Where is the Mariana Trench located. The Mariana Trench and its mysterious inhabitants. unknown

Many people know that the most high point- this is Everest (8848 m). If you are asked where is the deepest point of the ocean, what will you answer? Mariana Trench- this is the place we want to tell you about.

But first I want to note that they never cease to amaze us with their riddles. The described place is also still not properly studied for quite objective reasons.

So we offer you Interesting Facts about the Mariana Trench or, as it is also called, the Mariana Trench. Below are valuable photographs of the mysterious inhabitants of this abyss.

It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. This is the deepest place in the world, of all known today.

Having a V-shape, the depression runs along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km.

Mariana Trench on the map

An interesting fact is that the Mariana Trench is located at the junction: the Pacific and the Philippine.

The pressure at the bottom of the trough reaches 108.6 MPa, which is almost 1072 higher than the normal pressure.

Probably, now you understand that because of such conditions, it is extremely difficult to explore the mysterious bottom of the world, as this place is also called. Nevertheless, science community, since the end of the 19th century, has not ceased to study this mystery of nature step by step.

Exploration of the Mariana Trench

In 1875, an attempt was made for the first time to globally explore the Mariana Trench. The English expedition "Challenger" carried out measurements and analysis of the trough. It was this group of scientists who set the initial mark at 8184 meters.

Of course, this was not the full depth, since the capabilities of that time were much more modest than today's measuring systems.

Soviet scientists also made a huge contribution to research. An expedition led by the Vityaz research vessel in 1957 began its own studies and found that there is life at a depth of more than 7,000 meters.

Until that time, there was a strong belief that at such a depth life is simply impossible.

We invite you to see a curious image of the Mariana Trench on a scale:

Diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench

1960 was one of the most fruitful years in terms of the study of the Mariana Trench. The Trieste research bathyscaphe made a record dive to a depth of 10,915 meters.

This is where something mysterious and inexplicable began. Special devices that record underwater sound began to transmit terrible noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of a saw on metal.

The monitors registered mystical shadows, which in shape resembled fairy-tale dragons with several heads. For an hour, scientists tried to capture as much data as possible, but then the situation began to get out of hand.

It was decided to immediately raise the bathyscaphe to the surface, since there were reasonable fears that if you wait a little longer, the bathyscaphe will forever remain in the mysterious abyss of the Mariana Trench.

For more than 8 hours, specialists have been extracting from the bottom of the unique equipment made of super durable materials.

Of course, all the instruments, and the bathyscaphe itself, were carefully placed on a special platform for studying the surface.

What was the surprise of the scientists when it turned out that almost all the elements of the unique apparatus, made of the most durable metals at that time, were severely deformed and mangled.

The cable, 20 cm in diameter, lowering the bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, was half sawn. Who and why tried to cut it remains a mystery to this day.

An interesting fact is that only in 1996 the American newspaper The New York Times published the details of this unique study.

lizard from the Mariana Trench

The German expedition "Highfish" also encountered the inexplicable mysteries of the Mariana Trench. While plunging the research apparatus to the bottom, scientists encountered unexpected difficulties.

Being at a depth of 7 kilometers under water, they decided to raise the equipment.

But the technology refused to obey. Then special infrared cameras were turned on to find out the cause of the failures. However, what they saw on the monitors plunged them into indescribable horror.

A fantastic lizard was clearly visible on the screen. giant size, who tried to gnaw the bathyscaphe like a squirrel nut.

Being in a state of shock, the hydronauts activated the so-called electric gun. Having received a powerful discharge of current, the lizard disappeared into the abyss.

What was it, fantasy of the possessed research work scientists, mass hypnosis, delirium of people tired of colossal stress, or just someone's joke - is still unknown.

The deepest place in the Mariana Trench

On December 7, 2011, researchers at the University of New Hampshire submerged a unique robot to the bottom of a research trough.

Thanks to modern equipment, it was possible to register a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m). This place was named after the first expedition (1875), which we wrote about above: “ Challenger Abyss».

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

Of course, after these inexplicable and even mystical secrets, logical questions began to arise: what monsters live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? After all, for a long time it was believed that below 6000 meters the existence of living beings is in principle impossible.

However, later studies of the Pacific Ocean in general, and the Mariana Trench in particular, confirmed the fact that at a much greater depth, in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and water temperature close to 0 degrees, a huge number of unprecedented creatures live.

Undoubtedly, without modern technology, made of the most durable materials and equipped with cameras that are unique in their properties, such a study would be simply impossible.

As a summary, we can confidently say that at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, between 6000 and 11000 meters under water, the following were reliably found: worms (up to 1.5 meters in size), crayfish, most different bacteria, amphipods, gastropods, mutant octopuses, mysterious sea ​​stars, unidentified soft-bodied creatures of two meters in size, etc.

These inhabitants feed mainly on bacteria and the so-called "corpse rain", that is, dead organisms that slowly sink to the bottom.

Hardly anyone doubts that the Mariana Trench stores many more. However, the person does not give up trying to investigate it. unique place planets.

Thus, the only people who dared to dive to the "bottom of the earth" were the American marine specialist Don Walsh and the Swiss scientist Jacques Picard. On the same Trieste bathyscaphe, they reached the bottom on January 23, 1960, sinking to a depth of 10,915 meters.

However, on March 26, 2012, James Cameron, an American director, made a solo dive to the bottom of the deepest point in the oceans. Bathyscaphe collected all the necessary samples and made a valuable photo and video shooting. Thus, we now know that only three people have been in the Challenger Abyss.

Did they manage to answer at least half of the questions? Of course not, since the Mariana Trench still hides much more mysterious and inexplicable things.

By the way, James Cameron stated that after diving to the bottom, he felt completely cut off from the world of people. Moreover, he assured that there are simply no monsters at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

But here we can recall a primitive Soviet statement, after a flight into space: "Gagarin flew into space - he did not see God." This led to the conclusion that there is no God.

Similarly, here, we cannot unequivocally say that the giant lizard and other creatures that scientists saw in the course of previous studies were the result of someone's sick fantasy.

It is important to understand that research geographical feature has a length of more than 1000 kilometers. Therefore, potential monsters, the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, could well be located many hundreds of kilometers from the place of study.

However, these are just hypotheses.

Panorama of the Mariana Trench on Yandex Map

Another interesting fact may intrigue you. On April 1, 2012, Yandex published a comic panorama of the Mariana Trench. On it you can see a sunken ship, water plumes and even the glowing eyes of a mysterious underwater monster.

Despite the humorous idea, this panorama is tied to a real place and is still available to users.

To view it, copy this code into the address bar of your browser:

https://yandex.ua/maps/-/CZX6401a

The abyss knows how to keep its secrets, and our civilization has not yet reached such a development as to “hack” natural mysteries. However, who knows, maybe one of the readers of this article in the future will become the very genius who will be able to solve this problem?

Subscribe to - with us interesting facts will make your leisure time extremely exciting and useful for the intellect!

February 16th, 2010

The Mariana Trench, or the Mariana Trench, is an oceanic trench in the western Pacific Ocean, which is the deepest geographic feature known on Earth.
The depression stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7–9°) slopes, and 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 higher than normal. atmospheric pressure at the level of the oceans. The depression is located at the border of the docking of two tectonic plates, in the zone of movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.

The study of the Mariana Trench was initiated by the British expedition of the Challenger vessel, which carried out the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted corvette with sailing equipment was rebuilt into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872. Soviet researchers also made a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana Trench. In 1958, an expedition on the Vityaz established the existence of life at depths of more than 7000 m, thereby refuting the then prevailing idea that life was impossible at depths of more than 6000-7000 m. In 1960, the Trieste bathyscaphe was immersed to the bottom Mariana Trench to a depth of 10915 m.

The device recording sounds began to transmit noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of saw teeth on metal. At the same time, vague shadows appeared on the TV monitor, similar to giant fairy dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists on the American research vessel Glomar Challenger became worried that the unique apparatus, made from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel in the NASA laboratory, having a spherical structure, the so-called "hedgehog" with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss forever. It was decided to raise it immediately. "Hedgehog" was removed from the depths for more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, he was immediately put on a special raft. The TV 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 turned out to be half sawn. 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 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 "Hyfish" with a crew on board. Once at a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly refused to float. Finding out the cause of the malfunction, the hydronauts turned on the infrared camera. What they saw in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric pangolin, sinking his teeth into the bathyscaphe, tried to gnaw it like a nut. Coming 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 has always attracted people, so scientists around the world are so eager to answer the question: “What is the Mariana Trench hiding in its depths?”

Can living organisms live at such a great depth, and how should they look, given that huge masses press on them ocean waters whose pressure exceeds 1100 atmospheres? The difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of the creatures that live at these unimaginable depths are enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time oceanologists considered the hypothesis that at depths of more than 6000 m in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, life could exist as madness. However, the results of research by scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that even at these depths, far 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 that live in long chitinous tubes open at both ends). IN Lately the veil of secrecy was opened by manned and automatic, made of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, a rich animal community was discovered, consisting of both well-known and less familiar marine groups.

Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11000 km, the following were found:

Barophilic bacteria (developing only when high pressure),

Of the protozoa, foraminifera (a detachment of the protozoan subclass of rhizopods with a cytoplasmic body dressed in a shell) and xenophyophores (barophilic bacteria from protozoa);

From multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.

Not at depth sunlight, no algae, constant salinity, low temperatures, 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 or blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; many fish and cephalopods with photofluors; 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 - a frightening-looking worms 1.5 meters long, without a mouth and anus, mutant octopuses, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which have not yet been identified at all.

So, a person could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, but rapidly developing world technical progress allows deeper penetration into secret world the most inhospitable and recalcitrant environment in the world - the oceans. There will be enough items for research in the Mariana Trench for another long years, considering that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, unlike Everest (height above sea level 8848 m), was conquered only once. So, January 23, 1960, officer naval forces United States Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Picard, protected by armored, 12-cm-thick walls of a bathyscaphe called "Trieste", managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters.

Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in the research of the Mariana Trench, the questions have not decreased, 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?

On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Donald Walsh in the Trieste bathyscaphe at a depth of 10919 m reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the World Ocean. The water temperature at this depth was 2.4 ° C (the minimum temperature is 1.4 ° С, was observed at a depth of 3600 m). The Trieste bathyscaphe was designed and developed by Jacques' father, the famous Swiss stratospheric explorer Auguste Piccard.

The dimensions of the capsule, which housed the researchers inside the bathyscaphe, are small in relation to the size of the submarine as a whole. In particular, it is markedly outnumbered by metal-ballasted tanks, one of which is visible at the top left.

Trieste, like other bathyscaphes, was a pressurized spherical steel gondola for the crew, attached to a large float filled with gasoline to provide buoyancy. A model was fixed on the outer wall of the Trieste bathyscaphe. wrist watch deep sea. High degree water protection was provided not only by a sealed case, but also by a special liquid that filled the internal chamber of the watch instead of air.

Bathyscaphe floats on the principle of an iron. In the surface state, it is held by a huge float filled with gasoline located above the gondola with the crew. The float has another important function: in a submerged position, it stabilizes the bathyscaphe vertically, preventing swinging and overturning. When gasoline is slowly released from the float, which is replaced by water, the bathyscaphe begins to dive. From this moment on, the apparatus has only one way - down to the bottom. In this case, of course, it is also possible to move in a horizontal direction with the help of propellers driven by the engine.

In order to rise to the surface, a metal ballast is provided in the bathyscaphe, which can be shot, plates or blanks. Gradually freed from the "excess weight", the apparatus rises. The metal ballast is held by electromagnets, so if something happens to the power supply system, then the bathyscaphe immediately, like a balloon starting into the sky, “soars” up.

One of the achievements of this dive, which has a beneficial effect on the ecological future of the planet, was the refusal nuclear powers from burial radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The fact is that Jacques Picard experimentally refuted the opinion that existed at that time that there was no upward movement at depths of more than 6000 m. water masses.

Comparison with Everest

There is a place on Earth about which we know much less than about deep space - mysterious ocean floor. It is believed that world science has not really even begun to study it.

On March 26, 2012, 50 years after the first dive, a man again sank to the bottom of the deepest trench on Earth: the Deepsea Challenge bathyscaphe with Canadian director James Cameron sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Cameron became the third person to reach the deepest point in the ocean and the first to do it alone.

Mariana Trench- the deepest trench on earth in the western Pacific Ocean. It stretches along the Mariana Islands for 2,500 km. The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is called "Challenger Abyss". According to the latest research in 2011, its depth is 10,994 meters (±40 m) below sea level. By the way, the highest peak in the world - Everest rises to a height of "only" 8,848 meters.

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the water pressure reaches 1,072 atmospheres, i.e. 1072 times the normal atmospheric pressure. (Infographics ria.ru):

Half a century ago. Bathyscaphe "Trieste", designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Picard, on which a record dive into the Mariana Trench was made in 1960:

On January 23, 1960, Jacques Picard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh made a dive into the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,920 meters on the Trieste bathyscaphe. The dive took about 5 hours, and the time spent at the bottom was 12 minutes. It was absolute record depth for manned and unmanned vehicles.

Two researchers then discovered at a terrible depth only 6 species of living creatures, including flat fish up to 30 cm in size:

Let's go back to our days. This is the Deepsea Challenge Deep Sea Bathyscaphe, on which James Cameron sank to the bottom of the ocean. It was developed in an Australian laboratory, weighs 11 tons and has a length of more than 7 meters:

The dive began on March 26 at 05:15 am local time. Last words James Cameron were: "Lower, lower, lower."

When diving to the bottom of the ocean, the bathyscaphe turns over and falls vertically down:

This is a real vertical torpedo that glides through a huge column of water at high speed:

The compartment in which Cameron was during the dive is a metal sphere with a diameter of 109 cm with thick walls that can withstand pressures of more than 1,000 atmospheres:

In the photo, to the left of the director, you can see a hatch covering the sphere:

HD video. Dive:

James Cameron spent more than 3 hours at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, during which he took photos and videos underwater world. The result of this underwater journey will be a joint film with National Geographic. The photo shows manipulators with cameras:

At a depth of 11 kilometers:

3D camera:

However, the underwater expedition was not entirely successful. Due to malfunction metal "hands", controlled by hydraulics, James Cameron was unable to take samples from the ocean floor that scientists need to study geology:

Many were tormented by the question of animals that live at such a monstrous depth. “Probably everyone would like to hear that I saw some sea ​​monster, but it was not there ... There was nothing alive, more than 2-2.5 cm.

A few hours after the dive, the Deepsea Challenge bathyscaphe with the 57-year-old director successfully returned from the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

The rise of the bathyscaphe:

James Cameron - the first person in the world to make a solo dive into the abyss- to the bottom of Mariana. In the coming weeks, it will sink to a depth of 4 more times.

It would seem that by the twenty-first century, humanity knows everything about our planet and there are no white spots left on the maps. But do not forget that about 90% of the ocean floor is still covered not only by the water column, but also by mystery. So far, there are more questions than answers in this area. This is because only a few daredevils dared to dive in these places. It is considered to be akin to suicide.

Harsh conditions

The Mariana Trench is a tectonic underwater fault and has a V-shaped silhouette, with steep slopes and a flat bottom about 5 km wide. At a depth there are also peculiar seamounts about two kilometers high. The deepest point on the planet, reaching 11 thousand meters, is located here and is called the Challenger Abyss. Even the highest peak of our planet - Mount Everest, would be drowned under the water column in the Mariana Trench.

The pressure at this depth is more than a thousand times higher than Earth's normal atmospheric pressure. Just imagine, a whole ton of weight falls on one square centimeter of surface. Such loads can hardly withstand titanium alloys. If a person were here, he would be torn to pieces in the same second. It is curious that the water temperature at such a depth is about 4 degrees with a plus sign. All thanks to oceanic hydrothermal sources "black smokers", which are closer to the surface of the ocean overthrow 450 degree jets.

The colossal pressure does not allow water to boil and environment only slightly warmed up. And the one-of-a-kind deep-sea “White Smokers” produce liquid carbon dioxide in the Mariana Trench, plunging everything around into a white fog. Such hydrothermal vents enrich aquatic environment chemical trace elements and, according to scientists, create good conditions for the birth of new forms of life.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

The big discovery was the fact that at a depth of more than 6000 m, with incredible pressure, no sunlight and zero temperatures, life is in full swing. Various types of bacteria and protozoa live on the bottom, sea ​​cucumbers and amphipods, mollusk shells and luminous octopuses, bizarre starfish, blind giant worms and flat fish with periscopic eyes.

New species of scorpions and anglers have been discovered. A feature of these frightening outwardly fish is the presence of bioluminescent luminous processes that hang down like a fishing rod. Seeing a light in pitch darkness, the prey swims into the light and find themselves in the toothy mouth of a predator. The attention of physicians was especially attracted by one of the types of isopod crayfish, because. the substance it secretes could help develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease.

Most of all, the public was shocked by the huge xenophyophore amoebas. Their sizes in the Mariana Trench reach 10 cm, while all previously known types of protozoa can hardly be seen through a microscope. A unique feature of xenophyophores is that they are resistant to such potent and destructive substances for all living things as mercury, uranium, and lead.

inexplicable

In the mid-nineties, newspapers were full of headlines about a certain monster hiding at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The story went that the research vessel Glomar Challenger, plunging a device into the abyss to study the ocean depths, encountered difficulties. At some point, the sensors recorded a terrible noise and rattle. I had to urgently remove the device from the water. It turned out to be badly damaged, the iron case of the device was badly mangled, and the reliable metal cable almost broke off, as if someone wanted to bite it.

A similar incident happened to a group of German scientists when, according to the team, a huge lizard attacked the Highfish probe lowered into the water. It was possible to get rid of which only by intimidating with an electric charge.

There is no convincing evidence that giant prehistoric animals are found in the Mariana Trench today. However, the opposite has not been proven either.

In the 20s of the last century, fishermen from Australia said that they saw a huge white shark about 30 m long. Whereas known to science individuals of this species do not exceed five meters. The description of the Australians fully converged only with external characteristics Megalodon (scientific name Carcharodon megalodon). This animal weighed 100 tons and its mouth could swallow prey the size of a car. According to conventional wisdom, Megalodons became extinct about 2 million years ago. But just recently, a tooth of this monster was discovered in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the Mariana Trench. The examination determined that this find is no more than 11 thousand years old. What else hides the seabed?

Journey to the center of the earth

Everything that we now know about the Mariana Trench was obtained thanks to brave explorers who were not afraid of unknown depths. Since 1872, more than a dozen expeditions have been sent to the waters of the Pacific Ocean. In most cases, research was carried out with the help of technologies that are improving every year. Various equipment with sensors and probes with video and cameras were immersed to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

The researchers from the Challenger ship were the first to study the ocean abyss. In honor of this vessel, the deepest point of the planet in the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Abyss, was named.

The first who personally visited at a depth of eleven thousand meters were the Swiss oceanologist Jacques Piccard and the American military Don Walsh. In 1960, they plunged into the Mariana Trench in a deep-sea vessel. Only 127 mm separated them from kilometers of frightening uncertainty. armored steel.

Only our contemporary, the famous director James Cameron, the creator of the films “Titanic” and “Avatar”, decided to repeat their feat. In 2012, he made this dive alone in the DeepSea Challenge submersible. Taking soil and water samples from the bottom of the Mariana Trench, Cameron helped scientists do a lot important discoveries. However, he saw a silent silence. He did not encounter any monsters or strange phenomena in the abyss. James compares his adventure to flying into space - "complete isolation from all mankind."

The Mariana Trench is the deepest place on our planet. I think almost everyone heard about it or studied it at school, but I myself, for example, have long forgotten both its depth and the facts about how it was measured and studied. So I decided to “refresh” my and your memory

This absolute depth got its name thanks to the nearby Mariana Islands. The entire depression stretched along the islands for one and a half thousand kilometers and has a characteristic V-shaped profile. In fact, this is an ordinary tectonic fault, the place where the Pacific plate comes under the Philippine, just Mariana Trench- this is the deepest place of this kind) Its slopes are steep, on average about 7-9 °, and the bottom is flat, from 1 to 5 kilometers wide, and divided by rapids into several closed sections. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa - this is more than 1100 times more than normal atmospheric pressure!

The first who dared to challenge the abyss were the British - the military three-masted corvette "Challenger" with sailing equipment was rebuilt into an oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872. But the first data on the depth of the Mariana Trench were obtained only in 1951 - according to measurements, the depth of the trench was declared equal to 10,863 m. After that, the most deep point The Mariana Trench became known as the Challenger Deep. It is hard to imagine that in the depths of the Mariana Trench the most high mountain our planet - Everest, and above it there will still be more than a kilometer of water to the surface ... Of course, it will fit not in area, but only in height, but the numbers are still amazing ...

The next explorers of the Mariana Trench were already Soviet scientists - in 1957, during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel Vityaz, they not only announced maximum depth depression equal to 11,022 meters, but also established the existence of life at depths of more than 7000 meters, thereby refuting the then prevailing idea of ​​the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6000-7000 meters. In 1992, the Vityaz was handed over to the newly formed Museum of the World Ocean. For two years, the ship was being repaired at the plant, and on July 12, 1994, it was permanently moored at the museum pier in the very center of Kaliningrad

On January 23, 1960, the first and only human dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench was carried out. Thus, the only people who have been “at the bottom of the Earth” were US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard.

During the dive, they were protected by armored, 127 millimeter thick, walls of a bathyscaphe called “Trieste”

Bathyscaphe was named after the Italian city of Trieste, in which the main work on its creation was carried out. According to the instruments on board the Trieste, Walsh and Picard dived to a depth of 11,521 meters, but this figure was later slightly corrected - 10,918 meters.

The dive took about five, and the rise - about three hours, the researchers spent only 12 minutes at the bottom. But even this time was enough for them to make a sensational discovery - at the bottom they found flat fish up to 30 cm in size, similar to flounder !

Studies in 1995 showed that the depth of the Mariana Trench is about 10,920 m, and the Japanese probe "Kaik?", descended into the Challenger Deep on March 24, 1997, recorded a depth of 10,911.4 meters. Below is a diagram of the cavity - when clicked, it will open in a new window in normal size

The Mariana Trench has repeatedly frightened researchers with monsters lurking in its depths. For the first time, the expedition of the American research vessel Glomar Challenger encountered the unknown. Some time after the start of the descent of the apparatus, the sound-recording device began to transmit some kind of metallic rattle to the surface, reminiscent of the sound of sawn metal. At this time, some indistinct shadows appeared on the monitor, similar to giant fairy-tale dragons with several heads and tails. An hour later, scientists became worried that the unique equipment, made in the NASA laboratory from beams of ultra-strong titanium-cobalt steel, having a spherical structure, the so-called “hedgehog” with a diameter of about 9 m, could remain in the abyss of the Mariana Trench forever - so it was decided to immediately raise apparatus on board the ship. The “Hedgehog” was retrieved from the depths for more than eight hours, and as soon as it appeared on the surface, they immediately put it on a special raft. The TV camera and echo sounder were raised on the deck of the Glomar Challenger. The researchers were horrified when they saw how deformed the strongest steel beams of the structure were, as for the 20-cm steel cable on which the “hedgehog” was lowered, the scientists were not mistaken in the nature of the sounds transmitted from the abyss of water - the cable was half sawn. Who tried to leave the device at a depth and why - will forever remain a mystery. Details of this incident were published in 1996 by the New York Times.

Another collision with the inexplicable in the depths of the Mariana Trench occurred with the German research apparatus "Highfish" with a crew on board. At a depth of 7 km, the device suddenly stopped moving. To find out the cause of the malfunctions, 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 crack it like a nut. Recovering from the shock, the crew activated a device called an "electric gun", and the monster, struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss ...

On May 31, 2009, the Nereus automatic underwater vehicle sank to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. According to measurements, he sank 10,902 meters below sea level.

At the bottom, Nereus filmed a video, took some photos, and even collected sediment samples from the bottom.

Thanks to modern technologies, the researchers managed to capture a few representatives Mariana Trench I invite you to get to know them :)

So now we know that in Mariana Depths different octopuses live

Terrible and not so scary fish)

And various other obscure creatures :)

Perhaps not much time is left before the moment when technology will allow you to get to know the inhabitants in all their diversity. Mariana Trench and other ocean depths, but so far we have what we have