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 the 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 discovered continents and islands, but most globe hidden underwater.

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. Challenger Deep - deepest point Mariana Trench, its depth is 11035 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.

Water area 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 pillars of water.

The temperature regime of 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.

The abundance of fish is an important condition life of 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 the same height, only under water, as the 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.

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 the maximum depth - 8367 m. The value, of course, is noticeably different from the correct result. But this was enough to understand: the deepest point on the globe had been discovered. So the challenge was thrown another mystery nature (translated from English “Challenger” - “challenging”). 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 intercepted by Russian researchers, who sent the research vessel Vityaz to the Mariana Trench area. 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... Many stories about underwater monsters, huge octopuses, unprecedented bathyscaphes crushed into a cake by the huge paws of animals... 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 at the deepest point of the 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 the “tricks” of the monsters inhabiting the natural object, 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, this geographical object began to become “overgrown” with 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 is similar to the ancient shark of the 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 liquid in the whole world carbon dioxide 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 of chemicals, 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 toxic amoebas 10 centimeters long were discovered in the Mariana Trench. Can you imagine this? Ten centimeters! That is, this single-celled living creature can be clearly seen with the naked eye. Isn't this a miracle? As a result of scientific research, it was 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, which are capable of killing 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 stone formations in it, 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 powerful cameras installed on his DeepSea Challenge bathyscaphe made it possible 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.

Together with The National Geographic, the talented director created the documentary film “Challenging 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, producing a unique Chemical substance, which 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 encounter any terrible monsters, or representatives of extinct animal species, or an 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 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 deep place all over the 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.

There are 5 oceans on Earth, which occupy a significant part of the land. Having conquered space and landed a man on the Moon, sending autonomous spacecraft to the farthest planets solar system, people know negligible little about what is hidden in the depths of the sea on their home planet.

What is the Mariana Trench?

This is the name of the deepest place in the Pacific Ocean known today. It is a trench formed by the convergence of tectonic plates. Maximum depth The Mariana Trench is approximately 10,994 meters (2011 data). There are other trenches in all other oceans, but not so deep. Only the Java Trench (7729 meters) can be compared with the Mariana Trench.

Location

The deepest place on Earth is located in the western Pacific Ocean, near the Mariana Islands. The trench stretches along them for one and a half thousand kilometers. The bottom of the depression is flat, its width ranges from 1 to 5 kilometers. The trench got its name in honor of the islands next to which it is located.

"Challenger Deep"

This is the name given to the deepest place (10,994 meters) of the Mariana Trench. Here it is necessary to explain that to obtain the exact dimensions of this gigantic deflection ocean floor not yet possible. The speed of sound at different depths varies greatly, and the Mariana Trench has a very complex structure, so the data obtained using an echo sounder is always slightly different.

History of discovery

People have long known that deep-sea places exist in the seas and oceans. In 1875, the English corvette Challenger opened one of these points. What depth of the Mariana Trench was recorded then? It was 8367 meters. The measuring instruments at that time were far from ideal, but even this result made a stunning impression - it became clear that the deepest point of the ocean floor on the planet had been found.

Gutter studies

In the 19th century, it was simply impossible to explore the bottom of the Mariana Trench. At that time, there was no technology that would allow one to descend to such a depth. Without modern diving equipment, this was tantamount to suicide.

The trench was re-examined many years later, in the next century. Measurements taken in 1951 showed a depth of 10,863 meters. Then, in 1957, members of the Soviet scientific vessel Vityaz studied the depression. According to their measurements, the depth of the Mariana Trench was 11,023 meters.

The last study of the trench was carried out in 2011.

Cameron's Great Journey

The Canadian director became the third person in the history of exploration of the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom. He was the first in the world to do it alone. Before its sinking, the trench was explored by Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard in 1960 using the bathyscaphe Trieste. In addition, Japanese scientists tried to find out the depth of the Mariana Trench using the Kaiko probe. And in 2009, the Nereus apparatus descended to the bottom of the trench.

Descent to such incredible depths comes with a huge number of risks. First of all, a person is threatened by a monstrous pressure of 1100 atmospheres. It can damage the body of the device, which will lead to the death of the pilot. Another serious danger that lurks when descending to depth is the cold that reigns there. It can not only cause equipment failure, but also kill a person. The bathyscaphe may collide with rocks and be damaged.

For many years, James Cameron dreamed of visiting the deepest point of the Mariana Trench - the Challenger Deep. In order to carry out his plans, he equipped his own expedition. Especially for this, an underwater vehicle was developed and built in Sydney - a single-seat bathyscaphe Deepsea Challenger, equipped with scientific equipment, as well as photo and video cameras. In it, Cameron sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This event occurred on March 26, 2012.

In addition to photographs and video footage, the Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe had to take new measurements of the trench and try to provide accurate data on its dimensions. Everyone was worried about one question: “How much?” The depth of the Mariana Trench, according to the apparatus, was 10,908 meters.

The director was impressed by what he saw below. Most of all, the bottom of the depression reminded him of a lifeless lunar landscape. He did not meet the terrible inhabitants of the abyss. The only creature he saw through the submersible's porthole was a small shrimp.

After a successful voyage, James Cameron decided to donate his bathyscaphe to the Oceanographic Institute so that it could continue to be used to explore the depths of the sea.

Creepy denizens of the deep

The lower the ocean floor, the less sunlight penetrates through the water column. The depth of the Mariana Trench is the reason that impenetrable darkness always reigns in it. But even the absence of light cannot become an obstacle to the emergence of life. Darkness gives birth to creatures that have never seen the sun. And they, in turn, were only recently able to be seen by marine biologists.

This spectacle is not for the faint of heart. Almost all the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench seem to have been born from the imagination of an artist who creates monsters for horror films. Seeing them for the first time, you might think that they do not live next to humans on the same planet, but are alien creatures, they look so alien.

To some extent, this is true - negligible little is known about the oceans and their inhabitants. The bottom of the Mariana Trench has been explored less than the surface of Mars. Therefore, for a long time it was believed that at such a depth life is impossible without sunlight. It turned out that this was not the case. The depth of the Mariana Trench, gigantic pressure and cold are no obstacle to the birth of amazing creatures living in complete darkness.

Most of them have an ugly appearance due to terrible living conditions. The pitch darkness reigning in the depths made the marine inhabitants of these places completely blind. Many fish have huge teeth, such as howliods, which swallow their prey whole.

What can living creatures that are so far from the surface of the ocean eat? At the bottom of the depression, the remains of living organisms accumulate, forming a multi-meter layer of bottom silt. The inhabitants of the depths feed on these deposits. Predatory fish have luminous areas of the body with which they attract small fish.

The gutter is inhabited by bacteria that can only develop at high pressure, single-celled organisms, jellyfish, worms, mollusks, and sea cucumbers. The depth of the Mariana Trench allows them to reach very large sizes. For example, amphipods found at the bottom of the trench are 17 centimeters long.

Amoebas

Xenophyophores (amoebas) are single-celled organisms that can only be seen with a microscope. But at depth, these inhabitants of the Mariana Trench reach gigantic sizes - up to 10 centimeters. Previously, they were found at a depth of 7500 meters. Interesting feature These organisms, in addition to their size, have the ability to accumulate uranium, lead and mercury. Externally, deep-sea amoebas look different. Some are disc or tetrahedron shaped. Xenophyophores feed on bottom sediments.

Hirondellea gigas

Large amphipods (amphipods) have been discovered in the Mariana Trench. These deep-sea crayfish feed on dead organic matter that accumulates at the bottom of the depression and have a keen sense of smell. The largest specimen found was 17 centimeters in length.

Holothurians

Sea cucumbers are another representative of organisms that live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This class of invertebrates feeds on plankton and bottom sediments.

Conclusion

The Mariana Trench has not yet been properly explored. No one knows what creatures inhabit it and how many secrets it holds.