How many atmospheres are there at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? Diving into the Mariana Trench by James Cameron. Diving into the Mariana Trench
In our article we want to talk about the mysterious Mariana Trench. This is the deepest point on the Earth's surface. 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, we 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. This is not just a “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 the 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. No matter how amazing this may seem, living organisms were discovered 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. The steel structure was fairly dented, and the thick, durable cable seemed to have been sawed. This is the unexpected surprise that the Mariana Trench presented. Were the monsters that crushed the equipment, or representatives of alien intelligence, or mutated octopuses... A variety of proposals were made, each of which was more incredible than the previous one. However, no one found the true reason, 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 incredibly mysterious incident occurred with a team of German researchers who lowered their apparatus called “Highfish” 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 was towing ships at high speed. 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) reported a large transparent fish that was at least thirty meters long. 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. Her 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 cavity 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!
The bottom of the world's oceans is uneven; it is cut by gorges, the depth of which is tens of thousands of meters. The relief was formed millions of years ago due to the movement of tectonic plates - the “shell” of the earth’s crust. Due to their continuous movement, the location and shape of the continents and the ocean floor changed. The deepest ocean on the planet is the Pacific Ocean, which at this stage of technological development cannot be fully explored.
The Pacific Ocean is the largest on the planet. In its western latitudes lie the continents of Australia and Eurasia, in the southern - Antarctica, in the eastern - South and North America. The length of the Pacific Ocean from south to north is almost 16 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 19 thousand. The area of the ocean together with its seas is 178.684 million kilometers, and the average depth is about 4 kilometers. But there are amazing places in the Pacific Ocean that make it the deepest in the world.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest place in the ocean
This deepest chasm got its name in honor of the nearby Mariana Islands. The depth of the Pacific Ocean in this place is 10 kilometers 994 meters. The deepest point of the trench is called the Challenger Deep. Geographically, the “Abyss” is located 340 km from the southwestern tip of the island of Guam.
If we take Mount Everest for comparison, which, as is known, rises 8848 m above sea level, it can completely disappear under water and there will still be room.
In 2010, an oceanographic expedition from New Hampshire conducted research on the ocean floor in the Mariana Trench area. Scientists have discovered four seamounts, each at least 2.5 kilometers high, crossing the surface of the trench at the point of contact between the Philippine and Pacific lithospheric plates. According to scientists, these ridges were formed about 180 million years ago as a result of the movement of the above-mentioned plates and the gradual creep of the older and heavier Pacific Plate under the Philippine Plate. The maximum depth of the Pacific Ocean was recorded here.
Diving into the abyss
Deep-sea vehicles with three people descended into the depths of the Challenger Deep four times:
- Brussels explorer Jacques Piccard, together with American Navy Lieutenant John Walsh, were the first to dare to look into the face of the abyss. This happened on January 23, 1960. The deepest dive in the world was made on the bathyscaphe Trieste, designed by Auguste Piccard, Jacques' father. This feat, without a doubt, set a record in the world of deep diving. The descent lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, and the ascent lasted 3 hours 15 minutes. The researchers found large flat fish at the bottom of the trench that looked like flounder. The lowest point of the World Ocean was recorded - 10,918 meters. Later, Picard wrote the book “11 thousand meters”, describing all the moments of the dive.
- On May 31, 1995, a deep-sea Japanese probe was launched into the depression, which recorded a depth of 10,911 m and also discovered ocean inhabitants - microorganisms.
- On May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic apparatus went on reconnaissance and stopped at 10,902 m. It shot a video, took pictures of the bottom landscape and collected soil samples, in which microorganisms were also found.
- Finally, on March 26, 2012, film director James Cameron accomplished the feat of diving solo into the Challenger Deep. Cameron became the third person on Earth to visit the bottom of the World Ocean in its deepest place. The single-seat Deepsea Challenger was equipped with advanced deep-sea imaging equipment and powerful lighting equipment. Filming was carried out in 3G format. The Challenger Deep is featured in James Cameron's National Geographic Channel documentary.
This depression is located at the junction of the Indo-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate. Extends from the Kermadec Trench towards the Tonga Islands. Its length is 860 km and its depth is 10,882 m, which is a record in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on the planet. The Tonga region is notorious for being one of the most active seismic zones.
In 1970, on April 17, during Apollo 13's return to earth, the spent landing stage containing plutonium fell into the Tonga Trench to a depth of 6 km. No attempts were made to remove her from there.
Philippine Trench
The second deepest place in the Pacific Ocean is located in the Philippine Islands. The recorded depth of the depression is 10,540 m. The depression was formed as a result of the collision of granite and basalt layers, the latter, being heavier, was undermined by the granite layer. The process of meeting two lithospheric plates is called subduction, and the place of “meeting” is the subduction zone. In such places, tsunamis are born and earthquakes occur.
The depression runs along the volcanic ridge of the Kuril Islands on the border between Japan and Russia. The length of the trench is 1300 km, and the maximum depth is 10500 m. The depression was formed more than 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous period as a result of the collision of two tectonic plates.
It is located near the Kermadec Islands, northeast of New Zealand and in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The trench was first discovered by the Galatea group from Denmark, and the Soviet research vessel Vityaz studied the bottom of the trench in 1958 and recorded a maximum depth of 10,047 m. In 2008, an unknown species of sea slugs was discovered at the bottom of the trench, as well as deep-seated crustaceans long up to 30 cm.
Video: inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
Our blue planet is full of secrets, and we humans strive to comprehend them. We are curious by nature, learning from the past and looking forward to the future. The ocean is the cradle of humanity. When will he reveal his secrets to us? The greatest depth of the Pacific Ocean that is known to scientists - are these figures true, or is there something incomprehensible hidden under the black water?
The English deep-sea bathyscaphe Challenger first descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1951. In 1960, the bathyscaphe "Trieste" was immersed to the bottom of the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,915 m. The sound-recording device began to transmit to the surface noises reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, unclear shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy-tale dragons.
These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the research vessel became concerned that the unique equipment, made of beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel, spherical in shape with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. The decision was made to take her upstairs. The equipment was recovered from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately placed on a special raft. The television camera and echo sounder were raised onto the deck. It turned out that the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered was half sawn through. Who tried to leave the device at depth and why is an absolute mystery.
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 Haifish with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the problem, 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, sinking its teeth into the bathyscaphe, tried to chew it like a nut. Having come to their senses, the crew activated a device called an “electric gun”. The monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss. At depths of 6,000 - 11,000 km, researchers discovered:
Barophilic bacteria (developing only at high pressure);
Of the 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);
Multicellular organisms include polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.
At the depths there is no sunlight, 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?
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, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographical feature known on Earth. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.
The study of the Mariana Trench began with the British expedition of the 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 into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872.
The device recording sounds began to transmit to the surface noises reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, unclear shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy-tale dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became concerned that the unique equipment, made from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel in a NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called hedgehog with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. The decision was made to raise it immediately. The hedgehog was recovered from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately placed on a special raft. The television 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 was half sawn through. Who tried to leave the hedgehog in the depths and why is an absolute mystery. Details of this interesting experiment conducted by American oceanologists in the Mariana Trench were published in 1996 in the New York Times (USA).
James Cameron's Mariana Trench Dive
There is a place on Earth about which we know much less than about deep space - the bottom of the ocean. 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 sank to the bottom again: 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.
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 deep-sea bathyscaphe, 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. 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.
However, the underwater expedition was not entirely successful. Due to a malfunction metal "hands". operated 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.
Behind the veil of secrecy
For humans, everything unexplored has always been of great interest. And the depths of the sea hold so many secrets that more than one generation of scientists will be provided with work.
But there are points on the map that are not just covered in a veil of secrecy, but are the main theme of mystical stories.
One of these places, the Mariana Trench or Trench, is a typical relief element of continental-ocean transition zones. In such places there is a depression of the ocean floor, which is shaped like a narrow, long depression. The deepest trenches are the Pacific trenches.
The Mariana Islands gave their name to one of the deep ocean trenches two and a half thousand kilometers long. It is distinguished by a flat bottom, the width of which is 1-5 kilometers, and steep V-shaped slopes. The maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is approximately 11 kilometers. This is the deepest point of the entire World Ocean. It is more of an abyss or abyss than a depression.
What else does a person know about this mysterious place? The exploration of the Mariana Trench began in the 19th century, when the ship Challenger with members of the English expedition on board set off to take measurements of the Pacific depths. The trench area contains the oldest seabed in the world. This is what is associated with the depth of the Mariana Trench. In 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste, with two explorers on board, plunged into the deepest part of the Challenger Deep. This dive was a journey into the mystery of the deep sea, since the relief of the trench was completely unknown. The risk was great. Hollywood film director James Cameron made his contribution to the study of this issue, who, being the third person in the world to conquer the Mariana Trench, conducted research and obtained a lot of new invaluable information.
The inhabitants of the Mariana Trench require a separate discussion. Back in 1958, an expedition of Soviet scientists proved the existence of life at a depth of seven thousand meters. Before this, it was believed that it existed no further than six thousand. By the way, this expedition established that the maximum depth of the Mariana Trench is eleven thousand twenty-two meters. As for living organisms, their study is carried out by underwater vehicles made of materials characterized by high strength; at depth they are automatically piloted. The video cameras with which these devices were equipped recorded living organisms (entire colonies) below the mark of seven thousand meters. In what conditions do these one and a half meter worms, unidentified creatures two meters long with a soft body, mutated octopuses, and sea stars live? In complete darkness, absence of algae, at low temperatures and monstrous hydrostatic pressure. In such conditions, all living organisms have a truly terrifying appearance, and they feed mostly on bacteria.
The depth of the Mariana Trench holds so much that is inexplicable that oceanologists will continue to try for many years to lift the veil of secrecy over this part of the Pacific Ocean. This was once again confirmed by a Hollywood director who recently became a researcher. Having descended to a depth of eleven kilometers, he photographed a lot of interesting things.
Sources: zelenb.com, animalworld.com.ua, loveopium.ru, fb.ru
The deepest place in the world's oceans
The Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) is a deep-sea trench located in the western Pacific Ocean. Today, the Mariana Trench is the deepest place on the planet. The deepest point of the trench is called the Challenger Deep.
The history of research into the Mariana Trench begins in 1875, when the British corvette Challenger lowered a deep-sea lot into the trench and recorded a depth of 8,367 m. In 1951, the British repeated the experiment using an echo sounder and recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 m. In 1957, a Russian expedition on the vessel "Vityaz" was able to record a new depth of the depression - 11,023 m. Studies in 1995 and 2011 showed new figures - 10,920 and 10,994 m, respectively.
3 people were able to visit the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste sank to the bottom of the depression, carrying explorer Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant John Walsh. They descended to a depth of 10,918 m and dispelled the myth that life at such a depth is impossible. Bathyscaphe "Trieste" discovered flat fish about 30 cm long at the bottom of the depression.
In 1995, the Japanese probe “Kaiko” was lowered into the depression, with the help of which new microorganisms were discovered - foraminifera.
In 2012, American director James Cameron descended on the Deepsea Challenger submersible to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It reached a depth of 10,898 m. The bathyscaphe was equipped with all possible recording equipment, so Cameron was able to capture unique footage of underwater life.
Mariana Trench Map
On a satellite map, the Mariana Trench appears as a large fold on the ocean floor. The depression is a trench stretching for 1500 km. The width of the depression is from 1 to 5 km. At the bottom of the trench, mountains were discovered that were formed about 180 million years ago during the movement of lithospheric plates. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 108.6 MPa, which is 1072 times higher than the atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean.
Riddles and secrets of the Mariana Trench
The difficulty of exploring the ocean depths has led to the formation of many myths and legends around the Mariana Trench. Some believe that prehistoric monsters live at the bottom of the depression, others believe that Cthulhu sleeps there.
During the descent to the bottom of the cavity of the research apparatus "Ezh", belonging to the vessel "Glomar Challenger", recording instruments recorded some kind of metallic grinding sound. It was decided to bring the device on board. When the device was taken out of the water, they discovered that the 20-centimeter cable on which the Hedgehog was lowered into the depression was half sawn through.
February 16th, 2010
The Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographical feature known on Earth.
The depression stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7-9°) slopes, a flat bottom 1-5 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 the normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean. The depression is located at the junction of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.
Research into the Mariana Trench began with the British expedition of the Challenger, which carried out the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted corvette with sail equipment was rebuilt into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872. Also, significant contributions to the study of the Marianas deep-sea trench were made by Soviet researchers. In 1958, an expedition on the Vityaz established the presence of life at depths of more than 7000 m, thereby refuting the prevailing idea at that time about the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6000-7000 m. In 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste was immersed to the bottom Mariana Trench to a depth of 10915 m.
The device recording sounds began to transmit to the surface noises reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, unclear shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy-tale dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became worried that the unique equipment, made from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel in a NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called “hedgehog” with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. The decision was made to raise it immediately. It took more than eight hours for the “hedgehog” to be recovered from the depths. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately placed on a special raft. The television 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 was half sawn through. Who tried to leave the “hedgehog” at depth and why is an absolute mystery. Details of this interesting experiment conducted by American oceanologists in the Mariana Trench were published in 1996 in 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 Haifish with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the problem, 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, sinking its teeth into the bathyscaphe, tried to chew it like a nut. Having come 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 have always attracted people, which is why scientists all over the world want to answer the question: “What does the Mariana Trench hide in its depths?”
Can living organisms live at such great depths, and what should they look like, given the fact that they are pressed by huge masses of ocean waters, the pressure of which exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The challenges associated with exploring and understanding the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are numerous, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanographers considered the hypothesis that life could exist at depths of more than 6,000 m in impenetrable darkness, under enormous 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 ((pogonophora; from the Greek pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals living in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). Recently, the veil of secrecy has been 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),
Of the 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);
Multicellular organisms include polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.
At the depths there is no sunlight, 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?
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, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.
So, man has never been able to resist the desire to explore the unknown, and the rapidly developing world of technological progress allows us to penetrate ever deeper into the secret world of the most inhospitable and rebellious environment in the world - the World Ocean. There will be enough items 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 above sea level), was conquered only once. So, on January 23, 1960, US Navy officer Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard, protected by the armored, 12-centimeter thick walls of the bathyscaphe called Trieste, managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters.
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?
On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Donald Walsh in the bathyscaphe Trieste at a depth of 10919 m reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the World Ocean. The water temperature at this depth was 2.4 ° C (minimum temperature equal to 1.4 ° C, observed at a depth of 3600 m). The bathyscaphe "Trieste" was designed and developed by Jacques' father, the famous Swiss stratosphere explorer Auguste Piccard.
The dimensions of the capsule that housed the researchers inside the submersible are small in relation to the size of the submarine as a whole. In particular, it is noticeably superior to tanks with metal ballast, one of which is visible at the top left.
The Trieste, like other bathyscaphes, featured a pressurized, spherical steel gondola for the crew, attached to a large float filled with gasoline to provide buoyancy. A model of the Deep Sea wristwatch was attached to the outer wall of the Trieste bathyscaphe. A high degree of water protection was ensured not only by the sealed case, but also by a special liquid that filled the inner chamber of the watch instead of air.
The bathyscaphe floats on the principle of an iron. When on the surface, it is held by a huge float filled with gasoline located above the gondola with the crew. The float also has another important function: when submerged, it stabilizes the bathyscaphe vertically, preventing rocking and capsizing. When gasoline begins to slowly release from the float, which is replaced by water, the bathyscaphe begins to dive. From this moment on, the device has only one way - down to the bottom. In this case, of course, movement in the horizontal direction is also possible using propellers driven by the engine.
In order to rise to the surface, the submersible is provided with metal ballast, which can be shot, plates or blanks. Gradually freeing itself from “excess weight”, the apparatus rises. The metal ballast is held by electromagnets, so if something happens to the power supply system, the bathyscaphe immediately “soars” upward, like a balloon taking off into the sky.
One of the achievements of this dive, which had a beneficial effect on the environmental future of the planet, was the refusal of nuclear powers to bury 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.
Comparison with Everest