Researchers from different countries have proved that living organisms inhabit the entire water column of the oceans. Scientists came to this conclusion as far back as the last century, and modern deep-sea technology confirms the existence of fish, crabs, crayfish, and worms to a depth of 11,000 m. Let us find out how the French scientist Jacques Picard explored the bottom of the oceans, the contribution made by English and Russian oceanologists.
Water on Earth - the object of relentless attention of mankind
About 400-500 years ago, many travelers did not imagine what the true size and depth of the oceans is. The minds of many were filled with legends about Atlantis, plunged into the depths of the sea, myths about the amazing country of Eldorado, where water sources give eternal youth. Europeans sailing to distant shores, where gold, jewels and spices were abundant, were always dangerous due to the presence of rocky reefs and extensive shallows on the ship's way. But this did not stop to make great geographical discoveries, to map most of the seas and bays, to find passages between continents and islands.
Who investigated the bottom of the oceans in antiquity and in the Middle Ages? Mariners studied the underwater terrain by the means available to them, applied to maps and globes. Scientists estimate that the water surface on our planet is three times the land area (361 and 149 million km 2, respectively). The oceans in all periods of history have influenced the development of trade, fishing and travel. The role of municipalities is great in the formation of climate and weather on land, and the provision of food to the population.
The Origin of Oceanology (Oceanography)
The bottom of the oceans was explored by Fernand Magellan during his trip around the world; paid attention to measurements of the depths of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. But these were not scientists, but merchants and sailors. In the XIX – XX centuries, the role of science in the study of the ocean increased. Thanks to the achievements of researchers, safe waterways were laid, maps of currents, salinity and temperature, underwater and under-ice relief were created.
At the same time, the development of shipping had a significant impact on the organization and operation of scientific expeditions. This happened with the voyages of Russian ships that went around the world, came to the shores of Antarctica. A study was organized of the coast and the depths of the northern and Far Eastern seas.
Who explored the bottom of the oceans
The success of sea voyages contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about MO. Gradually, the formation of one of the geographical sciences - oceanology. Among its founders are Dutchman B. Varenius and Russian Yu. Shokalsky. A significant contribution to this process was made by Russian navigators and the military. The bottom of the oceans was investigated by one of the first Italian L. Marsilla.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Russian scientists E. Lentz and E. Parrot invented a depth gauge. In the middle of the same century, the American J.M. Brooke created a lot with a separate load for collecting soil samples. The participants of the oceanographic expedition on the British ship Challenger successfully used these achievements. Working under the auspices of the Royal Society of England, in 1872-1876, scientists collected rich collections of marine plants and animals, measured the depths in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Among the outstanding researchers of that time should include the Russian oceanologist S. O. Makarov, who studied the Black and Mediterranean Seas.
Measurements in the ocean made it possible to create an almost complete depth map at the turn of the 20th century. About 100 years ago, sound waves and instruments - echo sounders replaced the rope lots. The device emits a sound signal that reflects from the bottom and is picked up. Knowing the time and speed of sound in water, the distance is obtained as a result of calculations, which must be divided in half. This will be the depth in the area of measurement.
Discoveries at the bottom of MO
Echo sounders have opened up great opportunities for researchers of the oceans. The last decades of the 19th century and the years after World War II were marked by an increase in interest in the biology of Moscow Region. Scientists have gathered evidence of the existence of life not only in the surface layer of water, but also in depth. In the second half of the XX century, the whole world flew around the pictures in which people saw the bottom of the oceans. Photos of deep-sea organisms struck the imagination of the inhabitants. After all, creatures that live in pitch darkness at a temperature of about 2–3 ° C have luminous and electric organs.
Scientists plotted the extended mid-ocean ridges, hollows, individual mountains. It was easiest to explore the shelf and continental slope, but the true discoverers were attracted by the depths. At the end of the 19th century, Challenger expedition members discovered and mapped the deepest place in the Moscow Region in the Mariana Islands region in the north-west of the Pacific Ocean. Such gutters arose as a result of the collision of powerful continental platforms with thin oceanic plates. On the continents, young mountain ranges correspond to deep depressions in the ocean.
Object of study - the bottom of the oceans
The Marianne Trench was explored by the Swiss oceanologist Jacques Picard, along with US citizen Don Walsh. For immersion, scientists used the Triest deep-sea vehicle. This important event took place on January 23, 1960. Prior to this, the famous French director and naturalist Jacques Yves Cousteau, who subsequently made documentaries about life on the bottom of the oceans, participated in experimental dives.
Jacques Picard, together with Don Walsh, in Trieste plunged into the Challenger Abyss in the southwest of the Mariana Trench. The depth here reaches 10,911–11,030 m below the MO level. The descent of the bathyscaphe was about 5 hours, the researchers of the deepest gutter in the world spent 20 minutes at its bottom, backed up with chocolate and began to climb, which lasted more than 3 hours.
Studies have shown that the diversity of species of deep-sea animals competes with the richness of the fauna of tropical coral reefs. Marine bottom organisms are adapted to their habitat, although it is dark and cold at the bottom of the troughs.
The main directions of modern research MO
The second half of the 20th century marked the beginning of the international stage of the study of the oceans. Voyages of research vessels and deep-sea drilling were organized to collect soil samples. At the end of the last century, scientists paid more attention to the interaction of the Moscow region with the continents, and their impact on the climate.
Since the bottom of the oceans explored by Jacques Picard, a lot of time has passed. Oceanographic studies are ongoing, they allow us to identify single volcanoes in the MO, fault zones and seismic activity. As a result of the collision of oceanic and continental plates, volcanic eruptions, natural phenomena occur, hundreds of thousands of people die, plunge into the abyss of the island's waters, huge waves arise - tsunamis. The destructive power is possessed by typhoons, which arise over the oceans and collapse on the coast. The study and timely warning of the population about these dangerous phenomena is one of the tasks of modern oceanology.
The impressive reserves of natural resources of Moscow region allow humanity to count on a comfortable life for hundreds of years. The waters of the oceans have long plowed not only fishing, cargo, passenger and military vessels. Exploration and research ships, mining platforms have become elements without which it is difficult to imagine the vast expanses of the sea.