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As children, we all read many legends about incredible sea monsters inhabiting the ocean floor, always knowing that these were just fairy tales. But we were wrong! These incredible creatures can be found even today if you dive to the bottom Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth. Read our article about what the Mariana Trench hides and who its mysterious inhabitants are.

The most deep place on the planet - 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 of a 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 is the Daikoku volcano, which is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on the planet - a lake 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 there, 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 eyes are directed to the sky towards the unsolved mysteries of space, there remains an unsolved mystery on our planet - the ocean. To date, only 5% of the world's oceans and secrets have been studied Mariana Trench This is only a small part of the secrets that are hidden under the water.

Excellent students at school firmly understood: the highest point on earth is Mount Everest (8848 m), the deepest trench is the Mariana Trench. However, if we know a lot about Everest interesting facts, then about the depression in Pacific Ocean, other than being the deepest, most people don't know anything about it.

Five hours down, three hours up

Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than mountain peaks and even more distant planets solar system, people have explored only five percent of the seabed, which still remains one of the greatest mysteries of our planet.

With an average width of 69 km, the Mariana Trench was formed several million years ago due to shifts of tectonic plates and stretches in a crescent shape for 2.5 thousand km along the Mariana Islands.

Its depth, according to recent research, is 10,994 m (± 40 m). For comparison: the equatorial diameter of the Earth is 12,756 km. The water pressure at the bottom reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1100 times more than normal atmospheric pressure!

The Mariana Trench, also called the Earth's fourth pole, was discovered in 1872 by the crew of the British research vessel Challenger. The crew took measurements of the bottom at various points in the Pacific Ocean.

Another measurement was made in the Mariana Islands area, but a kilometer-long rope was not enough, and then the captain ordered two more kilometer sections to be added to it. Then again and again...

Almost 100 years later, the echo sounder of another English, but under the same name, scientific vessel recorded a depth of 10,863 m in the Mariana Trench area. After that, the deepest point of the ocean floor began to be called the “Challenger Deep”.

In 1957, Soviet researchers established the presence of life at depths of more than 7 thousand m, thereby refuting the prevailing opinion at that time about the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6-7 thousand m, and also clarified the British data, recording a depth of 11,023 m.

The first human dive to the bottom of the depression took place in 1960. It was carried out on the Trieste bathyscaphe by the American Don Walsh and the Swiss oceanographer Jacques Picard.

The descent into the abyss took them almost 5 hours, and the ascent took about three hours; the researchers spent only 20 minutes at the bottom. But even this time was enough for them to make a sensational discovery - in the bottom waters they discovered flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder, unknown to science.

Living in pitch darkness

In the course of further research using unmanned deep-sea vehicles, it turned out that at the bottom of the depression, despite the terrifying water pressure, a wide variety of species of living organisms live. Giant 10-centimeter amoebas - xenophyophores, which under normal terrestrial conditions can only be seen with a microscope, amazing two-meter worms, no less huge starfish, mutant octopuses and, naturally, fish.

The latter amaze with their terrifying appearance. Their distinctive feature is a huge mouth and many teeth. Many spread their jaws so wide that even a small predator can swallow whole an animal larger than itself.

There are also quite unusual creatures, reaching two meters in size with a soft jelly-like body, which have no analogues in nature.

It would seem that at such a depth the temperature should be at Antarctic levels. However, the Challenger Deep contains hydrothermal vents called “black smokers.” They constantly heat the water and thereby maintain the overall temperature in the cavity at 1-4 °C.

The inhabitants of the Mariana Trench live in pitch darkness, some of them are blind, others have huge telescopic eyes that catch the slightest glare of light. Some individuals have “lanterns” on their heads that emit different colors.

There are fish that accumulate in their bodies glowing liquid. When they sense danger, they splash this liquid towards the enemy and hide behind this “curtain of light.” Appearance Such animals are very unusual for our perception, can cause disgust and even inspire a feeling of fear.

But it is obvious that not all the mysteries of the Mariana Trench have yet been solved. Some strange animals of truly incredible size live in the depths!

Something tried to chew the submersible like a nut

Sometimes on the shore, not far from the Mariana Trench, people find the bodies of dead 40-meter monsters. Giant teeth were also discovered in those places. Scientists have proven that they belong to a multi-ton prehistoric megalodon shark, the span of which reached two meters.

These sharks were thought to have gone extinct about three million years ago, but the teeth found are much younger. So have the ancient monsters really disappeared?

In 2003, another sensational results of research into the Mariana Trench were published in the United States. Scientists have submerged an unmanned platform equipped with searchlights, sensitive video systems and microphones in the deepest part of the world's oceans.

The platform was lowered on 6 inch-section steel cables. At first, the technology did not provide any unusual information. But a few hours after the dive, the silhouettes of strange large objects (at least 12-16 m) began to flash on the monitor screens in the light of powerful spotlights, and at that time the microphones transmitted sharp sounds to the recording devices - the grinding of iron and dull, uniform blows on metal.

When the platform was raised (never lowered to the bottom due to incomprehensible obstacles that prevented the descent), it was discovered that the powerful steel structures were bent, and steel cables as if they had been sawed off. A little more - and the platform would forever remain the “Challenger Abyss”.

Previously, something similar happened to the German device “Hayfish”. Having descended to a depth of 7 km, he suddenly refused to emerge. To find out what was wrong, the researchers turned on an infrared camera.

What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, clinging to the bathyscaphe with its teeth, tried to chew it like a nut.

Having recovered from the shock, the scientists activated the so-called electric gun, and the monster, struck by a powerful discharge, hastened to retreat.

Who is the boss on Earth?

But it's not just fantastic monsters that are captured by deep-sea cameras. In the summer of 2012, the Titan unmanned deep-sea vehicle, launched from the research vessel Rick Mesenger, was located in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,000 m. Its main purpose was to videotape and photograph various underwater objects.

Suddenly the cameras recorded a strange multiple shine of a material very similar to metal. And then, several tens of meters from the device, several large objects appeared in the light of the spotlight.

Having approached these objects to the maximum allowable distance, the Titan displayed a very unusual picture on the monitors of the scientists on the Rick Mesenger. On site at approximately square kilometer there were about 50 large cylindrical objects, very similar to... flying saucers!

A few minutes after the “UFO airfield” was recorded, the Titan stopped communicating and never surfaced.

There are a lot of well-known facts that, if they do not confirm the possibility of the existence of intelligent creatures in the depths of the sea, then, in any case, fully explain why modern science still knows nothing about them.

Firstly, man's native habitat - the earth's surface - occupies only a little more than a quarter of the land surface. So our planet could well be called the Ocean planet rather than the Earth.

Secondly, as everyone knows, life originated in water, so marine intelligence (if it exists) is about one and a half million years older than humans.

That is why, according to some experts, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, thanks to the presence of active hydrothermal springs, not only entire colonies of prehistoric animals that have survived to this day can exist, but also an underwater civilization of intelligent creatures unknown to earthlings! The “fourth pole” of the Earth, in the opinion of scientists, is the most appropriate place for their habitat.

And once again the question arises: is man the only “master” of planet Earth?

Field research is planned for the summer of 2015

The third person in the entire history of exploration of the Mariana Trench to descend to its bottom was James Cameron exactly three years ago.

“Almost everything on land has been explored,” he explained his decision. - In space, bosses prefer to send people circling around the Earth, and send machine guns to other planets. For the joys of discovering the unknown, there is only one field of activity left - the ocean. Only about 3% of its water volume has been studied, and what’s next is unknown.”

On the DeepSes Challenge bathyscaphe, being in a half-bent state, because inner diameter the apparatus not exceeding 109 cm, the famous film director observed everything that was happening in this place, until mechanical problems forced him to rise to the surface.

Cameron managed to take samples of rocks and living organisms from the bottom, and also filmed with 3D cameras. Subsequently, these shots formed the basis of a documentary film.

However, he never saw any of the terrible sea monsters. According to him, the very bottom of the ocean was “lunar... empty... lonely,” and he felt “complete isolation from all humanity.”

Meanwhile, in the telecommunications laboratory of Tomsk Polytechnic University, together with the Institute of Marine Technology Problems of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the development of a domestic device for deep-sea research, which can descend to a depth of 12 km, is in full swing.

Specialists working on the bathyscaphe declare that there are no analogues to the equipment they are developing in the world, and “field” studies of the sample in the waters of the Pacific Ocean are planned for the summer of 2015.

The famous traveler Fyodor Konyukhov also began working on the project “Diving into the Mariana Trench in a Bathyscaphe.” According to him, his goal is not just to touch the bottom of the deepest depression of the World Ocean, but also to spend two whole days there, conducting unique research.

The bathyscaphe is designed to accommodate two people and will be designed and built by an Australian company.

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 (79) slopes, a flat bottom 15 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.

Research into 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 equipment was rebuilt into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872. Also, significant contributions to the study of the Marianas deep-sea trench were made by Soviet researchers. In 1958, an expedition to 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 of the Mariana Trench to a depth 10915 m. 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, looking like giant fairy-tale dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became concerned 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. The hedgehog was recovered from the depths for more than eight hours. 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 in the depths and why is an absolute mystery. Details of this a most interesting experiment, conducted by American oceanographers in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996 by 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 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 all over 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 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, 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 6,000 - 11,000 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 no sunlight, there are 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 deeper and 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?

In our article we want to talk about the mysterious Mariana Trench. This is the deepest point on the Earth's surface. By and large, this is where our knowledge about this place ends. But the Mariana Trench and the monsters that live in it are an eternal matter of speculation. Her secrets are as deep as she is.

The first mystery of the Mariana Trench

One of the mysteries of the depression is its depth. Until recently, it was believed that the Mariana Trench, as it is more correct to call this place from a scientific point of view, has a depth of more than eleven kilometers. However, the latest modern technical measurements give a value of 10994 kilometers. Although, it is worth noting that this value is very relative, since diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench is a technically very complex event, which is influenced by many factors. Scientists talk about a possible error of forty meters.

Where is the Mariana Trench?

The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Guam and Micronesia. Its deepest point is called the Challenger Deep and is located 340 kilometers from

Answering the question of where the Mariana Trench is located, you can give its exact geographical coordinates- 11°21′ N. w. 142°12′ E. d. The place received this name due to the fact that it is located nearby and is part of a state such as Guam.

What is the Mariana Trench like?

What is the Mariana Trench? The ocean carefully hides its true size. One can only guess about them. This is not just a “very deep hole.” The trench itself stretches along the seabed for one and a half thousand kilometers. The depression is V-shaped, that is, it is much wider at the top, and the walls narrow downwards.

The bottom of the Mariana Trench has a flat topography, and the width varies from 1 to 5 kilometers. Its upper part extends for eighty kilometers in width.

This place is one of the most inaccessible on our earth.

Is it necessary to explore the depression?

It seems that life at such depths is simply impossible. Therefore, it makes no sense to study such an abyss. However, the secrets of the Mariana Trench have always interested and attracted researchers. It's hard to believe, but space is easier to explore these days than such depths. Many people have been outside the Earth, but only three brave men dived to the bottom of the trench.

Study of the gutter

The British were the first to explore the Mariana Trench. In 1872, the Challenger ship with scientists entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean to study the trench. It was found that this point is the deepest on globe. Since then, people have been haunted by the secrets and creatures of the Mariana Trench.

As time passed, research was carried out, a new depth value was established - 10863 meters.

Research is carried out by lowering deep-sea vehicles. Most often these are unmanned automatic vehicles. And in 1960, Jacques Picard and Don Walsh descended to the very bottom on the bathyscaphe Trieste. In 2012, Jace Cameron ventured into the Deepsea Challenger.

Russian researchers also studied the Mariana Trench. In 1957, the ship "Vityaz" headed to the trench area. Scientists not only measured the depth of the trench (11,022 meters), but also discovered the presence of life at a depth of more than seven kilometers. This event made a kind of revolution in the world of science in the mid-twentieth century. At that time it was believed that there could be no living creatures at such depths. This is where all the fun begins. There are simply too many stories and legends about this place to count. So what exactly is the Mariana Trench? Do monsters really live here or are they just fairy tales? Let's try to figure it out.

Mariana Trench: monsters, mysteries, secrets

As we mentioned earlier, the first brave daredevils to descend to the bottom of the depression were Jacques Picard and Don Walsh. They descended on a heavy submersible called "Trieste". The thickness of the walls of the structure was thirteen centimeters. She was sank to the bottom for five hours. Having reached the deepest point, the researchers managed to stay there for only twelve minutes. Then the rise of the bathyscaphe immediately began, which took three hours. No matter how amazing this may seem, living organisms were discovered at the bottom. Pisces of the Mariana Trench - flat creatures, similar to flounder, no more than thirty centimeters long.

In 1995, the Japanese fell into the abyss. And in 2009, a miracle device called Nereus descended to the deepest point. He not only took a number of photos, but also took soil samples.

In 1996, The New York Times published materials from the next dive of the apparatus from the Challenger research vessel. It turns out that when the equipment began to be lowered, after some time the instruments recorded a strong metallic grinding sound. This fact was the reason for the immediate rise of the equipment to the surface. What the researchers saw stunned them. Steel structure was fairly dented, and the thick, durable cable seemed to have been sawed off. This is the unexpected surprise that the Mariana Trench presented. Were the monsters that crushed the equipment, or representatives of alien intelligence, or mutated octopuses... A variety of proposals were made, each of which was more incredible than the previous one. However the real reason no one ever found it, since there was no evidence for any of the theories. All assumptions were at the level of fantastic guesses. But the secrets of the Mariana Trench have still not been revealed.

Another mysterious story

Another incredibly mysterious incident occurred with a team of German researchers who lowered their apparatus called “Highfish” to the bottom. At some point, the device stopped diving, and the cameras installed on it gave an image of the enormous size of the lizard, which was actively trying to chew on an unknown thing. The team drove the monster away from the device using an electrical discharge. The creature got scared and swam away and did not appear again. It is a pity that such events were not recorded by the apparatus so that there would be irrefutable evidence.

After this incident, the Mariana Trench began to acquire more and more new facts, legends and speculations. Ship crews kept reporting about a huge monster in these waters, which was towing ships at high speed. It has become difficult to discern what is truth and what is speculation. The Mariana Trench, whose monsters haunted many people, still remains the most mysterious point on the planet.

Undeniable facts

Along with the most incredible legends regarding the Mariana Trench, there are very specific, but incredible facts. There is no need to doubt them, since they are supported by evidence.

In 1948, lobster fishermen (Australian) reported a large transparent fish that was at least thirty meters long. They saw her in the sea. Judging by their description, it looks like a very ancient shark (Carcharodon megalodon species) that lived several million years ago. Scientists were able to reconstruct the appearance of the shark using the remains. The monstrous creature was 25 meters long and weighed one hundred tons. Her mouth was two meters in size, and each tooth was at least ten centimeters. Just imagine this monster. It was the teeth of such a creature that were discovered by oceanographers at the bottom of the vast Pacific Ocean. The youngest of them is at least eleven thousand years old.

This unique find makes it possible to assume that not all such creatures became extinct a couple of million years ago. Perhaps at the very bottom of the cavity these incredible predators are hiding from human eyes. Research into the mysterious depths continues to this day, since the abyss conceals many secrets that people have not yet come close to revealing.

At the bottom of the depression, living organisms experience enormous pressure. It would seem that in such conditions nothing living could exist. However, this opinion is wrong. Mollusks live peacefully here, their shells do not suffer at all from pressure. They are not even affected by hydrothermal vents that release methane and hydrogen. Incredible, but it's a fact!

Another mystery is a hydrothermal vent called “Champagne”. Bubbles bubble in its waters carbon dioxide. This is the only such object in the world and it is located precisely in the depression, which has given scientists reason to talk about the possible origin of life in water in this very place.

There is a volcano called Daikoku in the Mariana Trench. In its crater there is a lake of molten sulfur, which boils at a huge temperature of 187 degrees. You won't find anything like this anywhere else on earth. The only analogue of this phenomenon is in space (on a satellite of Jupiter called Io).

Amazing place

In the Mariana Trench live giant single-celled amoebas, the size of which reaches ten centimeters. They live next to uranium, lead, and mercury that are destructive to living beings. However, they not only do not die from them, but also feel great.

The Mariana Trench is the greatest miracle on earth. Everything inanimate and living are combined here. Everything that kills life under normal conditions, at the bottom of the depression, on the contrary, gives living organisms strength to survive. Isn't this a miracle? How much still unknown this place conceals!

IN earth's crust there are the deepest faults - sea depressions at the bottom of the oceans, where impenetrable darkness reigns and highest pressure. We offer a selection of the deepest sea depressions, which the lack of technology does not yet allow to study well.

1. Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench on our planet, which is located in the Pacific Ocean not far from the Mariana Islands that gave it its name. The depth of the trench is 10994 ± 40 m below sea level.

Paradoxically, the Mariana Trench has been more or less explored - three people have already descended here.

The first time this happened was on January 23, 1960, when the bathyscaphe, carrying US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Piccard, managed to sink to a depth of 10,918 m. Then there were no such technologies as there are now, and two people were connected to the world only by a strong cable. After a successful return, the researchers said that they saw flat flounder-like fish at the very bottom, but, unfortunately, there were no photographs.

Just a year ago, director James Cameron descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It was easier for him, even though he was alone: ​​technology has moved far forward in 50 years. Moreover, his bathyscaphe “Deepsea Challenger” was equipped with everything necessary for photo and video shooting, and there were also 3D cameras on board. Based on the material received, the National Geographic channel is preparing a film.

And recently, information was received that there are real mountains at the bottom of the Mariana Trench: using echolocation, it was possible to “see” four ridges 2.5 km high.

2. Tonga Trench

The Tonga Trench is the deepest trench in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on Earth. The maximum known depth is 10,882 m. It is unusual primarily because the speed of movement lithospheric plates in the Tonga area much more than in all other parts of the planet where there are breaks in the earth's crust. Here the plates move at a speed of 25.4 cm per year versus the usual 2 cm. This was established by observing the tiny island of Niautoputanu, which moves by an average of just 25 cm every year.

Somewhere in the middle of Tonga, the Apollo 13 lunar landing stage was stuck, having fallen there during the lunar module's return to Earth. It is located at a depth of approximately 6,000 m, and no attempts have been made to extract it from there. Along with it, a plutonium energy source containing plutonium-238 fell into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It seems that this did not cause much harm to the environment, although given that the half-life of plutonium-238 is slightly less than 88 years, and the module fell there in 1970, very interesting discoveries may await pioneers who decide to go down to the bottom of Tonga.

3. Philippine groove

The Philippine Trench is also located in the Pacific Ocean near the Philippine Islands. The maximum depth is 10,540 m. Little is known about the trench - only that it was formed as a result of subduction. No one tried to go down to its bottom, since the Mariana Trench, of course, is more interesting.

4. Kermadec gutter

The Kermadec connects to the north with the Tonga Trench. The maximum depth is 10,047 m. During an expedition in 2008, it was possible to photograph a strange pink creature of the species Notoliparis kermadecensis at a depth of 7,560 m. Other inhabitants were also found there - huge crustaceans 34 cm in length.

5. Izu-Bonin Trench

The maximum depth of the Izu-Bonin Pacific Trench, also known as Izu-Ogasawara, is 9,810 m. It was discovered at the end of the 19th century during an expedition when it was decided to lay a telephone cable along the ocean floor. Of course, it was first necessary to take measurements, and in one place, not far from the Izu Islands, the Tuscarora vessel’s lot did not reach the bottom, recording a depth of more than 8,500 m.

In the north, Izu-Ogasawara connects with the Japan Trench, and in the south with the Volcano Trench. There is a whole chain of deep-sea depressions in this area of ​​​​the ocean, and Izu-Bonin is just part of it.

6. Kuril-Kamchatka Trench

This depression was discovered shortly after Izu-Bonin during the same expedition. The maximum depth is 9,783 m. This trench is quite narrow compared to all the others, its width is only 59 m. It is known that on the slopes of this trench there are ledges, terraces, canyons and valleys that appear up to the maximum depth. The bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench is uneven, divided by rapids into separate depressions. To our knowledge, no detailed studies have been carried out.

7. Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the border of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The maximum depth is 8,385 m, and this is the deepest place in Atlantic Ocean. The area where the trench is located is a zone of high seismic activity. The last disaster occurred here in 2004, when underwater volcanic eruptions caused a tsunami that hit the countries Indian Ocean. Recent studies have shown that the depth of the trench may be gradually increasing due to the fact that the North American tectonic plate- the southern “wall” of the gutter is gradually descending.

At a depth of 7,900 m in the Puerto Rican Trench, an active mud volcano was discovered, which erupted rock 10 km high in 2004. A column of hot mud and water was clearly visible above the surface of the ocean.

8. Japanese groove

The Japan Trench is also located in the Pacific Ocean, as the name suggests, located near the Japanese Islands. The depth of the Japan Trench, according to the latest data, is about 8,400 m, and the length is more than 1,000 km.

No one has yet reached its bottom, but in 1989, the Shinkai 6500 bathyscaphe with three researchers on board sank to 6,526 m. Later, in 2008, a group of Japanese and British researchers managed to photograph large groups of fish 30 cm long at a depth of 7,700 m.