Life under the sea still holds untold mysteries, especially the life in the oceanic trenches. One of the most intriguing ones is the life inside the Mariana Trench which is known as the deepest point on earth.
The Mariana Trench lies in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Mariana Islands near Guam. Shaped like a crescent with a depth of 11 km or nearly 36,000 ft, the Mariana Trench appears like a cavity of imperishable darkness. The water pressure at its bottom reaches 8 tons per inch or a thousand times sea level’s atmospheric pressure.
Out of the 70% of the water on the earth’s surface, the Mariana Trench is one that has not been well explored considering the high-risk challenges to go into its depth. This is apparently what makes the Mariana Trench one of the most mysterious places in the world.
1- Its depth exceeds the world’s highest mountain
Being the highest mountain above sea level in the world, Mount Everest has an altitude of 8,848 meters. If this mountain were placed into the Mariana Trench, it means that the peak of Everest would still be underwater, and there would still be more than a mile of remaining depth.
2- The most archaic seabed
The emergence of the Mariana Trench occurred 180 million years ago when there was a strong collision between 2 tectonic plates, that is the Pacific and the Philippine plate. At the collision point, one of the plates dives beneath the other into the Earth’s mantle, creating an ocean trench, as reported by deepseachallenge.com, National Geographic.
3- Hot and cold: Mariana Trench temperature
Due to the absence of sunlight, the Mariana Trench temperature is extremely cold, which fills around 34 – 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet, some spots are quite heated. There are hydrothermal vents that discharge minerals to sustain life in the trough. The heated locations have a temperature of about 700 degrees Fahrenheit.
Credit: USGS
4- There is life down there
Despite the absence of sunlight and extremely cold and hot temperatures, there are living organisms inside the Mariana Trench. According to Nat. Geo., “In recent years, deep-ocean dredges and unmanned subs have glimpsed exotic organisms such as shrimp-like amphipods, and strange, translucent animals called holothurians.”
In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh dived into 10,916 meters depth using US Navy submarine, Trieste. They assumed that they caught a glimpse of what looked like a flatfish. This discovery answers if there is life under extreme pressure as well as raises the question of how living things can exist in such conditions.
Credit: Erlendur Bogason
5- Pollution in the Mariana Trench
Who would have thought that even the deepest place on earth cannot escape from pollution? Victor Vescovo, a retired naval officer, said he saw plastic waste when he descended more than 10,000 meters deep into the Mariana Trench.
“It was very disappointing to see obvious human contamination of the deepest point in the ocean,” he said as reported by ABC News and BBC.
6- The deepest point of the trough
The deepest area in the Mariana Trench is called the Challenger Deep, which is named after two British Royal Navy Survey ships – the HMS Challenger and the HMS Challenger II, which made the first recordings of the trough’s depth.
Credit: JAMSTEC
7- Several people have explored the Challenger Deep
The first two humans to successfully explore the Challenger Deep were scientist Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh in 1960.
After more than 50 years, the next person to make a solo manned descent into the Challenger Deep is James Cameron, a Canadian film director, with the recorded depth of 10,908 meters.
There is also the first woman to plunge into the Challenger Deep, Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan, who is as well the first woman to land in space. She accompanied Victor Vescovo on a 35,810-foot dive into the Challenger Deep.
Credit: Thomas J. Abercrombie/National Georgraphic Society/NPR
8- US National Monument
In January 2009, US President George W. Bush inaugurated the trough as the National Monument of the country, which is called the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA), “Monument designation provides international, national, and local recognition that the Marianas is a refuge for seabirds, sea turtles, unique coral reefs, and a great diversity of seamount and hydrothermal vent life worth preservation.”
