Many films have been shot and as many books have been written about the Mariana Trench (both documentary and fiction). Despite its great popularity, this place remains one of the least explored in the world.
The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. It is formed by two overlapping tectonic plates: the Pacific and the Marianas. The maximum depth to which a person has ever dived in this place is 10,920 meters. However, since the first descent into the Mariana Trench, many new details and facts have appeared that you should know.
- It is generally accepted that the deeper you dive into the water, the lower the water temperature will be. However, this rule does not apply in the Mariana Trench. Thanks to the presence of hydrothermal springs that heat the water and the high pressure that prevents it from boiling, the water here maintains a temperature of 1-4 degrees Celsius.
- The bottom of the Mariana Trench is covered not with sand, but with slime, which was formed as a result of the accumulation of plankton remains. And under high water pressure, everything at the bottom of the depression turns into viscous slime.
- The Mariana Trench belongs to the national monuments of the United States of America. In addition, it is the largest marine reserve in the world.
- Like all nature reserves, the Mariana Trench is very well protected. There are a number of rules that must be followed: no fishing or mining. But if you feel like swimming in this area, no one will stop you.
- The first people to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench were the American Don Walsham and the Swiss Jacques Picard. They made their historic descent on January 23, 1960 on the bathyscaphe “Trieste”.
- James Cameron became the third living person to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Thanks to this achievement, scientists were able to more thoroughly study samples from the Mariana depths, and thousands of people around the world saw the view of the Mariana Trench from the inside.
- Despite the very high pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, life is raging here (albeit in a slightly different form). For example, 10-centimeter-long poisonous xenophyophores (single-celled organisms) can be found in these sea depths.
- In addition to the mysterious single-celled animals, mollusks also live in the Mariana Trench. This is quite an unusual phenomenon, as high pressure and the presence of hydrogen sulfide are in most cases fatal to these living creatures. Scientists assume that molluscs somehow learned to convert hydrogen sulfide into a safer protein that ensures the survival of arthropods.
- In 2011, after another dive, scientists discovered four stone “bridges” at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The maximum length of one such underwater bridge is 69 kilometers. They probably arose as a result of the collision of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
- The maximum depth of the Mariana Trench today is 10,994 meters (with an error of 40 meters). For comparison, the height of Mount Everest is 8,848 meters. If you lower Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, it will completely absorb the mountain.
- For a long time, the Mariana Trench remained a great mystery, because due to the high pressure (which is 1100 times greater than above the ocean level), no one can survive in its depths without special equipment. That is why diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench is compared to suicide.
- The Mariana Trench is simply impressive with its size. It has the shape of a crescent with a length of almost 2,550 kilometers. And the maximum width of this wonder of nature is 69 kilometers.
- At the bottom of the Mariana Trench live very strange octopuses… which have no legs! They owe their peculiar structure in the form of a skirt to high pressure – by resisting it, octopuses move perfectly even without the additional help of their limbs.
- The Mariana Trench was not without human influence. So, in 2019, during another dive, Viktor Vescovo found plastic garbage on the ocean floor. Among everything there were, in particular, a plastic bag and candy wrappers.
This once again proves that humanity itself is responsible for preserving the surrounding environment (even at such depths as the Mariana Trench). What do you think about this? Write in the comments:
