the solar system.
A year ago, oceanologists created a three-dimensional map of the bottom and now have a more accurate idea of what kind the Mariana Trench has. Photos and videos obtained from diving and from satellites, we hope, finally, will allow scientists to fill in the blank spots in the history of the Earth.