Mariana depth. Diving into the Mariana Trench by James Cameron. Mariana Trench: monsters, mysteries, secrets
As is known, the deepest ocean dive was made by the Swiss-made US Navy bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by Dr. Jacques Piccard and Lieutenant Donald Walsh. On November 15, 1959, in the Mariana Islands of the Pacific Ocean, the Trieste bathyscaphe reached a depth of 5530 m, and on January 23, 1960 it reached a depth of 10,911 m in the Challenger Trench of the Mariana Trench, which is located 400 km southwest of the island. Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
To date, only two expeditions have been able to visit the Mariana Trench, the deepest point of the World Ocean. Thirty-five years after Trieste, the Japanese remote-controlled submarine Heiko visited there. Now the Americans intend to explore the Mariana Trench.
At the same time, they are not at all going to risk the lives of their deep-sea sailors. The remote-controlled vehicle will again go to the bottom. It seems that the era of manned deep-sea vehicles is coming to an end.
According to geologist Dan Fornari, scientific director of the Woodhoud Oceanographic Institution, until now, researchers have only been able to see the muddy bottom on a television screen and make sure that they calculated the underwater vehicle correctly and that it withstood the crazy pressure of deep water layers. Now scientists want to seriously conduct research on the Mariana Trench.
Woodhoud Oceanographic Institution, located on the southern tip of the Cade Cod Peninsula, Massachusetts, is one of the world's largest scientific centers in this field. The Institute owns several research vessels and the deep-sea submarine Elvis, which, along with our Mirs, was used to study the site of the Titanic disaster. Now a new hybrid-class submarine is being built here.
Chief designer Andy Bowen explains that such devices usually come in two types. Some conduct research based on a program embedded in the on-board computer. Others receive energy for work and instructions from the side of the escort vessel via a thick cable, which with increasing depth becomes so heavy that it completely deprives the device of any maneuverability.
Now scientists and designers have decided to combine the advantages of both types of devices. The new submarine will be controlled from the accompanying vessel. But all commands will be transmitted via the thinnest but ultra-strong optical cable. But the submarine will move using its own batteries located on board. Interestingly, the cable, which weighs less than 1 kg per 1 km of length in water, was borrowed from the military, who used it to remotely control one type of torpedo. The body itself is partly made of ultra-strong ceramic, capable of withstanding pressure at a depth of 11 km. For lighting, LED spotlights are used, which consume much less energy than light bulbs.
The research work on the Mariana Trench is planned as follows. First, the device will autonomously map a certain area of the seabed. If any interesting objects are noticed on it, they will then be carefully examined under the guidance of the operator.
In this case, it is possible to take water samples, as well as samples from the bottom using a remotely controlled manipulator. The most remarkable thing, perhaps, is that the hybrid research vehicle will not require a specially equipped escort vessel. Its role can be performed by almost any vessel capable of sailing into the open ocean. This was done on purpose, since the new device is planned to be used as a kind of “ambulance”. Where it is needed, the device will be delivered by plane. Then it will be loaded on board a ship ready to go to sea and set out for a given research area.
Thus, oceanographers hope to quickly monitor the eruptions of sea volcanoes, explore sea areas from which mysterious sounds are heard, etc. After exploring the Mariana Trench, they intend to explore the ocean in the area of the North Pole.
There is an underwater canyon off the east coast of the Philippine Islands. It's so deep that you could fit Mount Everest in it and still have about three kilometers to spare. There is impenetrable darkness and incredible pressure, so you can easily imagine the Mariana Trench as one of the most unfriendly places in the world. However, despite all this, life still somehow continues to exist there - and not just barely survive, but actually thrive, thanks to which a full-fledged ecosystem has appeared there.
How to survive at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
Life at such a depth is extremely difficult - eternal cold, impenetrable darkness and enormous pressure will not allow you to exist in peace. Some creatures, such as the anglerfish, create their own light to attract prey or mates. Others, such as the hammerhead, have developed huge eyes to capture as much light as possible, reaching incredible depths. Other creatures are simply trying to hide from everyone, and to achieve this they turn translucent or red (the red color absorbs all the blue light that manages to make its way to the bottom of the cavity).
Cold protection
It is also worth noting that all creatures living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench need to cope with cold and pressure. Protection from cold is provided by fats that form the lining of the creature's body cells. If this process is not monitored, the membranes may crack and cease to protect the body. To combat this, these creatures have acquired an impressive supply of unsaturated fats in their membranes. With the help of these fats, the membranes always remain in a liquid state and do not crack. But is this enough to survive in one of the deepest places on the planet?
What is the Mariana Trench like?
The Mariana Trench is shaped like a horseshoe and its length is 2,550 kilometers. It is located in the eastern Pacific Ocean and is about 69 kilometers wide. The deepest point of the depression was discovered near the southern end of the canyon in 1875 - the depth there was 8184 meters. A lot of time has passed since then, and with the help of an echo sounder more accurate data was obtained: it turns out that the deepest point has an even greater depth, 10994 meters. It was named “Challenger Deep” in honor of the ship that made that very first measurement.
Human immersion
However, about 100 years have passed since that moment - and only then for the first time a person plunged to such a depth. In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh set off in the bathyscaphe Trieste to conquer the depths of the Mariana Trench. Trieste used gasoline as fuel and iron structures as ballast. The bathyscaphe took 4 hours and 47 minutes to reach a depth of 10,916 meters. It was then that the fact that life still exists at such depths was first confirmed. Piccard reported that he then saw a “flat fish,” although in fact it turned out that he only noticed a sea cucumber.
Who lives at the bottom of the ocean?
However, not only sea cucumbers are found at the bottom of the depression. Along with them live large single-celled organisms known as foraminifera - they are giant amoebas that can grow up to 10 centimeters in length. Under normal conditions, these organisms create shells of calcium carbonate, but at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, where the pressure is a thousand times greater than on the surface, calcium carbonate dissolves. This means that these organisms have to use proteins, organic polymers and sand to create their shells. Also living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench are shrimp and other crustaceans known as amphipods. The largest of the amphipods look like giant albino woodlice - they can be found at the Challenger depth.
Food at the bottom
Considering that sunlight does not reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench, another question arises: what do these organisms eat? Bacteria manage to survive at such depths because they feed on methane and sulfur that emerge from the earth's crust, and some organisms feed on these bacteria. But many rely on what is called "sea snow" - tiny pieces of detritus that reach the bottom from the surface. One of the most striking examples and the richest sources of food are the carcasses of dead whales, which as a result end up on the ocean floor.
Fishes in the Trench
But what about fish? The deepest fish in the Mariana Trench was discovered only in 2014 at a depth of 8143 meters. An unknown ghostly white subspecies of Liparidae with wide wing-like fins and an eel-like tail was recorded several times by cameras that plunged into the depths of the depression. However, scientists believe this depth is likely the limit of where the fish can survive. This means that there cannot be fish at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, since the conditions there do not correspond to the body structure of vertebrate species.
They never cease to amaze us with their mysteries. The described place has also not yet been properly studied for completely objective reasons.
So, we offer you interesting facts about the Mariana Trench or, as it is also called, the Mariana Trench. Below are valuable photographs of the mysterious inhabitants of this abyss.
It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. This is the deepest place in the world known to date.
Having a V-shape, the depression runs along the Mariana Islands for 1,500 km.
Mariana Trench on the map
An interesting fact is that the Mariana Trench is located at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine.
The pressure at the bottom of the trench reaches 108.6 MPa, which is almost 1072 times higher than normal pressure.
You probably now understand that due to such conditions, exploring the mysterious bottom of the world, as this place is also called, is extremely difficult. However, the scientific community, since the end of the 19th century, has not stopped studying this mystery of nature step by step.
Mariana Trench Research
In 1875, the first attempt was made to explore the Mariana Trench globally. The British expedition "Challenger" carried out measurements and analysis of the trench. It was this group of scientists who set the initial mark at 8184 meters.
Of course, this was not the full depth, since the capabilities of that time were significantly more modest than today's measuring systems.
Soviet scientists also made enormous contributions to research. An expedition led by the research vessel Vityaz began its own studies in 1957 and discovered that there was life at a depth of more than 7,000 meters.
Until this time, there was a strong belief that life at such depths was simply impossible.
We invite you to look at an interesting scale image of the Mariana Trench:
Diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench
1960 was one of the most fruitful years in terms of research into the Mariana Trench. The research bathyscaphe Trieste made a record dive to a depth of 10,915 meters.
This is where something mysterious and inexplicable began. Special devices that record underwater sound began to transmit eerie noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of a saw on metal.
The monitors registered mystical shadows that were shaped like fairy-tale dragons with several heads. For an hour, scientists tried to record as much data as possible, but then the situation began to get out of control.
It was decided to immediately raise the bathyscaphe to the surface, as there were reasonable fears that if we waited a little longer, the bathyscaphe would forever remain in the mysterious abyss of the Mariana Trench.
For more than 8 hours, specialists recovered from the bottom unique equipment made of heavy-duty materials.
Of course, all the instruments, and the bathyscaphe itself, were carefully placed on a special platform to study the surface.
Imagine the surprise of the scientists when it turned out that almost all the elements of the unique apparatus, made of the strongest metals at that time, were severely deformed and distorted.
The cable, 20 cm in diameter, lowering the bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was half sawn through. Who tried to cut it and why remains a mystery to this day.
An interesting fact is that only in 1996 the American newspaper The New York Times published details of this unique study.
Lizard from the Mariana Trench
The German Haifish expedition also encountered the inexplicable mysteries of the Mariana Trench. While plunging the research apparatus to the bottom, the scientists faced unexpected difficulties.
Being at a depth of 7 kilometers under water, they decided to lift the equipment.
But the technology refused to obey. Then special infrared cameras were turned on to find out the cause of the failures. However, what they saw on the monitors plunged them into indescribable horror.
A fantastic giant-sized lizard was clearly visible on the screen, which was trying to chew the bathyscaphe like a squirrel nut.
Being in a state of shock, the hydronauts activated the so-called electric gun. Having received a powerful electric shock, the lizard disappeared into the abyss.
What it was, the fantasy of scientists obsessed with research, mass hypnosis, the delirium of people tired of colossal stress, or just someone’s joke is still unknown.
The deepest place in the Mariana Trench
On December 7, 2011, researchers at the University of New Hampshire sank a unique robot to the bottom of the trench under study.
Thanks to modern equipment, it was possible to record a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m). This place was named after the first expedition (1875), about which we wrote above: “ Challenger Deep».
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
Of course, after these inexplicable and even mystical secrets, natural questions began to arise: what monsters live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? After all, for a long time it was believed that below 6000 meters the existence of living beings is in principle impossible.
However, later studies of the Pacific Ocean in general, and the Mariana Trench in particular, confirmed the fact that at a much greater depth, in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and water temperatures close to 0 degrees, a huge number of unprecedented creatures live.
Undoubtedly, without modern technology, made of the most durable materials and equipped with cameras unique in their properties, such research would simply be impossible.
Half-meter mutant octopus 
One and a half meter monster 
As a general summary, we can confidently say that at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, between 6000 and 11000 meters under water, the following were reliably discovered: worms (up to 1.5 meters in size), crayfish, a variety of amphipods, gastropods, mutant octopuses, mysterious, not identified soft-bodied creatures of two meters in size, etc.
These inhabitants feed mainly on bacteria and the so-called “corpse rain,” that is, dead organisms that slowly sink to the bottom.
Hardly anyone doubts that the Mariana Trench stores many more. However, people do not give up trying to explore this unique place on the planet.
Thus, the only people who dared to dive to the “bottom of the earth” were the American marine specialist Don Walsh and the Swiss scientist Jacques Picard. On the same bathyscaphe "Trieste" they reached the bottom on January 23, 1960, descending to a depth of 10915 meters.
However, on March 26, 2012, James Cameron, an American director, made a solo dive to the bottom of the deepest point of the World Ocean. The bathyscaphe collected all the necessary samples and took valuable photos and videos. Thus, we now know that only three people visited the Challenger Deep.
Did they manage to answer at least half of the questions? Of course not, since the Mariana Trench still hides much more mysterious and inexplicable things.
By the way, James Cameron stated that after diving to the bottom he felt completely cut off from the human world. Moreover, he assured that no monsters simply exist at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
But here we can recall the primitive Soviet statement, after a flight into space: “Gagarin flew into space - he did not see God.” From this the conclusion was drawn that there is no God.
Likewise here, we cannot say unequivocally that the giant lizard and other creatures that scientists saw during previous research were the result of someone’s sick imagination.
It is important to understand that the geographical object under study has a length of more than 1000 kilometers. Therefore, potential monsters, inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, could well be located many hundreds of kilometers from the research site.
However, these are just hypotheses.
Panorama of the Mariana Trench on Yandex Map
Another interesting fact may intrigue you. On April 1, 2012, the Yandex company published a comic panorama of the Mariana Trench. On it you can see a sunken ship, water drains and even the glowing eyes of a mysterious underwater monster.
Despite the humorous idea, this panorama is tied to a real place and is still available to users.
To view it, copy this code into the address bar of your browser:
https://yandex.ua/maps/-/CZX6401a
The Abyss knows how to keep its secrets, and our civilization has not yet reached such a development as to “hack” natural mysteries. However, who knows, maybe one of the readers of this article in the future will become the genius who will be able to solve this problem?
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Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the distant planets of the solar system, people Only five percent of the ocean floor has been explored, which remains one of the greatest mysteries of our planet.
Here are other interesting facts about what you can find along the way and at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
1. Very hot water
Going down to such depths, we expect it to be very cold. The temperature here reaches just above zero, varying 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.
However, at a depth of about 1.6 km from the surface of the Pacific Ocean there are hydrothermal vents called “black smokers”. They shoot water that heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.
This water is rich in minerals that help support life in the area. Despite the water temperature being hundreds of degrees above boiling point, she doesn't boil here due to incredible pressure, 155 times higher than on the surface.
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
2. Giant toxic amoebas
A few years ago, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, giant 10-centimeter amoebas called xenophyophores.
These single-celled organisms likely became so large because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. Cold temperatures, high pressure and lack of sunlight likely contributed to these amoebas have acquired enormous dimensions.
In addition, xenophyophores have incredible abilities. They are resistant to many elements and chemicals, including uranium, mercury and lead,which would kill other animals and people.
3. Shellfish
The intense water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance of survival. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trench near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form.
TO How did mollusks preserve their shells under such pressure?, remains unknown.
In addition, hydrothermal vents emit another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is lethal to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench
4. Pure liquid carbon dioxide
Hydrothermal source of Champagne The Mariana Trench, which lies outside the Okinawa Trench near Taiwan, is the only known underwater area where liquid carbon dioxide can be found. The spring, discovered in 2005, was named after the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.
Many believe these springs, called "white smokers" due to their lower temperatures, may be the source of life. It was in the depths of the oceans, with low temperatures and an abundance of chemicals and energy, that life could begin.
5. Slime
If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, we would feel that it covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its usual form, does not exist there.
The bottom of the depression mainly consists of crushed shells and plankton remains that have accumulated at the bottom of the depression for many years. Due to the incredible water pressure, almost everything there turns into fine grayish-yellow thick mud.
Mariana Trench
6. Liquid sulfur
Daikoku Volcano, which lies at a depth of about 414 meters on the way to the Mariana Trench, is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on our planet. Here is lake of pure molten sulfur. The only place where liquid sulfur can be found is Jupiter's moon Io.
In this pit, called the "cauldron", there is a bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this site in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. It may reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth.
According to the Gaia hypothesis, our planet is one self-governing organism in which everything living and nonliving is connected to support its life. If this hypothesis is correct, then a number of signals can be observed in the natural cycles and systems of the Earth. So the sulfur compounds created by organisms in the ocean must be stable enough in the water to allow them to move into the air and return to land.
7. Bridges
At the end of 2011, it was discovered in the Mariana Trench four stone bridges, which extended from one end to the other for 69 km. They appear to have formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
One of the bridges Dutton Ridge, which was discovered back in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. At the highest point the ridge reaches 2.5 km over the Challenger Deep.
Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that these formations were discovered in one of the most mysterious and unexplored places is surprising.
8. James Cameron's Dive into the Mariana Trench
Since opening the deepest part of the Mariana Trench - the Challenger Deep in 1875, only three people visited here. The first were American Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard, who dived on January 23, 1960 on the ship Trieste.
52 years later, another person dared to dive here - a famous film director. James Cameron. So On March 26, 2012, Cameron sank to the bottom and took some photos.
There is a place on Earth about which we know much less than about distant space - mysterious ocean floor. It is believed that world science has not yet really even begun to study it.
On March 26, 2012, 50 years after the first dive, man again sank to the bottom of the deepest depression on Earth: the Deepsea Challenge bathyscaphe with Canadian director James Cameron sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Cameron became the third person to reach the deepest point of the ocean and the first to do it alone.
Mariana Trench- the deepest trench on earth in the western Pacific Ocean. It stretches along the Mariana Islands for 2,500 km. The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is called "Challenger Deep". According to the latest surveys in 2011, its depth is 10,994 meters (±40 m) below sea level. By the way, the highest peak in the world, Everest, rises to a height of “only” 8,848 meters.
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, water pressure reaches 1,072 atmospheres, i.e. 1,072 times normal atmospheric pressure. (Infographics ria.ru):
Half a century ago. Bathyscaphe "Trieste", designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Picard, which made a record dive into the Mariana Trench in 1960:
On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh dived into the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,920 meters on the bathyscaphe Trieste. The dive took about 5 hours, and the time spent at the bottom was 12 minutes. This was an absolute depth record for manned and unmanned vehicles.
Two researchers then discovered at a terrible depth only 6 species of living creatures, including flat fish up to 30 cm in size:
Let's go back to the present day. This is the Deepsea Challenge Submersible, in which James Cameron sank to the bottom of the ocean. It was developed in an Australian laboratory, weighs 11 tons and is more than 7 meters long:
The dive began on March 26 at 05:15 am local time. James Cameron's last words were: "Lower, lower, lower."
When diving to the bottom of the ocean, the bathyscaphe turns over and sinks vertically:
This is a real vertical torpedo that glides through a huge layer of water at high speed:
The compartment in which Cameron was located during the dive is a metal sphere with a diameter of 109 cm with thick walls capable of withstanding pressure of more than 1,000 atmospheres:
In the photograph, to the left of the director, a hatch covering the sphere is visible:
HD video. Dive:
James Cameron spent more than 3 hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, during which he took photographs and videos of the underwater world. The result of this underwater journey will be a joint film with National Geographic. The photo shows manipulators with cameras:
At a depth of 11 kilometers:
3D camera:
However, the underwater expedition was not entirely successful. Due to a malfunction metal "hands", controlled by hydraulics, James Cameron was unable to take samples from the ocean floor that scientists need to study geology:
Many were tormented by the question of animals that live at such monstrous depths. “Probably everyone would like to hear that I saw some kind of sea monster, but it wasn’t there... There was nothing alive, more than 2-2.5 cm.”
A few hours after the dive, the Deepsea Challenge bathyscaphe with the 57-year-old director successfully returned from the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Lifting the bathyscaphe:
James Cameron - the first person in the world to make a solo dive into the abyss- to the bottom of the Mariana. In the coming weeks it will descend to depth 4 more times.
