Who lives at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? (7 photos). Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench Creatures at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, not far from the Mariana Islands, just two hundred kilometers away, thanks to its proximity to which it received its name. It is a huge marine reserve with the status of a US national monument, and therefore is under state protection. Fishing and mining are strictly prohibited here, but you can swim and admire the beauty.

The shape of the Mariana Trench resembles a colossal crescent - 2550 km long and 69 km wide. The deepest point - 10,994 m below sea level - is called the Challenger Deep.

Discovery and first observations

The British began to explore the Mariana Trench. In 1872, the sailing corvette Challenger entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean with scientists and the most advanced equipment of those times. After taking measurements, we established maximum depth– 8367 m. The value, of course, differs markedly from the correct result. But this was enough to understand: the deepest point had been discovered globe. Thus, another mystery of nature was “challenged” (translated from English as “Challenger” - “challenger”). Years passed, and in 1951 the British carried out “work on the mistakes.” Namely: the deep-sea echo sounder recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters.

Then the baton was picked up by Russian researchers, who sent to the area Mariana Trench research vessel "Vityaz". In 1957, with the help of special equipment, they were not only able to record the depth of the depression as 11,022 m, but also established the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. Thus, making a small revolution in scientific world the middle of the 20th century, where there was a strong opinion that such deeply living beings do not and cannot exist. This is where the fun begins... Lots of stories about underwater monsters, huge octopuses, crushed into a flat cake by the huge paws of animals in unprecedented bathyscaphes... Where is the truth and where is the lie - let’s try to figure it out.

Secrets, riddles and legends

The first daredevils who dared to dive to the “bottom of the Earth” were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard. They dived on the bathyscaphe "Trieste", which was built in the Italian city of the same name. A very heavy structure with thick 13-centimeter walls was immersed in the bottom for five hours. Having reached the lowest point, the researchers stayed there for 12 minutes, after which an ascent was immediately begun, which took approximately 3 hours. At the bottom, fish were found - flat, flounder-like, about 30 centimeters long.

Research continued, and in 1995 the Japanese descended into the “abyss”. Another “breakthrough” was made in 2009 with the help of the automatic underwater vehicle “Nereus”: this miracle of technology not only took several photographs in the most deep point Earth, but also took soil samples.

In 1996, the New York Times published shocking material about the diving of equipment from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger into the Mariana Trench. The team affectionately nicknamed the spherical apparatus for deep-sea travel “the hedgehog.” Some time after the start of the dive, the instruments recorded terrifying sounds reminiscent of the grinding of metal on metal. “The Hedgehog” was immediately raised to the surface, and they were horrified: the huge steel structure was crushed, and the strongest and thickest (20 cm in diameter!) cable seemed to have been sawed off. Many explanations were immediately found. Some said that these were “tricks” of the inhabitants natural object monsters, others were inclined to the version of the presence of an alien intelligence, and still others believed that it could not have happened without mutated octopuses! True, there was no evidence, and all assumptions remained at the level of conjecture and conjecture...

The same mysterious incident occurred with a German research team that decided to lower the Haifish apparatus into the waters of the abyss. But for some reason he stopped moving, and the cameras impartially displayed on the monitor screens an image of the shocking size of a lizard that was trying to chew through the steel “thing.” The team was not at a loss and “scared away” the unknown beast with an electric discharge from the device. He swam away and never appeared again... One can only regret that for some reason those who came across such unique inhabitants of the Mariana Trench did not have the equipment that would allow them to photograph them.

At the end of the 90s of the last century, at the time of the “discovery” of the monsters of the Mariana Trench by the Americans, the “fouling” of this geographical feature legends. Fishermen (poachers) talked about glows from its depths, lights running back and forth, and various unidentified flying objects floating up from there. Crews of small ships reported that ships in the area were being “towed at great speed” by a monster possessing incredible strength.

Confirmed evidence

Along with many legends associated with the Mariana Trench, there are also incredible facts, supported by irrefutable evidence.

In 1918, Australian lobster fishermen reported seeing a transparent white fish about 30 meters long in the sea. According to the description it looks like ancient shark species Carcharodon megalodon, which lived in the seas 2 million years ago. Scientists from the surviving remains were able to recreate the appearance of a shark - a monstrous creature 25 meters long, weighing 100 tons and an impressive two-meter mouth with teeth 10 cm each. Can you imagine such “teeth”! And it was they who were recently found by oceanologists at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean! The “youngest” of the discovered artifacts… is “only” 11 thousand years old!

This find allows us to be sure that not all megalodons went extinct two million years ago. Perhaps the waters of the Mariana Trench hide these incredible predators from human eyes? Research continues; the depths still conceal many unsolved secrets.

Features of the deep sea world

The water pressure at the lowest point of the Mariana Trench is 108.6 MPa, that is, 1072 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. A vertebrate animal simply cannot survive in such monstrous conditions. But, oddly enough, mollusks have taken root here. How their shells withstand such colossal water pressure is unclear. The discovered mollusks are an incredible example of “survival”. They exist next to serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which not only do not pose a threat to the “population” found here, but also contribute to the formation of living organisms in such a seemingly aggressive environment. But hydrothermal springs also emit gas that is lethal to shellfish - hydrogen sulfide. But “cunning” and life-hungry mollusks have learned to process hydrogen sulfide into protein, and continue, as they say, to live happily in the Mariana Trench.

Another incredible mystery of a deep-sea object is the Champagne hydrothermal spring, named after the famous French (and not only) alcoholic drink. It's all about the bubbles that “bubble” in the waters of the source. Of course, these are by no means bubbles of your favorite champagne - these are liquid carbon dioxide. Thus, the only underwater source of liquid carbon dioxide in the whole world is located precisely in the Mariana Trench. Such sources are called “white smokers”, their temperature is lower than environment, and there are always fumes around them that look like white smoke. Thanks to these sources, hypotheses were born about the origin of all life on earth in water. Low temperature, abundance chemical substances, colossal energy - all this created excellent conditions for ancient representatives of flora and fauna.

The temperature in the Mariana Trench is also very favorable - from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. “Black smokers” took care of this. Hydrothermal springs, the antipode of “white smokers,” contain a large number of ore substances, and therefore they are dark in color. These springs are located here at a depth of about 2 kilometers and spew out water whose temperature is about 450 degrees Celsius. I immediately remember a school physics course, from which we know that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. So what's going on? Is the spring spewing boiling water? Fortunately, no. It's all about the colossal water pressure - it is 155 times higher than on the surface of the Earth, so H 2 O does not boil, but it significantly “heats up” the waters of the Mariana Trench. The water of these hydrothermal springs is incredibly rich in various minerals, which also contributes to the comfortable habitat of living creatures.

Incredible facts

How many more mysteries and incredible wonders does this incredible place conceal? A bunch of. At a depth of 414 meters, the Daikoku volcano is located here, which served as further evidence that life originated here, at the deepest point of the globe. In the crater of the volcano, underwater, there is a lake of pure molten sulfur. In this “boiler”, sulfur bubbles at a temperature of 187 degrees Celsius. The only known analogue of such a lake is located on Jupiter’s satellite Io. There is nothing else like it on Earth. Only in space. It is no wonder that most hypotheses about the origin of life from water are associated precisely with this mysterious deep-sea object in the vast Pacific Ocean.

Let's remember a little school biology course. The simplest living creatures are amoebas. Tiny, single-celled, they can only be seen through a microscope. They reach, as it is written in textbooks, a length of half a millimeter. Giant giants discovered in the Mariana Trench toxic amoebas 10 centimeters long. Can you imagine this? Ten centimeters! That is, this single-celled Living being can be clearly seen with the naked eye. Isn't this a miracle? As a result scientific research It has been established that amoebas acquired such gigantic sizes for their class of single-celled organisms by adapting to the “unsweetened” life at the bottom of the sea. Cold water coupled with its colossal pressure and lack of sun rays contributed to the “growth” of amoebas, which are called xenophyophores. The incredible abilities of xenophyophores are quite surprising: they have adapted to the effects of most destructive substances - uranium, mercury, lead. And they live in this environment, just like mollusks. In general, the Mariana Trench is a miracle of miracles, where everything living and nonliving is perfectly combined, and the most harmful chemical elements that can kill any organism not only do not harm living things, but, on the contrary, promote survival.

The local bottom has been studied in some detail and is not of particular interest - it is covered with a layer of viscous mucus. There is no sand there, there are only the remains of crushed shells and plankton that have been lying there for thousands of years, and due to water pressure have long since turned into thick grayish-yellow mud. And the calm and measured life of the seabed is disturbed only by the bathyscaphes of researchers that descend here from time to time.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Research continues

Everything secret and unknown has always attracted man. And with each secret revealed, new mysteries on our planet did not become fewer. All this fully applies to the Mariana Trench.

At the end of 2011, researchers discovered unique natural formations made of stone, shaped like bridges. Each of them stretched from one end to the other for as much as 69 km. Scientists had no doubt: this is where the tectonic plates – the Pacific and the Philippine – come into contact, and stone bridges (four in total) were formed at their junction. True, the very first of the bridges - Dutton Ridge - was opened in the late 80s of the last century. He impressed then with his size and height, which were the size of a small mountain. In its own high point, located just above the Challenger Deep, this deep-sea “ridge” reaches two and a half kilometers.

Why did nature need to build such bridges, and even in such a mysterious and inaccessible place for people? The purpose of these objects still remains unclear. In 2012, James Cameron, the creator of the legendary film Titanic, dived into the Mariana Trench. Unique equipment and most powerful cameras installed on it Bathyscaphe DeepSea Challenge, allowed us to film the majestic and deserted “bottom of the Earth.” It is unknown how long he would have been observing local landscapes if some problems had not arisen on the device. In order not to risk his life, the researcher was forced to rise to the surface.

In collaboration with The National Geographic the talented director created the documentary “Challenge the Abyss.” In his story about the dive, he called the bottom of the depression “the border of life.” Emptiness, silence, and nothing, not the slightest movement or disturbance of the water. Neither sunlight, no shellfish, no algae, much less sea monsters. But this is only at first glance. Over twenty thousand different microorganisms were found in the bottom soil samples taken by Cameron. Great amount. How do they survive under such incredible water pressure? Still a mystery. Among the inhabitants of the depression, a shrimp-like amphipod was also discovered that produces a unique chemical substance that scientists are testing as a vaccine against Alzheimer's disease.

While staying at the deepest point not only of the world's oceans, but of the entire Earth, James Cameron did not meet any scary monsters, no representatives of extinct animal species, no alien base, not to mention any incredible miracles. The feeling that he was completely alone here was a real shock. The ocean floor seemed deserted and, as the director himself said, “lunar... lonely.” The feeling of complete isolation from all humanity was such that it cannot be expressed in words. However, he still tried to do this in his documentary. Well, you probably shouldn’t be surprised that the Mariana Trench is silent and shocking with its desolation. After all, she simply sacredly guards the secret of the origin of all life on Earth...

The depression is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and still worries scientists huge interest. This is because exploring its depths is a difficult task due to the high water pressure. However, researchers have long determined that there is life at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, despite the enormous pressure, complete darkness and low temperature. And it is absolutely unique, and sometimes even terrifying. It is supported by geysers that release numerous minerals into the water. They support life at the bottom of the depression.

In the Mariana Trench there is an active volcano called Daikoku, which is located at a depth of 400 meters. He is absolutely unique. Scientists discovered a natural phenomenon similar to it only on Jupiter’s satellite, Io. The fact is that regular eruptions formed a lake of pure molten sulfur in the crater. This pit bubbles with a black mixture at a temperature of 187 degrees Celsius.

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench there is viscous silt, which is essentially the remains of mollusks and plankton. Considering that it is considered the oldest part of the ocean, you can imagine how long it took this layer to form.

Numerous studies

In 1960, the American bathyscaphe Trief sank to the flat bottom of the Mariana Trench and stayed there for 12 minutes. Alas, no one else managed to repeat this feat. While in the gutter, the researchers managed to see several fish unknown to science.

In the 90s of the last century, scientists managed to take soil samples from the bottom of the Mariana Trench. They discovered microorganisms that were several billion years old. However, they are not the only ones who live in the mysterious depths of the trench. Monster fish live there, the appearance of which is worthy of horror films. In 2009, researchers also discovered amazing fish emitting light.

It is noteworthy that as a result of several dives, the equipment was damaged. In 1996, the New York Times published shocking material about the diving of equipment from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger into the Mariana Trench. Researchers claim to have heard terrifying sounds of scraping metal, and after lifting the equipment they discovered that it had been partially sawn. A similar incident occurred with the apparatus of the German Haifish team. It is noteworthy that the monitors showed a huge lizard trying to chew through a steel object.

James Cameron, director of Titanic, also dived to the bottom of the depression in 2012. He and his team spent three years designing a submersible submersible. He claimed that at its bottom he was overcome by a feeling of loneliness, as if he was cut off from the whole world.

So, what do we know about the animals of the Mariana Trench? Who lives in its depths? Animal world The Mariana Trench, in theory, cannot be diverse. However, it is inhabited by truly unique creatures. For example, there you can find creepy one and a half meter worms, mutated octopuses, huge starfish and some other two-meter soft-bodied creatures whose names have not yet been invented.

Amoeba is a single-celled organism. We were taught this at school. However, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench live amoebas whose size reaches 10 cm. Moreover, they are resistant to mercury, lead and other elements of the periodic table, which are harmful to humans.

Clams whose bodies are covered with shells also raise questions. The fact is that the pressure at depth is so great that even calcium is found there only in liquid form. Vertebrates cannot live there. If you placed a turtle on the bottom, the shell would crush its body. However, mollusks covered with shells live well on the bottom. There are also much more unusual animals in the Mariana Trench.

This is a relict representative of the cartilaginous fish family. Why relict? Because since its existence in Cretaceous period she hasn't changed a bit.

The fish got its name from its six rows of wavy gills, about 1.8 meters long. But these are small things compared to the 20 rows of sharp jagged teeth. Its snake-like body reaches almost 2 meters in length. It feeds not only on mollusks or flounder, but also on other types of sharks. Although the shark lives at a depth of 1000 meters, so it rarely comes across its relatives. Scientists have recently discovered that, if necessary, this type capable of vertical migration, that is, approaching the surface.

Another view of the terrifying inhabitants of the Mariana Trench. Its animals are truly unique. The goblin shark (or goblin) lives at a depth of 900 meters. Moreover, the older she is, the deeper she sinks. Therefore, the chance of meeting it in coastal waters is small. Its length is more than five meters.

This creature reaches a length of only 16 cm, but is a ferocious predator. sea ​​creature very reminiscent of a representative of an alien civilization - a predator from the film "Alien". Unfortunately, scientists were not able to study the fish, since after rising to the surface it lived only a short time due to temperature changes. However, it is known that her body is capable of emitting light, which lures potential prey to her.

It lives at a depth of 3000 meters. Its lifespan in the depths is about 30-40 years. This creature is notable for having huge fangs that extend beyond its jaw. Hunts dragon fish.

This amazing animal, living in the Mariana Trench, has a translucent body and amazing eyes that resemble tubes. Eight tentacles are connected by thin threads, like a web. They can rotate around their own axis. Amphitretus descends to a depth of 2000 meters.

This amazing but eerie creature resembles a cleaver floating at a depth of 1.5 thousand meters. Like good night lights, hatchets can change the degree of their glow depending on how much light comes from the surface. This trick helps them remain undetected by predators.

The uniqueness of this fish is that it has a transparent head, inside of which you can see its... eyes. They usually look up to see potential prey.

This fish was discovered back in 1939 at a depth of almost 800 meters. However, little is known about it, since the recovered specimen died before it was pulled to the surface.

Animals that live at the bottom have been little studied. However, we probably don’t even know all of their types. So, for many years there have been suggestions that relict monsters can be found at the bottom of the depression. This theory is based on numerous stories of researchers who have repeatedly retrieved crumpled steel equipment from the depths. So what kind of animals can live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?

Speculation has been fueled by a megalodon tooth found recently. Its age is only 11,000 years. Although it was previously believed that twenty-five-meter sharks became extinct 2 million years ago. But perhaps they sank to the bottom of the depression and still live there. In addition, submarines also periodically notice huge creatures. Alas, we were never able to photograph them. There are also messages coming from satellites. They sometimes detect strange huge objects that rest near the surface of the water.

As children, we all read many legends about incredible sea ​​monsters ah, inhabiting the ocean floor, always knowing that these are just fairy tales. But we were wrong! These incredible creatures can be found even today if you dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the very deep place on the ground. What does the Mariana Trench hide and who is it? mysterious inhabitants- read our article.

The deepest place on the planet is the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench- is located in the western Pacific Ocean near Guam, east of the Mariana Islands, from which its name comes. The shape of the trench resembles a crescent, about 2,550 km long and an average width of 69 km.

According to the latest data, the depth Mariana Trench is 10,994 meters ± 40 meters, which even exceeds the highest point on the planet - Everest (8,848 meters). So this mountain could well be placed at the bottom of the depression, moreover, there would still be about 2,000 meters of water above the top of the mountain. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1100 times more than usual atmospheric pressure.

Man only fell to the bottom twice Mariana Trench. The first dive was made on January 23, 1960 by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Piccard in the bathyscaphe Trieste. They stayed at the bottom for only 12 minutes, but during this time they managed to meet flat fish, although according to all possible assumptions there should have been no life at such a depth.

The second human dive took place on March 26, 2012. The third person who touched the secrets Mariana Trench, became a film director James Cameron. He dived on the single-man Deepsea Challenger and spent enough time there to take samples, take pictures and film 3D video. Later, the footage he shot formed the basis documentary film for the National Geographic Channel.

Due to the strong pressure, the bottom of the depression is covered not with ordinary sand, but with viscous mucus. For many years, the remains of plankton and crushed shells accumulated there, which formed the bottom. And again, due to pressure, almost everything is at the bottom Mariana Trench turns into fine grayish-yellow thick mud.

Sunlight has never reached the bottom of the depression, and we expect the water there to be icy. But its temperature varies from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. IN Mariana Trench at a depth of approximately 1.6 km are the so-called “black smokers”, hydrothermal vents that shoot water up to 450 degrees Celsius.

Thanks to this water Mariana Trench life is supported as it is rich in minerals. By the way, despite the fact that the temperature is significantly higher than the boiling point, water does not boil due to very strong pressure.

At approximately a depth of 414 meters there is the Daikoku volcano, which is the source of one of the most rare phenomena on the planet there are lakes of pure molten sulfur. In the solar system, this phenomenon can only be found on Io, a satellite of Jupiter. So, in this "cauldron" the bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. So far, scientists have not been able to study it in detail, but if in the future they can advance in their research, they may be able to explain how life appeared on Earth.

But the most interesting thing about Mariana Trench- these are its inhabitants. After it was established that there was life in the depression, many expected to find incredible sea monsters there. For the first time, the expedition of the research vessel Glomar Challenger encountered something unidentified. They lowered a device into the depression, the so-called “hedgehog” with a diameter of about 9 m, made in a NASA laboratory from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel.

Some time after the descent of the apparatus began, the device recording sounds began to transmit to the surface some kind of metallic grinding sound, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. And unclear shadows appeared on the monitors, reminiscent of dragons with several heads and tails. Soon, scientists became worried that the valuable apparatus might remain forever in the depths of the Mariana Trench and decided to lift it onto the ship. But when they removed the hedgehog from the water, their surprise only intensified: the strongest steel beams of the structure were deformed, and the 20-centimeter steel cable on which it was lowered into the water was half sawn through.

However, perhaps this story was embellished too much by the newspapers, since later researchers discovered very unusual creatures, but not dragons.

Xenophyophores are giant, 10-centimeter amoebas that live at the very bottom Mariana Trench. Most likely due to strong pressure, lack of light and relatively low temperatures these amoebas acquired enormous sizes for their species. But in addition to their impressive size, these creatures are also resistant to many chemical elements and substances, including uranium, mercury and lead, which are lethal to other living organisms.

Pressure in M ariana trench turns glass and wood into powder, so only creatures without bones or shells can live here. But in 2012, scientists discovered a mollusk. How he preserved his shell is still not known. In addition, hydrothermal springs emit hydrogen sulfide, which is fatal to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.

And that is not all. Below you can see some of the inhabitants Mariana Trench, which scientists managed to capture.

Mariana Trench and its inhabitants

While our gaze is directed to the sky towards the unsolved mysteries of space, our planet remains unsolved mystery- ocean. To date, only 5% of the world's oceans and secrets have been studied Mariana Trench it's just small part secrets that are hidden under the water.

Even though the oceans are closer to us than distant planets 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 others Interesting Facts about what can be found 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 temperature, high pressure and the lack of sunlight most likely contributed to the fact that 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 familiar 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 bridge , 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.

I think each of us has definitely heard about the Mariana Trench, but most of us educational facts You definitely didn’t know about the deepest geographical object known on Earth, which I will tell you in the continuation of the post. I advise you to read it, a lot of interesting data.

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.

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.
Also, a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana deep-sea trench was 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.

Drawing general view device indicating the main features

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).

Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard before the Trieste submersion

Close up of a deep sea sphere.

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 around the world want to answer the question: “What does the Mariana Trench hide in its depths?”

Can they live on such enormous depth living organisms, and what they should look like, given the fact that huge masses are pressing on them ocean waters, whose pressure 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 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 as madness. However, the results of research by scientists in Pacific Ocean showed that 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, open on both sides ends of the tubes). IN Lately The veil of secrecy was 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);
from multicellular - 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, extraordinary sea ​​stars and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.
So, man could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, but quickly developing world technological progress allows us to penetrate deeper into secret world the most inhospitable and unruly environment in the world - the oceans. There will be enough items for research in the Mariana Trench for another long years, considering 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, officer naval forces USA 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?