The deepest m. The deepest depressions of the world's oceans. Where did the name of the bathyscaphe come from?
Do you think the deepest places on the planet can reach 10 kilometers? Let's figure it out together. Considering the fact that the Earth’s core is about six kilometers from the surface, they probably cannot. However, our world is a very amazing place. We bring to your attention the Top 10 most unique depressions, pits, wells and other deep zones, striking in their history and dimensions. We will consider not only land, but also water spaces. Let's talk about the origin and significance of artificially made pits. Let's find out how close a person can get to the core of the planet!
Top 10 deepest places in the world
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In England there is the most amazing well in the world called Woodingdean. Construction of this facility began back in 1858. At that time, no one planned to build such a huge pit. Initially, it was planned to dig the well only 122 meters. However, after achieving the goal, the craftsmen failed to find water. As a result, specialists of that time continued their work and reached the subsoil at a depth of 392 meters. It is difficult to say how many victims this construction cost. Every day people had to climb down fragile stairs.
The deepest mine on our planet, which is also famous for the work of a unique excavator. The depth is 370 meters. At the same time, with the help of the world's largest equipment, about twenty-five tons of brown coal are lifted every day. That's not all - it turns out that near the quarry there is a hill called Sophienhöhe, which is the largest artificial hill on the planet. With its help you can see the entire mine; it rises 300 meters above the sea. That is, Sophienhöhe is almost as big as the Tagebau Hambach mine is deep.
Mexico has the largest sinkhole, El Zacaton, which attracts drivers from all over the world. It is as attractive as it is dangerous, because the depth is 339 meters. It was formed during the Pleistocene, approximately 12 million years ago. The huge depression is completely filled with water. According to available official data, to date only one robot has managed to reach the bottom of the crater. Naturally, the pressure is beyond comprehension.
Baikal is the property of the Russian Federation, the depth of which reaches 1642 meters. You might be interested in checking out other large lakes on our planet! As for Baikal, it should be noted that people have been actively trying to conquer the depth of this freshwater body since 1977. For the first time, the goal was achieved with the help of the Mir bathyscaphe, submerged to a maximum depth of 1640 meters. The event took place in 2009! Baikal is also included in our ranking of the largest lakes in Russia and ranks second there.
More than 2 km.
In Abkhazia there is a cave called Krubera. Locals also call it Crow Cave. So, its depth is more than 2 kilometers. One of the deepest places on land was discovered in 1960 by a certain Alexander Kruber, in whose honor, in fact, the cave got its name. To this day, this unique place delights a lot of archaeologists and researchers from different parts of our planet. However, like brave tourists.
In Canada, namely Ontario, there is a zinc mine called Kidd Mine. The depth of the amazing lowland is 2733 meters above sea level. Such mines cannot be found, not only due to their size, but also due to the minerals that can be regularly removed from the open pit. It is located in the northern part of the state, closest to the center of the planet. It should be noted that underground it expands significantly. At the same time, it is planned to deepen the mine at the end of this year!
The deepest point in the Arctic Ocean
Unfortunately there are no photos.
The Litke Trench is perhaps not a very hospitable place, the depth of which is approximately 5500 m. It is located approximately 350 kilometers from the Arctic desert, near the island of Spitsbergen. In the Arctic Ocean it has no competitors in terms of depth. The Litke Trench was first discovered by members of the expedition of the ship "Fedor Litke" back in 1955. In honor of this mission, as well as the name of the leader, the depression received this name.
Milwaukee is the deepest point in the ocean, located in the vast Atlantic waters. Just imagine that its depth is 8740 m. That is, the distance is greater than to the core of the Earth. Here is the answer to the main question of this text. But that's not all. It was first recorded by the Milwaukee ship (America). Located on the border of the Caribbean Sea. For a long time, geologists tried to understand where the fault occurs, but to this day there is no exact answer. Most likely, it was formed as a result of a volcanic eruption due to a powerful tsunami. If you're interested, you can find out what they are!
From time immemorial, the oceanic abyss has attracted the close attention of man, but only relatively recently was he able to satisfy his curiosity by plunging to the bottom of the World Ocean. The Mariana Trench, often referred to as the Mariana Trench, is by far the deepest point on the planet.
Mariana Trench
1. Where is it located?
This object has the following geographical coordinates: 11°21′ north latitude and 142°12′ east longitude. It got its name thanks to the nearby archipelago of the Mariana Islands (under the jurisdiction of the United States). The deepest depression on the planet stretches along the islands for more than 1,500 km.
2. What does it look like?
Visually it looks like a V-shaped profile with fairly steep slopes - within 7-9°. The flat bottom of the depression, the width of which is within 1-5 km, is divided by separate ridges into separate zones.
3. What is the pressure at the bottom of the depression?
It should be noted that at the bottom the water pressure is more than 108.6 MPa - this is almost 1100 times the normal atmospheric pressure at the surface.
The Mariana Trench is located between two tectonic plates, exactly at the point where the Pacific Plate gradually bends under the Philippine Plate.
4. Fourth pole
Due to the lack of necessary technical means, for a long time it was inaccessible to human penetration. In this regard, she received the nickname “fourth pole”. In fairness, we note that the geographic poles are the North and South, and the geomorphological poles are Everest (Qomolungma) and the Mariana Trench.
Despite the fact that the North and South Poles, together with them, were successfully conquered by man, this particular place was inaccessible for a long time.
5. Measuring depth in 1951
1951 - The British research vessel Challenger obtained the first depth data. According to his measurements, it was a record 10,863 meters.
6. Measuring depth in 1957
1957 - the Soviet research vessel Vityaz, during its 25th anniversary voyage, established the true depth of the Mariana Trench. Initial data showed a figure of 11,034 meters, the final figure was taken to be a depth of 11,022 meters.
7. How was the depth of the Mariana Trench measured?
Such a large difference in depth is explained by the presence of certain difficulties in measurement.
It is well known that the speed of sound propagation in water directly depends on its properties and depth. In this regard, acoustic properties at different depths are measured simultaneously by several special technical devices, namely a barometer and a thermometer.
Based on the readings of these instruments, corrections were made by Soviet scientists to the final value determined by the echo sounder.
8. Which is higher/deeper, Everest or the Mariana Trench?
According to scientific research in 1995, the depth was 10,920 meters. In 2009, this figure increased to 10,971 meters.
In view of this, the deepest point of this natural formation, which in the international scientific community is called Challenger Deep, is located much further from the surface of the World Ocean than Mount Everest rises above it.
9. First dive to the bottom
On January 23, 1960, US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, together with research scientist Jacques Piccard, carried out the first dive in human history.
Especially for these purposes they used the Trieste bathyscaphe, which was developed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Picard. The previous model of the world's first deep-sea bathyscaphe FNRS-2 was used as the basis for this device.
10. Where did the name of the bathyscaphe come from?
Being the son of Auguste, Jacques Piccard provided significant assistance to his father-designer.
The main work on the creation of a deep-sea bathyscaphe was carried out in the Italian city on the Adriatic Sea - in the city of Trieste. Hence the name of the device.
11. First dive "Trieste"
The first dive of Trieste was successful in August 1953. Until the onset of 1957, the bathyscaphe repeatedly dived in the Mediterranean Sea.
Jacques Picard, together with his father, who was 69 years old at that moment, was the pilot of the device.
During one of the next dives, a record depth of 3150 meters was reached at that time.
12. What did the Trieste bathyscaphe look like?
Just like all subsequent models, the Tryste bathyscaphe was visually a hermetically sealed special steel gondola, shaped like a sphere for the crew of the vehicle. The bathyscaphe was attached to a large float filled with gasoline to ensure the proper level of buoyancy.
At that time, Trieste was distinguished by its revolutionary solution to a pressing problem in the event of side sway.
Having begun its dive at 16:22 Central European time, the bathyscaphe began to gradually plunge into the oceanic abyss - all this time the daredevils observed a myriad of brightly glowing deep-sea fish.
13. Temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
Jacques Piccard and John Walsh reached the deepest point in the world's oceans after 30 minutes - while other sources claim it took them more than 12 minutes. Explorers of the ocean abyss were very cold - at the bottom the water temperature was a little more than 2° Celsius.
14. What depth did Picard and Walsh record?
Special instruments of the Trieste bathyscaphe recorded the depth of the fearless exploration - 11,521 meters (according to, again, other data, the depth was 11,022 meters). The corrected figure was considered to be 10918 meters.
15. Dive and ascent time
The entire procedure for submerging the bathyscaphe took more than 5 hours; it returned to the surface after 3 hours.
16. Life on the bottom
Scientists were sincerely surprised to discover highly organized life at such oceanic depths, where eternal darkness reigns. Through the portholes, Picard and Walsh had the opportunity to observe flat fish hitherto unknown to science, which visually somewhat resembled a flounder and reached almost 30 cm in length.
17. Another important task
Along with the conquest of the deepest point of the World Ocean, scientists completed another important task - they had a direct influence on the decision of the leading world powers to abandon their intentions to bury radioactive waste at the bottom.
Jacques Picard scientifically proved that at a depth of over 6000 meters there is no movement of ocean waters - otherwise, the fate of the world would be categorically different...
18. Japanese probe "Kaiko"
On March 24, 1997, the Japanese deep-sea probe Kaiko sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and recorded a depth of 10,911.4 meters.
19. Deep-sea vehicle Nereus
May 31, 2009 - the remotely operated deep-sea vehicle Nereus reached the lowest point of the Mariana Trench. They recorded a depth of 10,902 meters. The bathyscaphe shot a video and took several photographs of the world floor. Experimental samples of silt deposits at the bottom of this natural formation were also taken.
20. How Nereus was controlled
In total, Nereus spent more than 10 hours at the bottom. By analogy with a helicopter, it hovered every now and then in the water column, controlled by pilots on board a research vessel.
The control was carried out through a special fiberglass cable, whose thickness did not exceed the thickness of a human hair. The cable was protected by a special plastic casing. Thus, the ship’s crew online had the opportunity to see everything that was happening at the bottom. Nereus brought soil samples to the surface.
21. Dive on the Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe
James Cameron made a solo dive on March 26, 2012 and became the third person in history to reach the bottom of the deepest point on the planet and stay there for about two hours. During this time, video and photography were taken, and samples were taken from the very bottom. The dive took place on the single-seat bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, below you can see photos.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest point in the World Ocean. Its depth is further from the level of the World Ocean than the top of Everest, the tallest mountain on earth. The world's oceans are only 5% studied, which means that we still have a long way to go to understand it.
Our planet never ceases to surprise us and present new amazing stories about itself. Below is a list of ten interesting and some of the deepest places on Earth.
10. El Zakaton
El Zacat?n is the world's deepest sinkhole filled with water. Located in the northeast of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Its diameter on the surface is approximately 116 m, the total depth is 339 meters. The water temperature in the funnel is 30°C and smells slightly of sulfur. This place is very popular among divers.
9. Tagebau Hambach
Tagebau Hambach is a quarry used for the extraction of brown coal. Located in Elsdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was opened in 1978. It is the deepest open pit mine in the world, with a depth of about 370 meters and an area of 33.89 square kilometers.
8. Woodingdean Well
Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of Brighton and Hove, located in East Sussex, England. It is notable for the fact that on its territory there is the deepest well in the world, dug by hand between 1858–1862. The depth of the well is 392 meters.
7. Lake Baikal
Baikal is a lake of tectonic origin, located on the territory of Russia, in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, on the border between the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia. It is the deepest lake in the world (maximum depth 1,642 meters) and the largest natural reservoir of fresh water. The age of the lake is estimated at 25–30 million years. Its area is 31,722 km? (without islands), which is comparable to the territories of countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands or Denmark.
6. Krubera Cave
Krubera Cave (Voronya) is the deepest cave in the world, located in the Arabica mountain range in Abkhazia. Its depth is 2,196 m. It is the only known cave on Earth that exceeds a depth of 2 thousand m. It was discovered and first explored to a depth of 95 m by Georgian speleologists (led by L.I. Maruashvili) in 1960. It was then that it received its first name: Krubera Cave, in honor of the Russian karst scientist A.A. Krubera.
5. Kidd Mine
Kidd Mine is a mine located in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. It is the deepest mine in the world for the extraction of base metals. Its maximum depth is almost 3 thousand m. It began its activity in 1966 as a quarry, but over time it turned into an underground mine, in which copper, zinc and several other metals are still mined.
4. Litke gutter
The Litke Trench is an oceanic trench located in northeast Greenland, 350 kilometers north of Spitsbergen. This is the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean - 5449 m. This trench was first discovered and explored in 1955 by an expedition on the icebreaker Fedor Litke. It ranks 20th among the deepest trenches in the world.
3. Milwaukee Trench
The Milwaukee Trench or Milwaukee Deep is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, located 122.3 km north of the coast of Puerto Rico. Its maximum depth is 8380 meters (according to unverified data 9560 m). The trench was named after the American light cruiser USS Milwaukee (CL-5), which first discovered it on February 14, 1939.
2. Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench, as well as the least explored place on the planet, located in the western Pacific Ocean between Japan and Papua New Guinea near the Mariana Islands. It was first discovered in 1875 by the British expedition on the Challenger. Using sonar, the ship's crew then recorded a depth of 10,900 meters. According to measurements taken in 2011, the depth of the depression is 10,994 ± 40 m below sea level.
1. Kola superdeep well
The Kola superdeep well is the world's deepest borehole, located in Russia, in the Murmansk region, approximately 10 km from the city of Zapolyarny. Its depth is 12262 meters; the diameter of the upper part is 92 cm. It was founded in 1970 and drilled exclusively for research purposes. Initially, it was planned to reach 16 thousand m, but due to technical problems, as well as financial difficulties, work had to be stopped early in 1991. Now, due to financial difficulties and lack of government support, the issue of its final closure is being decided.
The Mariana Trench, or Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographical feature known in the world. Geographical coordinates of the object - 11°21′ N. w. 142°12′ E. d. (G). As you already know, this is the deepest part of the earth's oceans, and also the deepest place on the entire earth.
According to the results of measurements of the Soviet vessel "Vityaz", the maximum depth of the depression reaches 11022 m (although according to recent observations this value does not exceed 10911-10924 m). Thus, the deepest point of the depression is much further from sea level than Mount Everest is above it.
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, water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa (15,750 ft per square inch), which is more than 1,000 times the normal atmospheric pressure at ocean level. 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 first data on the depth were obtained by the English ship Challenger in 1951, which, according to the report, was 10863 m. According to the results of measurements carried out in 1957 during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel Vityaz, the maximum depth of the depression was 11022 m (specified data, originally reported depth was 11,034 m).
The only human dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was made on January 23, 1960 by US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Piccard on the bathyscaphe Trieste. The instruments recorded a record depth of 11,521 meters (corrected figure - 10,918 m). At the bottom, the researchers unexpectedly encountered flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder.
The Japanese Kaiko probe, which was lowered into the area of the maximum depth of the depression on March 24, 1997, recorded a depth of 10911.4 meters. On May 31, 2009, the automatic underwater vehicle Nereus sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The device descended to a depth of 10,902 meters, where it filmed video, took several photographs, and also collected sediment samples at the bottom.
The waters of the Mariana Trench are home to many species of invertebrate fish, including such oddities as the monkfish, so called because it uses a glowing protrusion to attract prey.
An interesting feature of sea creatures is their longevity, with many of these animals having a "lifespan" of over 100 years, provided, of course, that they are not caught in fishing nets. Since these animals develop slowly, there is no concern about the threat of their extinction.
The bottom of the Mariana Trench consists of animal skeletons, decaying microorganisms and plants; as a rule, the bottom is yellow and viscous.
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.
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 around 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),
- from 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 organisms - 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?
