What is a deep depression called? The deepest places on earth. Mysteries of the Mariana Trench
We still know very little about our planet. This is especially true for the depths of oceans and seas. But even on land there are places that capture the human imagination. For example, the most deep places on the ground. What we know about them and where the lowest points of the earth's surface are located - more on that later.
IN Everyday life There are rarely huge holes or cliffs, but our planet has a varied landscape. Along with the highest mountain peaks meet and the deepest places on our planet- both natural and man-made.
1,642 m
It would be a mistake to think that the deepest places on Earth are only in the oceans and seas. Baikal has a depth of 1,642 meters and is among the lakes. Locals That’s why Baikal is often called the sea. This depth is explained by the tectonic origin of the lake. Many other records and amazing discoveries are associated with this place. Baikal can be called the largest natural reservoir fresh water on the ground. This is the oldest lake on our planet (it is more than 25 million years old) and two-thirds of the flora and fauna of the reservoir are found nowhere else.
Krubera-Voronya Cave 2,196 m
There are also giants among the caves. The Krubera-Voronya cave (Abkhazia) is one of the deepest places on Earth. Its depth is 2,196 meters. It should be noted that we are talking about the studied part of the cave. It is possible that the next expedition will go even lower and establish new record depths. The karst cave consists of wells connected by passages and galleries. It was first opened in 1960. Then speleologists were able to descend to a depth of 95 meters. The two-kilometer limit was overcome by a Ukrainian expedition of speleologists in 2004.
TauTona Mine 4,000 m
The TauTona Mine in South Africa is the deepest mine on Earth. It is located in the Republic of South Africa, near Johannesburg. This world's largest gold mine goes 4 kilometers into the ground. At this incredible depth there is a whole underground city with a network of kilometer-long tunnels. To get to their workplace, miners have to spend about an hour. Working at such a depth is associated with a large number of dangers - humidity, which reaches 100% in some branches of the mine, high air temperatures, the danger of an explosion from gas leaking into the tunnels and collapse from earthquakes, which occur here quite often. But all the dangers of work and the costs of maintaining the functionality of the mine are generously paid for by the mined gold - over the entire history of the mine’s existence, 1,200 tons of the precious metal were mined here.
12,262 m
The deepest well on Earth is the Kola superdeep well, which is located in Russia. This is one of the most unusual and interesting experiments carried out by Soviet scientists. Drilling began in 1970 and had only one goal - to find out more about the Earth's crust. The Kola Peninsula was chosen for the experiment because the oldest rocks on Earth, about 3 million years old, come to the surface here. They were also of great interest to scientists. The depth of the well is 12,262 meters. It made it possible to make unexpected discoveries and forced us to reconsider scientific ideas about the occurrence of rocks on the Earth. Unfortunately, the well, created for purely scientific purposes, did not find use in subsequent years, and a decision was made to mothball it.
9,810 m
In 1873-76, the American oceanographic vessel Tuscarora surveyed the seabed for laying an underwater cable. Lot abandoned at Japanese islands Izu, recorded a depth of 8,500 meters. Later, the Soviet ship Vityaz in 1955 established the maximum depth of the depression at 9810 meters.
10,542 m
- This is not only one of the deepest places on Earth, the depression is also the narrowest in Pacific Ocean. The width of the trench is 59 meters, and the maximum depth is 10,542 meters. The depression is located in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. In the middle of the last century, Soviet scientists studied it on the Vityaz ship. No further detailed studies have been carried out. The trench was discovered by the American ship Tuscarora and bore this name for a long time until it was renamed.
10,047 m
Located in the Pacific Ocean near the Kermadec Islands. The maximum depth of the depression is 10,047 meters. Explored by the Soviet ship "Vityaz". In 2008, a previously unknown species of sea slug from the snail fish family was discovered at a depth of 7 kilometers in the Kermadec Trench. The researchers were also surprised by other dwellings of this deepest place on Earth - huge 30-centimeter crustaceans.
10,540 m
Unlocks the three deepest points on the planet. 10,540 meters is its depth. It was formed millions of years ago as a result of the collision of the earth's plates. Located in the east of the Philippine archipelago. By the way, scientists have long believed that the Philippine Trench is the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean.
10,882 m
Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, near the Tonga Islands. This area is extremely interesting because it is a very active seismic zone. Several events take place here every year. strong earthquakes. The depth of the trench is 10,882 meters. It is only 100 meters smaller than the Mariana Trench. The difference is about a percent, but it makes the Tonga Trench the second deepest place on Earth.
10,994 m
It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and is shaped like a crescent moon. The length of the trench is more than 2.5 thousand kilometers, and the longest deep point is 10,994 meters. It is called the Challenger Deep.
The deepest place on Earth was discovered in 1875 by the English ship Challenger. Today, the trench is the most studied of all other deep-sea trenches. They tried to reach its bottom during four dives: in 1960, 1995, 2009 and 2012. The last time director James Cameron descended into the Mariana Trench all alone. Most of all, the bottom of the trench reminded him of the lifeless lunar surface. But, unlike the Earth’s satellite, the Mariana Trench is inhabited by living organisms. Researchers have found here toxic amoebas, mollusks and deep-sea fish that look very scary. Since a full-scale study of the trench, other than short-term dives, has not been carried out, the Mariana Trench may still hide a lot of interesting things.
Mariinskaya Trench
“Challenger Deep”, “Earth’s Fourth Pole” - this is what researchers call the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) - the deepest, inaccessible and mysterious ocean trench of our Earth. The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, its length is 2926 km and its width is 80 km. The deepest point of the depression, the Challenger Deep, is at a depth of 11,022 meters and is located three hundred and twenty kilometers south of the island of Guam.
These kinds of deep places have been very little explored. Experts still cannot study those terrible-looking living creatures that hide in such terrible depths. The research began with the English ship Challenger. This happened from December 1872 to May 1876. This ship was the first to make systematic measurements of depths in the Pacific Ocean. The Challenger Deep got its name in honor of this vessel.
The research of Soviet scientists was also important. They, on the ship "Vityaz", in 1958 established that there is life at a depth of seven kilometers and refuted the opinion of those who believed that life could not exist at a depth of more than 6-7 km.
Life at a depth of 11 kilometers
In 1960, piloted by Jacques Piccard and Don Welsh, the bathyscaphe Trieste reached the Challenger Deep. This dive, which lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes, ended at a depth of 10,911 meters (according to other sources, 10,915 meters). The pressure at this depth is 108.6 MPa, which is 1100 times more than normal atmospheric pressure. Under such pressure, all living things are flattened. It would seem that nothing could live at such a depth. This consideration guided the nuclear powers when they used the Mariana Trench to bury radioactive waste. However, the researchers were able to see living creatures, thirty-centimeter fish, at such a depth. Thus, a very important oceanological study was made.
It is worth noting that only recently the record for this dive was broken. The only one who went down to the bottom of the depression, after Picard and Walsh, was the Canadian director James Cameron. His descent took 2 hours 36 minutes, his ascent 70 minutes, and he stayed at depth for about 3 hours.
Further research was carried out using a Kaiko apparatus, made in Japan. This happened in the nineties. This unit made three dives. It was controlled remotely via a so-called fiber-optic cable.
Catamaran Nereus
The third deep-sea vehicle, which reached the Mariana Trench and, after taking soil samples, conducted video and photography there, illuminating itself only with an LED spotlight, was the Nereus catamaran. This event occurred on May 31, 2009. During this dive, the devices showed that the depth was 10902 meters. Kaiko recorded 10911 meters, and Walsh and Picard noted the value of 10912 meters. On most Russian maps, the mark is 11022 meters: data obtained by the Vityaz vessel. This difference in data can only indicate that any measurements are not very accurate.
The Mariana Trench is a junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates. This zone is known for the most frequent earthquakes and eruptions, that is, it is the most seismically active in the world. According to modern research by scientists, at such a depth, which is much lower than 6000 meters, there are many living creatures. First of all, these are pogonophora - colonies of organisms. They are invertebrates that live in chitinous tubes. These tubes are long, and at both ends they are open.
Barophilic bacteria
Barophilic bacteria also live at such depths. This is the name given to bacteria that develop only under very high pressure. Of the protozoa, foraminifera live there. These living creatures, a subclass of rhizomes, have a cytoplasmic body and are covered with a shell. Also included among the protozoa are xenophyophores. These living creatures can be described as giant amoebas. Their length can reach as much as 10 centimeters. Multicellular microorganisms that also live in such terrible depths include amphipods, isopods, sea cucumbers, polychaetes, as well as gastropods and bivalves.
The food of the inhabitants of the abyss is bacteria, as well as organic detritus and “corpses” coming from higher depths. Deep animals are both blind and have eyes that can be called very developed. Often these eyes are telescopic. Many cephalopods and fish at such depths have photorecords, and some other forms have luminous parts of the body or, perhaps, the surface of the body generally glows.
Worms of the Mariinskaya Trench
The sight of deep-sea animals is very terrible. Among them there are worms whose length is 1.5 meters. They have neither mouth nor anus. There are also mutant octopuses and some very strange starfish. And there are even such creatures, soft-bodied in appearance, about two meters long, which, even at given time, and were not identified.
Although research into the Mariana Trench has made much progress, even more questions and mysteries have arisen. Their research is ahead. But since the ocean keeps its secrets well, a natural question arises: how quickly will further research progress?
Of the 5 existing oceans in the world, only the Pacific can boast of its size and depth. Its area extends from the Arctic to the Southern oceans and amounts to 169.2 million km².
It owns almost half (46%) of the world's water space. If we take the entire globe as 100%, then the Pacific Ocean accounts for 30% of the entire surface on the planet.
Which ocean is the deepest? Still the same Quiet! And only thanks to the Mariana Trench, which, according to scientists, was formed as a result of the collision of two oceanic plates. The depth of the Mariana Trench is impressive - 11035 meters!
It is noteworthy that the deepest point of the ocean is further away from sea level than highest point on the planet - Mount Everest above it.
5 water deserts of the world
There is much more water on Earth than land. People have discovered continents and islands, but most of the globe is hidden under water.
The entire globe is covered by the waters of five oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern. The single water element of the world ocean changes its properties as latitude changes.
As we can see from the table, the Pacific Ocean is rightfully considered the largest and deepest. The Challenger Deep is the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, its depth is 11,035 meters.
The oceanic trench is named Mariana because of the islands of the same name located around it.
And the smallest ocean is the Arctic Ocean, whose area is 11 times smaller than the Pacific. But it ranks second after Quiet in terms of the number of islands on it, one of which, Greenland, is the largest in the world.
Great and varied
Previously the most deep ocean in the world they called it “Great”, since it owns 50% of the surface of the world’s oceans. It is located north and south of the equator, and it is at the equator that its width is maximum. That's why it's the warmest.
The Pacific Ocean affects almost all climatic zones, so here we present different types flora and fauna.
The ocean does not live up to its name; it is far from quiet. But this is not surprising; at one time they could call Greenland a green country, and Iceland an icy one.
Different winds blow in different parts of it, called trade winds, monsoons, hurricanes constantly sweep over its surface, and storms very often rage in the temperate part of the ocean. Waves reach 30 meters in height, and raging typhoons can raise huge columns of water.
Temperature The water surface varies greatly, in the north it can drop to -1˚С, and at the equator it can reach +29˚С.
In addition, more precipitation falls over the surface of the giant than moisture evaporates, so the water in the ocean is less salty than usual.
Due to the fact that it is located in many climatic zones, the world of flora and fauna here is very rich and diverse.
The diversity of nature gives rise to incredible fertility of water masses: in different places Researchers have discovered large schools of fish - from salmon to herring. The Pacific fleets are famous for the industrial fishing of horse mackerel, mackerel, butterfish, flounder, pollock and other species.
An abundance of fish is essential for seabirds. Therefore, penguins, pelicans, cormorants and seagulls will always find something to eat. There are also famous whales here, which can be recognized from afar by the huge fountains of water on the sea surface. There are a lot of seals and sea beavers.
A wide variety of shellfish, crabs, squid, and urchins. The largest mollusk that lives only in the Pacific Ocean, the tridacna, weighs about a quarter of a ton. There are many sharks, huge tuna and sailfish living in it.
The ocean also boasts its own mountain range. It was created over millions of years by living organisms and has such a height, only under water, as Ural ridge. This is the largest natural complex on earth, called the Great Barrier Reef.
The variety of colors, different shades in which coral colonies are painted create for diving Magic world, ready to captivate anyone. These include quaint castles, colorful floral arrangements, and mysterious mushrooms. The diversity of echinoderms, different breeds of crayfish, mollusks, and exotic fish is amazing.
There are fifty countries located on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, representing half the world's population.
Woodingdean (England)- the deepest well in the world, dug by hand. Its construction began in 1858. Initially, it was planned to dig only 122 m, but no water was found at this depth, and then we had to wade further into the bowels of the Earth, reaching a depth of 392 m (this is more than the Empire State Building!) Like everything grandiose, the construction of the well cost human lives victims At least one of the diggers died while working hard in merciless conditions, climbing down flimsy ladders every day. Prisoners from a nearby prison were used as labor to create the well.
Tagebau Hambach (Germany)- the deepest open pit in the world, the depth of which is 370 m. However, the mine is famous not only for its depth. Thus, Tagebau Hambach uses the largest excavator: with its help, about 24 thousand tons of brown coal are lifted to the surface every day. That's not all - next to the quarry is the world's largest artificial hill, Sophienhöhe, from the top of which you can view the mine in all its glory. The hill rises 301.8 m above sea level, i.e. it is almost as high as the quarry is deep.
El Zacaton (Mexico)- a beautiful (and dangerous for risky divers) karst sinkhole. Naturally, the deepest in the world. Sinkholes can form suddenly, including in residential areas, and such collapses can be disastrous. However, the El Zakaton sinkhole is not new: it was formed during the Pleistocene (that is, in the period 2.588-11.7 million years ago). In addition to its depth (339 m) and glorious age, what adds special charm to it is the fact that the depression is filled with water. This “reservoir” has attracted brave divers more than once, but only a robot managed to sink to the very bottom.
Lake Baikal- the deepest lake in the world (1642 m) and one of most beautiful places on the planet, which attracts both tourists and scientists. Dives of manned vehicles to the bottom of the lake have been taking place since 1977. In 2009, the Mir bathyscaphe sank to a depth of 1640 m and reached what is supposedly the deepest point of the bottom. In total, during the “Worlds” expedition on Baikal during 2008–2010, 160 dives were made on the famous deep-sea vehicles “Mir-1” and “Mir-2”.
Krubera Cave, or Crow Cave (Abkhazia)- the most deep cave in the world (2199 m) and the only known to people cave, deeper than 2 km. The karst cave, discovered in 1960, was named after the master of Russian karst studies, Alexander Kruber. The second name - Crow Cave - appeared in the 1980s, when Ukrainian speleologists reached a depth of 340 m: this name is due to the crows that lived in the cave. Since 2000, the Krubera Cave has attracted researchers from all over the world, who discover new passages and galleries every year. The Crow Cave may contain many more interesting things, but its secrets will only be revealed to those who do not suffer from claustrophobia.
Kidd Mine (Ontario, Canada)- the world's deepest copper-zinc mine, extending 2733 m below the sea. This is not the deepest mine in the world, but... The quarry is located in the north, it is closest to the center of the Earth of all existing mines. Its history begins in 1964, since then this open-pit mine has been expanding underground. Every year, more than 2 thousand workers mine millions of tons of ore here. Additional deepening of the quarry is planned in 2017.
Litke gutter- the most deep depression in the Arctic Ocean and throughout the Eurasian basin is located 350 km from the “Arctic desert” of the island of Spitsbergen. The trench is not only deep (5449 m), but also cold - perhaps the Lithuanian Trench can be called one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. The depth was discovered in 1955 by members of the expedition of the icebreaker "Fedor Litke", after which it was named.
Milwaukee depth- the deepest point of the trench of Puerto Rico and the entire Atlantic Ocean, going 8740 m below sea level. Like the Litke Trench, the Milwaukee Deep is named after the vessel that first recorded it, the USS Milwaukee. The depth of Milwaukee became known on February 14, 1939. The Puerto Rican depression itself is located on the border Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean - where the fault passes. According to many geologists, a volcanic eruption is possible in this place soon, which, in turn, will cause a powerful tsunami.
Mariana Trench, like other deepest depressions - the Tonga Trench, the Philippine Trench, the Kermadec, the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench - is located in the Pacific Ocean. Its deepest point, the so-called Challenger Deep, is 11,034 m below sea level. No wonder she attracts people to her. Thus, Hollywood director James Cameron and businessman Richard Branson competed to see who would be able to reach the bottom of the Martian trench first and become the third person in history to go so deep. Cameron won.
Kola superdeep well- the deepest place on our planet, and it was created by human efforts (surprisingly, not for the purpose of extracting natural resources, but exclusively for scientific research). It is located in the Murmansk region, and its depth is 12,262 m. Previously, more than 10 research laboratories worked at the Kola superdeep well, studying ancient rocks whose age exceeded 2.8 billion years. Today the well is mothballed and is in disrepair.
What do we know about the deepest place in the World Ocean? This is the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench.
What is its depth? This is not a simple question...
But definitely not 14 kilometers!
In cross-section, the Mariana Trench has a characteristic V-shaped profile with very steep slopes. The bottom is flat, several tens of kilometers wide, divided by ridges into several almost closed areas. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is more than 1,100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure, reaching 3,150 kg/cm2. Temperatures at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) are surprisingly high thanks to hydrothermal vents nicknamed “black smokers.” They constantly heat the water and maintain the overall temperature in the depression at about 3°C.
The first attempt to measure the depth of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) was made in 1875 by the crew of the English oceanographic vessel Challenger during a scientific expedition across the World Ocean. The British discovered the Mariana Trench quite by accident, during an on-duty sounding of the bottom using a lot (Italian hemp rope and lead weight). Despite the inaccuracy of such a measurement, the result was amazing: 8367 m. In 1877, a map was published in Germany on which this place was marked as the Challenger Deep.
Measurements made in 1899 from the American coal miner Nero already showed greater depth: 9636 m.
In 1951, the bottom of the depression was measured by the British hydrographic vessel Challenger, named after its predecessor, unofficially called Challenger II. Now, using an echo sounder, a depth of 10899 m was recorded.
The maximum depth indicator was obtained in 1957 by the Soviet research vessel “Vityaz”: 11,034 ± 50 m. It is strange that no one remembered the anniversary date of the generally epoch-making discovery of Russian oceanologists. However, they say that when taking readings, changing environmental conditions at different depths were not taken into account. This erroneous figure is still present on many physical-geographical maps published in the USSR and Russia.
In 1959, the American research vessel Stranger measured the depth of the trench in a rather unusual way for science - using depth charges. Result: 10915 m.
The last known measurements were made in 2010 by the American vessel Sumner; they showed a depth of 10994 ± 40 m.
It is not yet possible to obtain absolutely accurate readings even with the most modern equipment. The work of an echo sounder is hampered by the fact that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which manifest themselves differently depending on the depth.
This is what the most durable hulls of underwater vehicles look like after testing at extreme pressure. Photo: Sergey Ptichkin / RG
And now it is reported that Russia has developed an autonomous uninhabited underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of operating at a depth of 14 kilometers. From this it is concluded that our military oceanologists have discovered a depression in the World Ocean deeper than the Mariana Trench.
The message that the device was created and was tested at a pressure corresponding to a depth of 14,000 meters was made during an ordinary press trip of journalists to one of the leading scientific centers involved, among other things, in deep-sea vehicles. It’s even strange that no one paid attention to this sensation and has not yet voiced it. And the developers themselves did not particularly open up. Or maybe they are just playing it safe and want to get reinforced concrete evidence? And now we have every reason to expect a new scientific sensation.
It was decided to create an uninhabited deep-sea vehicle capable of withstanding pressure much higher than what exists in the Mariana Trench. The device is ready for use. If the depth is confirmed, it will become a super sensation. If not, the device will work to the maximum in the same Mariana Trench, studying it up and down. In addition, the developers claim that with not very complicated modifications, the AUV can be made habitable. And this will be comparable to manned flights into deep space.
The existence of the Mariana Trench has been known for quite some time, and there are technical possibilities for going down to the bottom, but over the past 60 years only three people have had the opportunity to do this: a scientist, a military man and a film director.
During the entire study of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench), vehicles with people on board were lowered to its bottom twice and automatic vehicles were dropped four times (as of April 2017). This, by the way, is less than the number of people who have been to the Moon.
On January 23, 1960, the bathyscaphe Trieste sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) abyss. On board were Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard (1922-2008) and US Navy lieutenant, explorer Don Walsh (born 1931). The bathyscaphe was designed by Jacques Piccard's father - physicist, inventor of the stratospheric balloon and bathyscaphe Auguste Piccard (1884-1962).
A black and white photograph from half a century ago shows the legendary bathyscaphe Trieste as it prepares to dive. The crew of two was in a spherical steel gondola. It was attached to a float filled with gasoline to provide positive buoyancy.
The descent of the Trieste lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, with the crew periodically interrupting it. At a depth of 9 km, the plexiglass glass cracked, but the descent continued until the Trieste sank to the bottom, where the crew saw a 30-centimeter flat fish and some kind of crustacean creature. After staying at a depth of 10912 m for about 20 minutes, the crew began the ascent, which took 3 hours 15 minutes.
Man made another attempt to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) in 2012, when American film director James Cameron (born 1954) became the third to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep. Previously, he repeatedly dived on the Russian Mir submersibles into Atlantic Ocean to a depth of over 4 km during the filming of the movie Titanic. Now, on the Dipsy Challenger bathyscaphe, he sank into the abyss in 2 hours 37 minutes—almost twice as fast as the Trieste—and spent 2 hours 36 minutes at a depth of 10,898 m. After which he rose to the surface in just an hour and a half. At the bottom, Cameron saw only creatures that looked like shrimp.
The fauna and flora of the Mariana Trench have been poorly studied.
In the 1950s Soviet scientists during the expedition of the Vityaz vessel discovered life at depths of more than 7 thousand m. Before this, it was believed that there was nothing living there. Pogonophorans were discovered - a new family of marine invertebrates that live in chitinous tubes. Disputes about their scientific classification are still going on.
The main inhabitants of the Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench), living at the very bottom, are barophilic (developing only at high pressure) bacteria, protozoan creatures - foraminifera - single-celled in shells and xenophyophores - amoebas, reaching 20 cm in diameter and living by shoveling silt.
Foraminifera were obtained by the Japanese automatic deep-sea probe "Kaiko" in 1995, which dived to 10,911.4 m and took soil samples.
The larger inhabitants of the trench live throughout its thickness. Life at depth made them either blind or with very developed eyes, often telescopic. Many have photophores - luminous organs, a kind of bait for prey: some have long processes, like an angler fish, while others have them right in the mouth. Some accumulate luminous liquid and, in case of danger, shower the enemy with it in the manner of a “light curtain”.
Since 2009, the territory of the depression has been part of the American Marine Protected Area national monument The Mariana Trench has an area of 246,608 km2. The zone includes only the underwater part of the trench and the water area. The basis for this action was the fact that the Northern Mariana Islands and the island of Guam—actually an American territory—are the island boundaries of the water area. The Challenger Deep is not included in this zone, as it is located on ocean territory Federated States Micronesia.
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