Mariana Trench (26 photos) Bashny.Net

Mariana Trench, or the Mariana Trench - ocean basins in the western Pacific is the deepest known on Earth geographical objects.
Trough stretches along the Mariana Islands in the 1500 km; it has a V-shaped profile, the steep (7-9 °) slopes flat bottom width of 1-5 km, which is divided into several closed thresholds depressions. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108, 6 MPa, which is more than 1,100 times greater than normal atmospheric pressure at sea level. Depression is on the border docking of two tectonic plates in the area of ​​movement along faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.



Research Mariana Trench were put British expedition ship "Challenger", conducted the first systematic soundings of the Pacific Ocean. This military three-masted sailing corvette with the equipment was rebuilt in oceanographic vessel for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological work in 1872. It is also a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana Trench was made by Soviet researchers. In 1958, an expedition of the "Vityaz" established the presence of life at depths greater than 7000 m, thus disproving the perception in the time representation of the impossibility of living at depths greater than 6000-7000 m. In 1960 was held immersion bathyscaphe "Trieste" to the bottom Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,915 m.



The recording sounds of the instrument began passing on the surface of the noise-like teeth gnashing metal saw. At the same time the TV monitor appeared vague shadows, like a giant fairy dragons. These creatures had several heads and tails. An hour later, American scientists research vessel "Glomar Challenger" worried that the unique instruments made of beams of heavy-duty titanium cobalt steel in the laboratory of NASA, which has a spherical structure, the so-called "hedgehog" diameter of about 9 meters, can remain in the abyss forever. It was decided to pick it up immediately. "Hedgehog" was recovered from the depths of more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, it immediately put on a special raft. Cameras and sonar picked up on deck "Glomar Challenger". It was found that a strong steel construction beams were deformed, and 20-inch steel cable, at which it is being lowered, turned out to be half-sawn. Who tried to leave the "hedgehog" on the depth and why - absolute mystery. The details of this interesting experiment conducted by American oceanographers in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996, the newspaper "New York Times" (USA).



This is not the only case of a collision with unexplained in the depths of the Mariana Trench. Something similar happened with the German research unit "Hayfish" with the crew on board. Caught at a depth of 7 km, the unit suddenly refused to emerge. Figuring out the cause of the problem, hydronauts included infrared camera. What they saw in the next few seconds, it seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric reptiles, glaring teeth in the bathyscaphe, tried to chew it like a nut. Recovering himself, the crew powered device called the "electric gun". Monster struck by a powerful discharge, disappeared into the abyss.



Inexplicable and incomprehensible always attracted people, so scientists around the world are so eager to answer the question: "What is fraught with its deep Mariana Trench?»



Can dwell on such a huge depth of living organisms and how they should look like, given that they are under pressure huge mass of ocean water pressure exceeds 1100 atmospheres? Difficulties associated with the study and comprehension of the creatures inhabiting these unimaginable depths enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time oceanographers considered madness hypothesis that at depths greater than 6000 m in the impenetrable darkness under enormous pressure and at temperatures close to zero, there may be life. However, the results of research scientists in the Pacific Ocean have shown that in these depths, far below the 6,000-meter mark, there is a huge colony of living organisms pogonophores ((rogonophora; from the Greek. Pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrates inhabiting chitin in long, open at both ends of the tube). Recently the veil of secrecy lifted the manned and unmanned, made from heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. The result was the discovery of rich community of animals, consisting of both a well-known and less familiar marine groups.



Thus at depths of 6,000 - 11,000 km found:

 - Barofilnye bacteria (developing only at high pressure),

 - From the simplest - foraminifera (order simplest subclass rhizopods with the cytoplasmic body, dressed sink) and Xenophyophore (barofilnye of the simplest bacteria);

 - From multicellular - polychaetes, isopods, amphipods, sea cucumbers, bivalves and gastropods.



At depths of no sunlight, there is no algae, salinity constant temperature is low, the abundance of carbon dioxide, enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by 1 atmosphere for every 10 meters). What feed the inhabitants of the abyss?

Food sources of deep animals - bacteria, as well as rain "corpses" and organic detritus coming from above; deep animals or blind, or with very developed eyes, often telescopic; Many fish and cephalopods with fotoftorami; in other forms of light surface of the body or its parts. Therefore, the appearance of these animals just horrible and unbelievable as the conditions in which they live. Among them - the fearsome worms 1.5 meters long, with no mouth and anus, octopus mutants, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters long, which in general is not yet identified.



So one could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, and the fast-paced world of technological progress allows more deeply penetrate into the secret world of the most inhospitable and rebellious world environment - the oceans. Subjects for research in the Mariana Trench will suffice for many years, given that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, unlike Everest (altitude 8848 m), was conquered only once. Since January 23, 1960, an officer of naval forces of the USA Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard protected armored, 12-centimeter-thick walls called bathyscaphe "Trieste", managed to descend to a depth of 10,915 meters.

Despite the fact that scientists have made a huge step in the study of the Mariana Trench, the issues have not diminished, new puzzles that are yet to be solved. And the ocean depths is able to keep their secrets. Will people soon discover their?