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 most distant planets of the 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 known today. Pacific Ocean. It is a trench formed by the convergence of tectonic plates. Maximum depth 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 it is not yet possible to obtain the exact dimensions of this gigantic trough of the ocean floor. 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 size- 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

Amphipods (amphipods) large sizes were 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.

The Mariana Trench (or Mariana Trench) is the deepest place earth's surface. It is located on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, 200 kilometers east of the Mariana Archipelago.

It’s paradoxical, but humanity knows much more about the secrets of space or mountain peaks than about the depths of the ocean. And one of the most mysterious and unexplored places on our planet is the Mariana Trench. So what do we know about him?

Mariana Trench - the bottom of the world

In 1875, the crew of the British corvette Challenger discovered a place in the Pacific Ocean where there was no bottom. Kilometer after kilometer the line of the lot went overboard, but there was no bottom! And only at a depth of 8184 meters the descent of the rope stopped. This is how the deepest underwater crack on Earth was discovered. It was called the Mariana Trench, named after the nearby islands. Its shape (in the form of a crescent) and the location of the deepest section, called the “Challenger Deep,” were determined. It is located 340 km south of the island Guam and has coordinates 11°22′ N. latitude, 142°35′ e. d.

Since then this deep-sea depression has been called the “fourth pole”, “the womb of Gaia”, “the bottom of the world”. Oceanographers have long tried to find out its true depth. Research different years gave different meanings. The fact is that at such a colossal depth, the density of water increases as it approaches the bottom, therefore the properties of the sound from the echo sounder in it also change. Using barometers and thermometers at different levels along with echo sounders, in 2011 the depth in the Challenger Deep was determined to be 10994 ± 40 meters. This is the height of Mount Everest plus another two kilometers above.

The pressure at the bottom of the underwater chasm is almost 1100 atmospheres, or 108.6 MPa. Most deep-sea vehicles are designed for a maximum depth of 6-7 thousand meters. During the time that has passed since the discovery of the deepest canyon, it was possible to successfully reach its bottom only four times.

In 1960, the deep-sea bathyscaphe Trieste, for the first time in the world, descended to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Challenger Deep area with two passengers on board: US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard.

Their observations led to an important conclusion about the presence of life at the bottom of the canyon. The discovery of an upward flow of water also had important environmental significance: based on it, nuclear powers refused to dump radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

In the 90s, the trench was explored by the Japanese unmanned probe "Kaiko", which brought samples of silt from the bottom in which bacteria, worms, shrimp were found, as well as pictures of a hitherto unknown world.

In 2009, the American robot Nereus conquered the abyss, picking up from the bottom samples of silt, minerals, samples of deep-sea fauna and photos of the inhabitants of unknown depths.

In 2012, James Cameron, the author of Titanic, Terminator and Avatar, dived alone into the abyss. He spent 6 hours at the bottom, collecting samples of soil, minerals, fauna, as well as taking photographs and 3D video filming. Based on this material, the film “Challenge the Abyss” was created.

Amazing discoveries

Located in a trench at a depth of about 4 kilometers active volcano Daikoku, spewing liquid sulfur that boils at 187 ° C in a small depression. The only lake liquid sulfur was discovered only on Jupiter's moon Io.

“Black smokers” swirl 2 kilometers from the surface - sources of geothermal water with hydrogen sulfide and other substances that, upon contact with cold water, turn into black sulfides. The movement of sulfide water resembles clouds of black smoke. The water temperature at the point of release reaches 450° C. The surrounding sea does not boil only because of the density of the water (150 times greater than at the surface).

In the north of the canyon there are “white smokers” - geysers spewing liquid carbon dioxide at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. Scientists suggest that it is in such geothermal “cauldrons” that one should look for the origins of life on Earth. Hot springs “heat” the icy waters, supporting life in the abyss - the temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is between 1-3° C.

Life beyond life

It would seem that in an environment of complete darkness, silence, icy cold and unbearable pressure, life in the depression is simply unthinkable. But studies of the depression prove the opposite: there are living creatures almost 11 kilometers under water!

The bottom of the hole is covered with a thick layer of slime from organic sediments that have been sinking from the upper layers of the ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. Mucus is an excellent breeding ground for barrophilic bacteria, which form the basis of nutrition for protozoa and multicellular organisms. The bacteria, in turn, become food for more complex organisms.

The ecosystem of the underwater canyon is truly unique. Living beings have managed to adapt to an aggressive, destructive environment under normal conditions, with high pressure, lack of light, low amounts of oxygen and high concentrations of toxic substances. Life in such unbearable conditions gave many of the inhabitants of the abyss a frightening and unattractive appearance.

Deep-sea fish have incredibly large mouths lined with sharp, long teeth. High pressure made their bodies small (from 2 to 30 cm). However, there are also large specimens, such as the xenophyophora amoeba, reaching 10 cm in diameter. The frilled shark and goblin shark, which live at a depth of 2000 meters, generally reach 5-6 meters in length.

Representatives of different species of living organisms live at different depths. The deeper the inhabitants of the abyss, the better developed their organs of vision are, allowing them to catch the slightest reflection of light on the body of prey in complete darkness. Some individuals themselves are capable of producing directional light. Other creatures are completely devoid of organs of vision; they are replaced by organs of touch and radar. With increasing depth, underwater inhabitants increasingly lose their color; the bodies of many of them are almost transparent.

On the slopes where the “black smokers” are located, mollusks live that have learned to neutralize sulfides and hydrogen sulfide that are lethal to them. And, which still remains a mystery to scientists, under conditions of enormous pressure at the bottom, they somehow miraculously manage to keep their mineral shell intact. Other inhabitants of the Mariana Trench show similar abilities. The study of fauna samples showed many times higher levels of radiation and toxic substances.

Unfortunately, deep-sea creatures die due to changes in pressure when any attempt is made to bring them to the surface. Only thanks to modern deep-sea vehicles has it become possible to study the inhabitants of the depression in their natural environment. Representatives of fauna unknown to science have already been identified.

Secrets and riddles of the “womb of Gaia”

The mysterious abyss, like any unknown phenomenon, is shrouded in a mass of secrets and mysteries. What does she hide in her depths? Japanese scientists claimed that while feeding goblin sharks, they saw a shark 25 meters long devouring goblins. A monster of this size could only be a megalodon shark, which became extinct almost 2 million years ago! This is confirmed by the findings of megalodon teeth in the vicinity of the Mariana Trench, whose age dates back to only 11 thousand years. It can be assumed that specimens of these monsters still exist in the depths of the hole.

There are many stories about the corpses of giant monsters washed up on the shore. When descending into the abyss of the German bathyscaphe "Haifish", the dive stopped 7 km from the surface. To understand the reason, the passengers of the capsule turned on the lights and were horrified: their bathyscaphe, like a nut, was trying to chew some kind of prehistoric lizard! Only a pulse of electric current through the outer skin managed to scare away the monster.

Another time, when an American submersible was diving, the grinding of metal began to be heard from under the water. The descent was stopped. Upon inspection of the raised equipment, it turned out that the titanium alloy metal cable was half sawed (or chewed), and the beams of the underwater vehicle were bent.

In 2012, the video camera of the Titan unmanned aerial vehicle from a depth of 10 kilometers transmitted a picture of metal objects, presumably a UFO. Soon the connection with the device was interrupted.

Unfortunately, there is no documentary evidence of these interesting facts none, they are all based only on eyewitness accounts. Each story has its fans and skeptics, its arguments for and against.

Before the risky dive into the trench, James Cameron said that he wanted to see with his own eyes at least part of the secrets of the Mariana Trench, about which there are so many rumors and legends. But he did not see anything that went beyond the knowable.

So what do we know about her?

To understand how the Mariana underwater gap was formed, it should be remembered that such gaps (trenches) are usually formed along the edges of the oceans under the influence of moving lithospheric plates. Oceanic plates, being older and heavier, “crawl” under continental plates, forming deep gaps at the junctions. The deepest is the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates near the Mariana Islands (Mariana Trench). The Pacific plate is moving at a rate of 3-4 centimeters per year, resulting in increased volcanic activity along both its edges.

Along the entire length of this deepest failure, four so-called bridges—transverse mountain ridges—were discovered. The ridges were presumably formed due to the movement of the lithosphere and volcanic activity.

The gutter is V-shaped in cross-section, greatly expanding at the top and narrowing downwards. The average width of the canyon in the upper part is 69 kilometers, in the widest part - up to 80 kilometers. The average width of the bottom between the walls is 5 kilometers. The slope of the walls is almost vertical and is only 7-8°. The depression stretches from north to south for 2,500 kilometers. The trench has an average depth of about 10,000 meters.

Only three people to date have visited the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. In 2018, another manned dive to the “bottom of the world” in its deepest section is planned. This time, the famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov and polar explorer Artur Chilingarov will try to conquer the depression and find out what it hides in its depths. Currently, a deep-sea bathyscaphe is being manufactured and a research program is being drawn up.

Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the distant planets of the solar system, people Only five percent of the ocean floor has been explored, which remains one of greatest mysteries of our planet.

Here are other interesting facts about what you can find along the way and at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

1. Very hot water

Going down to such depths, we expect it to be very cold. The temperature here reaches just above zero, varying 1 to 4 degrees Celsius.

However, at a depth of about 1.6 km from the surface of the Pacific Ocean there are hydrothermal vents called “black smokers”. They shoot water that heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.

This water is rich in minerals that help support life in the area. Despite the water temperature being hundreds of degrees above boiling point, she doesn't boil here due to incredible pressure, 155 times higher than on the surface.

Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench

2. Giant toxic amoebas

A few years ago, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, giant 10-centimeter amoebas called xenophyophores.

These single-celled organisms likely became so large because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. Cold temperatures, high pressure and lack of sunlight likely contributed to these amoebas have acquired enormous dimensions.

In addition, xenophyophores have incredible abilities. They are resistant to many elements and chemicals, including uranium, mercury and lead,which would kill other animals and people.

3. Shellfish

The intense water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance of survival. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trench near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form.

TO How did mollusks preserve their shells under such pressure?, remains unknown.

In addition, hydrothermal vents emit another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is lethal to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench

4. Pure liquid carbon dioxide

Hydrothermal source of Champagne The Mariana Trench, which lies outside the Okinawa Trench near Taiwan, is the only known underwater area where liquid carbon dioxide can be found. The spring, discovered in 2005, was named after the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.

Many believe these springs, called "white smokers" due to their lower temperatures, may be the source of life. It was in the depths of the oceans, with low temperatures and an abundance of chemicals and energy, that life could begin.

5. Slime

If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, we would feel that it covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its familiar form, does not exist there.

The bottom of the depression mainly consists of crushed shells and plankton remains that have accumulated at the bottom of the depression for many years. Due to the incredible water pressure, almost everything there turns into fine grayish-yellow thick mud.

Mariana Trench

6. Liquid sulfur

Daikoku Volcano, which is located at a depth of about 414 meters on the way to the Mariana Trench, is the source of one of the most rare phenomena on our planet. Here is lake of pure molten sulfur. The only place where liquid sulfur can be found is Jupiter's moon Io.

In this pit, called the "cauldron", there is a bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this site in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. It may reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth.

According to the Gaia hypothesis, our planet is one self-governing organism in which everything living and nonliving is connected to support its life. If this hypothesis is correct, then a number of signals can be observed in the natural cycles and systems of the Earth. So the sulfur compounds created by organisms in the ocean must be stable enough in the water to allow them to move into the air and return to land.

7. Bridges

At the end of 2011, it was discovered in the Mariana Trench four stone bridges, which extended from one end to the other for 69 km. They appear to have formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.

One of the bridges Dutton Ridge, which was discovered back in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. At the highest point the ridge reaches 2.5 km over the Challenger Deep.

Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that these formations were discovered in one of the most mysterious and unexplored places is surprising.

8. James Cameron's Dive into the Mariana Trench

Since opening the deepest part of the Mariana Trench - the Challenger Deep in 1875, only three people visited here. The first were American Lieutenant Don Walsh and researcher Jacques Picard, who dived on January 23, 1960 on the ship Trieste.

52 years later, another person dared to dive here - a famous film director. James Cameron. So On March 26, 2012, Cameron sank to the bottom and took some photos.

As children, we all read many legends about incredible sea monsters that inhabit 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 of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth. Read our article about what the Mariana Trench hides and who its mysterious inhabitants are.

The deepest place on the planet is the 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 1,100 times higher than normal 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-person Deepsea Challenger and spent enough time there to take samples, take pictures and film 3D video. Later, the footage he shot formed the basis 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 too embellished 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 have firmly learned: the most high point earth - Mount Everest (8848 m), the deepest depression - Mariana. However, if we know a lot of interesting facts about Everest, then most people know nothing about the trench in the Pacific Ocean, in addition to the fact that it is the deepest.

FIVE HOURS DOWN, THREE HOURS UP

Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than Mountain peaks and even more so the distant planets of the 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 the shape of a crescent for two and a half thousand kilometers along the Mariana Islands.

Its depth, according to recent research, is 10,994 meters ± 40 meters (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 area of ​​​​the Mariana Islands, but the 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 a hundred years later, the echo sounder of another English, but under the same name, scientific vessel recorded a depth of 10,863 meters in the Mariana Trench area. After this, 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 7,000 meters, thereby refuting the prevailing opinion at that time about the impossibility of life at depths of more than 6,000-7,000 meters, and also clarified the British data, recording a depth of 11,023 meters in the Mariana Trench .

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 five 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.

LIFE IN utter 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, Challenger Deep contains hydrothermal vents called “black smokers.” They constantly heat the water and thereby maintain the overall temperature in the depression at 1-4 degrees Celsius.

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 in whose bodies a luminous liquid accumulates. When they sense danger, they splash this liquid towards the enemy and hide behind this “curtain of light.” The appearance of such animals is very unusual for our perception and 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!

THE LIZARD TRIED TO CHEAT THE BATHYSCAPH 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 meters) 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 (without being lowered to the bottom due to incomprehensible obstacles that prevented the descent), it was discovered that the powerful steel structures were bent, and the steel cables seemed to have been sawed off. A little more - and the platform would forever remain the Challenger Deep.

Previously, something similar happened to the German device “Hayfish”. Having descended to a depth of 7 kilometers, 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 its teeth to the bathyscaphe, 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.

Giant 10-centimeter amoeba - xenophyophora

WHO IS THE REAL “OWNER” OF PLANET EARTH

But it's not just fantastic monsters that are captured by deep-sea cameras. In the summer of 2012, the unmanned deep-sea vehicle Titan, launched from the research vessel Rick Mesenger, was in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,000 meters. His main goal was to film 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 an area of ​​approximately a 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 suitable place for them to live.

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

FIELD RESEARCH IS PLANNED FOR SUMMER 2015

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

“Almost everything on the earth’s 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, since the internal diameter of the device did not exceed 109 cm, the famous film director observed everything that was happening in this place until mechanical problems forced him to rise from the surface.

Cameron managed to take samples of rocks and living organisms from the bottom, as well as film 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 kilometers, 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.