Who lives at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The Mariana Trench - what is it, where is it located, who lives in its waters? Are there Mariana Caves

What do we know about the deepest place in the World Ocean? This is the Mariana Trench or the Mariana Trench.

What is her depth? This is not an easy question...

But definitely not 14 kilometers!

In section, the Mariana Trench has a characteristic V-shaped profile with very steep slopes. The bottom is flat, several tens of kilometers wide, divided by ridges into several almost closed sections. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure, reaching 3150 kg/cm2. The temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench) is surprisingly high thanks to hydrothermal vents, nicknamed "black smokers". They constantly heat the water and maintain the overall temperature in the cavity at around 3°C.

The first attempt to measure the depth of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench) was made in 1875 by the crew of the English oceanographic vessel Challenger during a scientific expedition across the World Ocean. The British discovered the Mariana Trench quite by accident, during the duty sounding of the bottom with the help of a lot (Italian hemp rope and lead weight). Despite the inaccuracy of such a measurement, the result was amazing: 8367 m. In 1877, a map was published in Germany, on which this place was marked as the Challenger Abyss.

A measurement made in 1899 from the board of the American collier Nero showed already a great depth: 9636 m.

In 1951, the bottom of the depression was measured by the English hydrographic vessel Challenger, named after its predecessor, unofficially referred to as the Challenger II. Now, with the help of an echo sounder, a depth of 10899 m was recorded.

The maximum depth indicator was obtained in 1957 by the Soviet research vessel "Vityaz": 11,034 ± 50 m. It is strange that no one remembered the anniversary date of the generally epoch-making discovery of Russian oceanologists. However, they say that when taking readings, the change in environmental conditions at different depths was not taken into account. This erroneous figure is still present on many physical and geographical maps published in the USSR and Russia.

In 1959, the American research ship Stranger measured the depth of the trench in a rather unusual way for science - using depth charges. Result: 10915 m.

The last known measurements were made in 2010 by the American ship Sumner, they showed a depth of 10994 ± 40 m.

It is not yet possible to obtain absolutely accurate readings even with the help of the most modern equipment. The work of the echo sounder is hindered by the fact that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which manifest themselves differently depending on depth.

This is how the strongest hulls of underwater vehicles look after extreme pressure tests. Photo: Sergey Ptichkin / RG

And now it is reported that an autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle (AUV) has been developed in Russia, capable of operating at a depth of 14 kilometers. From this, conclusions are drawn that our military oceanologists have discovered a depression deeper than the Mariana Trench in the World Ocean.

The message that the device was created and passed its test compression at a pressure corresponding to a depth of 14,000 meters was made during an ordinary press trip of journalists to one of the leading scientific centers, including deep-sea vehicles. It is even strange that no one paid attention to this sensation and has not yet voiced it. And the developers themselves did not particularly open up. Or maybe they are just reinsuring themselves and want to get reinforced concrete evidence? And now we have every reason to wait for a new scientific sensation.

The decision was made to create an uninhabited deep-sea vehicle capable of withstanding pressures that are much higher than what exists in the Mariana Trench. The device is ready to work. If the depth is confirmed, it will become a super sensation. If not, the device will work to the maximum in the same Mariana Trench, study it up and down. In addition, the developers claim that with a not very complicated refinement, the AUV can be made habitable. And it will be comparable to manned flights into deep space.

The existence of the Mariana Trench has been known for quite some time, and there are technical possibilities for descending to the bottom, but in the last 60 years only three people have been able to do this: a scientist, a military man and a film director.

For the entire time of the study of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench), vehicles with people on board fell to its bottom twice and automatic vehicles fell four times (as of April 2017). This, by the way, is less than people have been on the moon.

On January 23, 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste sank to the bottom of the abyss of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench). On board were the Swiss oceanographer Jacques Picard (1922-2008) and the US Navy lieutenant, explorer Don Walsh (born in 1931). The bathyscaphe was designed by the father of Jacques Picard - physicist, inventor of the stratospheric balloon and bathyscaphe Auguste Picard (1884-1962).

A half-century-old black-and-white photograph shows the legendary Trieste bathyscaphe in preparation for a dive. The crew of two was in a spherical steel gondola. It was attached to a float filled with gasoline to provide positive buoyancy.

The descent of the Trieste lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, the crew periodically interrupted it. At a depth of 9 km, the plexiglass cracked, but the descent continued until the Trieste sank to the bottom, where the crew saw a 30-centimeter flat fish and some kind of crustacean creature. Having stayed at a depth of 10912 m for about 20 minutes, the crew began the ascent, which took 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Man made another attempt to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench) in 2012, when American film director James Cameron (born 1954) became the third to reach the bottom of the Challenger Abyss. Previously, he repeatedly dived on Russian Mir submersibles into the Atlantic Ocean to a depth of more than 4 km during the filming of the movie Titanic. Now, on the Dipsy Challenger bathyscaphe, he descended into the abyss in 2 hours and 37 minutes - almost a widow faster than the Trieste - and spent 2 hours and 36 minutes at a depth of 10898 m. After which he rose to the surface in just an hour and a half. At the bottom, Cameron saw only creatures that looked like shrimp.
The fauna and flora of the Mariana Trench are poorly studied.

In the 1950s Soviet scientists during the expedition of the ship "Vityaz" discovered life at depths of more than 7 thousand meters. Before that, it was believed that there was nothing alive there. Pogonophores were discovered - a new family of marine invertebrates that live in chitinous tubes. Disputes about their scientific classification are still going on.

The main inhabitants of the Mariana Trench (Marian Trench), living at the very bottom, are barophilic (developing only at high pressure) bacteria, the simplest creatures of foraminifera - unicellular in shells and xenophyophores - amoeba, reaching 20 cm in diameter and living by shoveling silt.
Foraminifera managed to get the Japanese automatic deep-sea probe "Kaiko" in 1995, plunged to 10911.4 m and took soil samples.

Larger inhabitants of the gutter live throughout its thickness. Life at depth has made them either blind or with highly developed eyes, often telescopic. Many have photophores - organs of luminescence, a kind of bait for prey: some have long shoots, like an angler fish, while others have it all right in their mouths. Some accumulate a luminous liquid and, in case of danger, douse it with the enemy in the manner of a "light curtain".

Since 2009, the territory of the depression has been part of the American conservation area Mariana Trench Marine National Monument with an area of 246,608 km2. The zone includes only the underwater part of the trench and the water area. The reason for this action was the fact that the Northern Mariana Islands and the island of Guam - in fact, American territory - are the island boundaries of the water area. The Challenger Deep is not included in this zone, as it is located on the oceanic territory of the Federated States of Micronesia.

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The Mariana Trench is one of the most famous places on the planet. But this does not prevent him from being the keeper of secrets and mysteries. What is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and which of the living creatures is able to withstand these incredible conditions?

The unique depth of the planet

The bottom of the Earth, the abyss of the Challenger, the deepest place on the planet ... What titles were given to the little-studied Mariana Trench. It is a V-shaped bowl with a diameter of about 5 km with steep slopes located at an angle of only 7-9 ° and a flat bottom. According to measurements in 2011, the depth of the trench is 10,994 km below sea level. It is hard to imagine, but Everest, the highest mountain on the planet, can easily fit in its depths.

The deep sea trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. The unique geographical point got its name in honor of the Mariana Islands located in the immediate vicinity. Along them, it stretched for 1.5 km.

This amazing place on the planet was formed as a result of a tectonic fault, where the Pacific plate partially overlaps the Philippine one.

Secrets and mysteries of the "Womb of Gaia"

There are many secrets and legends around the little-studied Mariana Trench. What is hidden in the depths of the gutter?

Japanese scientists who have been studying goblin sharks for a long time claim that they saw a gigantic creature while feeding predators. It was a 25-meter shark that came to feed on goblin sharks. It is assumed that they had the good fortune to see a direct descendant of the megalodon shark, which, according to the official version, died out 2 million years ago. In support of the fact that these monsters could well have survived in the depths of the gutter, scientists have provided giant teeth found at the bottom.

The world knows many stories about how corpses of unknown giant monsters were found thrown out by the waters on the shores of nearby islands.

An interesting case is described by the participants in the descent of the German bathyscaphe "Highfish". At a depth of 7 km there was a sudden stop of the self-propelled vehicle. To find out the reason for the stop, the researchers turned on the searchlights and were horrified by what they saw. In front of them was a prehistoric deep-sea lizard that was trying to chew through an underwater vessel. The monster was scared away only by a tangible electrical impulse from the outer skin of the self-propelled vehicle.

Another inexplicable incident occurred during the sinking of an American deep-sea vessel. At the moment of lowering the apparatus on titanium cables, the researchers heard the rattle of metal. To find out the reason, they removed the apparatus back to the surface. As it turned out, the ship's beams were bent, and the titanium cables were practically sawn through. Which of the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench tried their teeth remained a mystery.

Amazing Gutter Dwellers

The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa. This parameter is more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. It is not surprising that for a long time people believed that there was no life at the bottom of the trough in the icy cold and unbearable pressure.

But in spite of everything, at a depth of 11 kilometers, there are deep-sea monsters that have managed to adapt to these terrible conditions. So who are these representatives of the animal world, who have successfully mastered the deepest place on the planet and feel comfortable within the walls of the Mariana Trench?

sea slug

These amazing creatures, living at a depth of 7-8 km, in appearance are more reminiscent of not the “surface” fish we are used to, but rather tadpoles.

The body of these amazing fish is a jelly-like substance, the density parameter of which is slightly higher than water. This feature of the device allows sea slugs to swim with minimal energy costs.

The body of these deep-sea inhabitants is predominantly dark in color from pink-brown to black. Although there are also colorless species, through the transparent skin of which muscles are visible.

The size of an adult sea slug is only 25-30 cm. The head is pronounced and strongly flattened. A well-developed tail is more than half the length of the body. A powerful tail and well-developed fins are used by the fish for locomotion.

Jellyfish traditionally live in the upper water layers. But bentocodon feels comfortable at a depth of about 750 meters. Outwardly, the amazing inhabitant of the Mariana Trench resembles a red flying saucer D 2-3 cm.

Bentocodon feeds on unicellular and crustaceans, which exhibit bioluminescent properties in the depths of the sea. According to marine biologists, the red coloring was donated by nature to these jellyfish for the purpose of camouflage. If they had a transparent color, as their high waters gather, then when swallowing the crustaceans glowing in the dark, they would immediately become noticeable to larger predators.

macropina barrel-eye

Among the amazing inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, an unusual fish called the small-mouthed macropina arouses genuine interest in itself. She is awarded by nature with a transparent head. The eyes of the fish, located deep inside the transparent dome, can rotate in different directions. This allows the side eye to search in all directions without moving, even in dim and diffused light conditions. False eyes located at the front of the head are actually organs of smell.

The laterally compressed body of the fish is shaped like a torpedo. Thanks to this structure, it is able to "hang" in one place for several hours. To give the body acceleration, the macropin simply presses the fins to the body and begins to actively work with the tail.

A cute animal that lives at a depth of 7 thousand meters, is the deepest octopus known to science. Due to the wide bell-shaped head and sweeping elephant "ears", it is often called the Dumbo octopus.

The deep-sea creature has a soft semi-gelatinous body and two fins located on the mantle, interconnected by wide membranes. The octopus carries out soaring movements above the bottom surface due to the work of the siphon funnel.

Soaring along the seabed, he looks out for prey - bivalve molluscs, worm-like animals and crustaceans. Unlike most cephalopods, Dumbo does not peck at its prey with its beak-like jaws, but swallows it whole.

Small fish with bulging telescopic eyes and huge open mouths live at a depth of 200-600 meters. They got their name for the characteristic shape of the body, resembling a cutting tool equipped with a short handle.

Hatchet fish living in the depths of the Mariana Trench have photophores. Special luminous organs are located in the lower half of the body in small groups along the abdomen. By emitting diffused light, they create an anti-shadow effect. This makes hatchets less visible to bottom-dwelling predators.

Osedax Bone Eaters

Among those who live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench are polychaete worms. They reach a length of only 5-7 cm. As food, osedax use substances contained in the bones of dead marine life.

By secreting an acidic substance, they penetrate the skeleton, extracting from it all the microelements necessary for life. Tiny bone eaters breathe through fluffy processes on the body that can extract oxygen from the water.

Of no less interest is the way these creatures adapt. Males, whose size is ten times smaller than females, live on the body of their ladies. Inside the dense gelatinous cone framing the body, up to a hundred males can simultaneously coexist. They leave their shelter only at the moments when the female prey finds a new source of food.

active bacteria

During the last expedition, Danish scientists found colonies of active bacteria at the bottom of the trench, which are of great importance in maintaining the carbon cycle of the ocean.

It is noteworthy that at a depth of 11 km, bacteria are 2 times more active than their counterparts, but living at a depth of 6 km. Scientists explain this by the need to process the colossal volumes of organic material that fall here, sinking from shallower depths, and as a result of earthquakes.

underwater monsters

The vast thickness of the ocean in the Mariana Trench is filled with not only cute and harmless creatures. The deep monsters leave the most indelible impression.

Unlike the above-mentioned inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, the needlefish has a very formidable appearance. Its long body is covered with slippery scaleless skin, and its terrible muzzle is "decorated" with huge teeth. The monster lives at a depth of 1800 m.

Since the sun's rays practically do not penetrate into the depths of the gutter, many of its inhabitants have the ability to glow in the dark. Iglorot is no exception.

On the body of the fish there are photophores - glow glands. Their deep-sea dweller uses them for three purposes at once: to protect against large predators, communicate with their own kind, and bait small fish. During hunting, the needleworm also uses a special mustache - a luminous thickening. A potential victim takes a luminous strip for a small fish and, as a result, she falls for the bait herself.

Fish are amazing not only in appearance, but also in their way of life. She got the nickname "angler" for a remarkable process on her head filled with bioluminescent bacteria. Attracted by the glow of the "fishing rod", a potential victim swims up to a close distance. The angler can only open his mouth to meet her.

These deep sea predators are very voracious. To accept prey that exceeds the size of the predator itself, the fish is able to stretch the walls of its stomach. For this reason, in the event of an anglerfish attacking a prey that is too large, both may die as a result.

The predator has a very unusual appearance: a long body with short fins, a frightening muzzle with a giant beak-like nose, huge jaws retracting forward and unexpectedly pink skin.

Biologists believe that a long outgrowth in the form of a beak is necessary for a predator to find food in pitch darkness. For such an unusual and even terrible appearance of a predator, the goblin shark is often called.

It is noteworthy that goblin sharks do not have a swim bladder. This is partially offset by an enlarged liver, which can weigh up to 25% relative to the body.

You can meet a predator only at a depth of at least 900 m. It is noteworthy that the older the individual, the deeper it will live. But even adults of goblin sharks cannot boast of impressive size: body length is on average 3-3.5 m, and weight is about 200 kg.

frilled shark

This dangerous creature that lives in the depths of the Mariana Trench is rightfully considered the king of the underwater world. The most ancient species of sharks has a serpentine body, covered with folded skin. The gill membranes intersecting in the throat area form a wide bag from the skin folds, outwardly resembling a wavy cloak 1.5-1.8 meters long.

The prehistoric monster has a primitive structure: the spine is not divided into vertebrae, all the fins are concentrated in one area, the caudal fin consists of only one mouth. The main pride of the cloaked man is his mouth, dotted with 3 hundred teeth arranged in several rows.

For the first time, people descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (depth - 11.5 km), the deepest ocean trench known on Earth, using the Trieste bathyscaphe on January 23, 1960. They were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh (Don Walsh) and engineer Jacques Piccard (Jacques Piccard). Since then and until recently, man has not descended to this depth.

Hollywood director James Cameron in a bathyscaphedeep seaChallenger

After 52 years, the director of "Avatar" and "Titanic" James Cameron repeated this path to the deepest point of the ocean, who successfully sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench on March 25 and returned to the surface. On a special vertical bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, two hours after the start of the dive, he reached the bottom by 7:52 am local time. He stayed there for three hours, surveying and collecting samples, after which he successfully returned to the surface.

Bathyscaphedeep seaChallenge with James Cameron descends into the depths of the Pacific Ocean

The first people who plunged to the bottom of the Mariana Trench stayed there for only 20 minutes, doing the minimum amount of work and seeing almost nothing but the mud and silt that had risen from the sinking. The past decades have not been in vain. Mr. Cameron's bathyscaphe was well-equipped, as one would expect from a man who has made one of the most impressive stereoscopic feature films and many documentaries about the underwater world.

The Deepsea Challenger was equipped with multiple stereoscopic cameras, an LED tower, a sampling bathometer, a robotic arm, and a special device capable of capturing small underwater organisms by suction. The deep-sea vehicle itself was created in Australia and has a length of 7 meters and a weight of 11 tons. The compartment in which James Cameron huddled is a sphere with an inner diameter of just over a meter and assumes only a sitting position.

Apparatusdeep seaChallenge sank to the bottom at a speed3-4 nodes

The director told the BBC before the dive that it was his dream: “I grew up with sci-fi at a time when people lived in sci-fi reality. People went to the moon, Cousteau studied the ocean. This is the environment in which I grew up, this is what I appreciate since childhood.

James Cameron greets ocean explorer US Navy Captain Don Walsh immediately after diving

James Cameron in the sunroofdeep seaChallenge prepares to dive

Another shot of filmmaker and ocean explorer Don Walsh (far right), who, along with Jacques Picart, was the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench 52 years ago

The journey of James Cameron as a one-minute animation

The Mariana Trench, or the Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographic feature known on Earth. The depression stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (79) slopes, and a flat bottom 15 km wide, which is divided by rapids into several closed depressions. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times higher than the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the border of the docking of two tectonic plates,

in the fault movement zone where the Pacific Plate goes under the Philippine Plate.

The studies of the Mariana Trench were initiated by the British expedition of the Challenger ship, which carried out 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. Soviet researchers also made a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana Trench. In 1958, an expedition to the Vityaz established the presence of life at depths of more than 7000 m, thereby refuting the then prevailing idea that life was impossible at depths of more than 6000-7000 m. 10915 m. The sound-recording device began to transmit noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, vague shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became worried that the unique apparatus, made from ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel beams in the NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called hedgehog with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. It was decided to raise it immediately. The hedgehog was retrieved from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately put on a special raft. The TV camera and echo sounder were lifted onto the deck of the Glomar Challenger. It turned out that the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered turned out to be half sawn. Who tried to leave the hedgehog at depth and why is an absolute mystery. The details of this most interesting experiment, conducted by American oceanologists in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996 by the New York Times (USA).

This is not the only case of a collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench. Something similar happened to the German research vehicle Heifisch with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the malfunction, the hydronauts turned on the infrared camera. What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, biting its teeth into a bathyscaphe, tried to crack it like a nut. Coming to their senses, the crew activated a device called an electric gun. The monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss.

The inexplicable and incomprehensible has always attracted people, so scientists around the world are so eager to answer the question: What is the Mariana Trench hiding in its depths? Can living organisms live at such a great depth, and how should they look, given that huge masses press on them ocean waters, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at depths of more than 6000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life could exist to be insane. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even at these depths, far below the 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms pogonophora ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). Recently, the veil of secrecy has been opened by manned and automatic, made of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, a rich animal community was discovered, consisting of both well-known and less familiar marine groups.

Thus, at depths of 6000-11000 km, the following were found: - barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure); - from multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.

At depths there is no sunlight, no algae, salinity is constant, temperatures are low, an abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What do the inhabitants of the abyss eat? The food sources of deep animals are bacteria, as well as the rain of corpses and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals or blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluores; in other forms, the surface of the body or parts of it glow. Therefore, the appearance of these animals is as terrible and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them are 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.

So, a person could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, and the rapidly developing world of technological progress allows you to penetrate deeper and deeper into the secret world of the most inhospitable and recalcitrant environment in the world - the oceans. There will be enough objects for research in the Mariana Trench for many years to come, given that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, unlike Everest (altitude 8848 m), was conquered only once. So, on January 23, 1960, US Navy officer Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Picard, protected by armored, 12-centimeter-thick walls of a bathyscaphe called Trieste, managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters. Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, new mysteries have appeared that have yet to be solved. And the ocean abyss knows how to keep its secrets. Will people be able to reveal them in the near future?

There are 5 oceans on Earth, which occupy a significant part of the land. Having conquered space and made a landing of a man on the moon, sending autonomous spacecraft to the most distant planets of the solar system, people know negligible little about what is hidden in the depths of the sea on their native planet.

What is the Mariana Trench?

This is the name of the deepest known place in the Pacific Ocean today. It is a trough formed by the convergence of tectonic plates. The maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is approximately 10,994 meters (2011 data). There are other trenches in all the other oceans, but not as deep. Only the Java Trench (7729 meters) can be compared with the Mariana Trench.

Location

The deepest place on Earth is located in the western Pacific Ocean, off the Mariana Islands. The gutter stretches along them for one and a half thousand kilometers. The bottom of the depression is flat, its width is from 1 to 5 kilometers. The gutter got its name in honor of the islands next to which it is located.

"Challenger Abyss"

This name has the deepest place (10,994 meters) of the Mariana Trench. Here it must be clarified that it is not yet possible to obtain the exact dimensions of this gigantic trough of the ocean floor. The speed of sound at different depths is very different, and the Mariana Trench has a very complex structure, so the data obtained using the echo sounder is always slightly different.

Discovery history

People have long known that deep seas exist in the seas and oceans. In 1875, the English corvette Challenger opened one of these points. What depth of the Mariana Trench was recorded then? It was 8367 meters. The measurement instruments at that time were far from ideal, but even this result made a stunning impression - it became clear that the deepest point of the ocean floor on the planet had been found.

Gutter studies

In the 19th century, it was simply impossible to explore the bottom of the Mariana Trench. At that time, there was no technology to descend to such a depth. Without modern means of immersion, this was tantamount to suicide.

A re-examination of the trench took place many years later, in the next century. Measurements made in 1951 showed a depth of 10,863 meters. Then, in 1957, members of the Soviet scientific vessel "Vityaz" were engaged in the study of the depression. According to their measurements, the depth of the Mariana Trench was 11,023 meters.

The last study of the gutter was carried out in 2011.

Cameron's Great Journey

The Canadian director became the third person in the history of research into the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom. He was the first in the world to do it alone. Prior to its sinking, the trough was explored by Don Walsh and Jacques Picard in 1960 using the Trieste submersible. In addition, Japanese scientists tried to find out what the depth of the Mariana Trench is using the Kaiko probe for this. And in 2009, the Nereus apparatus descended to the bottom of the gutter.

Descent to such an incredible depth is associated with a huge number of risks. First of all, a man is threatened by a monstrous pressure of 1100 atmospheres. It can damage the body of the device, which will lead to the death of the pilot. Another serious danger that awaits when descending to a depth is the cold that reigns there. It can not only lead to equipment failure, but also kill a person. The bathyscaphe can collide with rocks and get damaged.

For many years, James Cameron dreamed of visiting the deepest point of the Mariana Trench - the "Challenger Abyss". In order to carry out his plan, he equipped his own expedition. Especially for this, an underwater vehicle was designed and built in Sydney - a single-seat bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, equipped with scientific equipment, as well as photo and video cameras. In it, Cameron sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This event took place on March 26, 2012.

In addition to photographs and video filming, the Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe had to take new measurements of the chute and try to give accurate data on its dimensions. Everyone was worried about one question: "How much?" The depth of the Mariana Trench, according to the readings of the apparatus, was 10,908 meters.

The director was impressed by what he saw below. Most of all, the bottom of the depression reminded him of a lifeless lunar landscape. He did not meet the terrible inhabitants of the abyss. The only creature he saw through the porthole of the bathyscaphe was a small shrimp.

After a successful voyage, James Cameron decided to donate his bathyscaphe to the Oceanographic Institute so that it could continue to be used to explore the depths of the sea.

Creepy Dwellers of the Deep

The lower the bottom of the ocean, the less sunlight penetrates through the water column. The depth of the Mariana Trench is the reason that impenetrable darkness always reigns in it. But even the absence of light cannot become an obstacle to the origin of life. Darkness gives birth to beings who have never seen the sun. And they, in turn, have only recently been able to see marine biologists.

The sight is not for the faint of heart. Almost all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench seem to be born from the imagination of an artist who creates monsters for horror films. Seeing them for the first time, you might think that they do not live next to a person on the same planet, but are alien creatures, they look so alien.

To some extent, this is true - very little is known about the oceans and their inhabitants. The bottom of the Mariana Trench has been explored to date less than the surface of Mars. Therefore, for a long time it was believed that at such a depth, without sunlight, life is impossible. It turned out that this was not the case. The depth of the Mariana Trench, gigantic pressure and cold are not an obstacle to the birth of amazing creatures living in complete darkness.

Most of them have an ugly appearance due to terrible living conditions. The pitch darkness reigning in the depths made the marine inhabitants of these places completely blind. Many fish have huge teeth, such as howliods, which swallow their prey whole.

What can living beings eat so far from the surface of the ocean? At the bottom of the depression, the remains of living organisms accumulate, forming a multi-meter layer of bottom silt. The inhabitants of the depths feed on these deposits. Predatory fish have luminous parts of the body with which they attract small fish.

The gutter is inhabited by bacteria that can develop only at high pressure, unicellular organisms, jellyfish, worms, mollusks, sea cucumbers. The depth of the Mariana Trench gives them the opportunity to reach very large sizes. For example, the amphipods found at the bottom of the gutter are 17 centimeters long.

Amoeba

Xenophyophores (amoebae) are single-celled organisms that can only be seen with a microscope. But at a depth, these inhabitants of the Mariana Trench reach gigantic sizes - up to 10 centimeters. Previously, they were found at a depth of 7500 meters. An interesting feature of these organisms, in addition to their size, is the ability to accumulate uranium, lead and mercury. Outwardly, deep-sea amoebas look different. Some are disk or tetrahedral shaped. Xenophyophores feed on bottom sediments.

Hirondellea gigas

Large amphipods (amphipods) have been found in the Mariana Trench. These deep-sea crayfish feed on dead organic matter that accumulates at the bottom of the depression and have a keen sense of smell. The largest specimen found was 17 centimeters long.

Holothurians

Sea cucumbers are another representatives of organisms that live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This class of invertebrates feeds on plankton and bottom sediments.