Mariana Trench (Mariana Trench) Mariana Trench

Mariana Trench, or the Mariana Trench - the oceanic basin in the western Pacific, which is the deepest known on Earth geographical features. The basin stretches along the Mariana Islands for 1500 kilometers, it has a V-shaped profile, steep (7-9 °) slopes, flat bottom width of 1-5 km, which is divided into several thresholds of closed depressions. At the bottom of the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is more than 1100 times greater than normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the oceans. The basin is located on the border of two tectonic plates joining in the zone of movement along the faults, where the Pacific plate goes under the Philippine plate.

Research was based on the Mariana Trench British expedition ship "Challenger", conducted the first systematic measurements of the depths of the Pacific. This three-masted corvette war with sailing equipment has been rebuilt in the oceanographic ship for hydrological, geological, chemical, biological and meteorological activities in 1872 is also a significant contribution to the study of the Mariana Trench was made ​​by Soviet scientists. In 1958, an expedition of the "Vityaz" established the existence of life at depths greater than 7000 m, thus disproving the perception in the time view of the impossibility of life at depths greater than 6000-7000 m in 1960 it was held immersion submersible "Trieste" to the bottom Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,915 m

Registering the device has to transmit sounds to the surface noise, reminiscent of gnashing of teeth on the blade metal. At the same time on the TV screen appeared vague shadows like giant fairy-tale dragons. These creatures were a few heads and tails. An hour later, the scientists of the American research vessel "Glomar Challenger" worried that the equipment is unique, made ​​of beams of heavy-duty titanium-cobalt steel in the laboratory of NASA, which has a spherical structure, the so-called "hedgehog" with a diameter of about 9 meters, may remain in the abyss of eternity. It was decided to pick it up immediately. "Hedgehog" extracted from the depths of more than eight hours. As soon as he appeared on the surface, it immediately put on a special raft. Camera and sonar picked up on the deck of "Glomar Challenger". It turned out that duty steel construction beams were deformed, and a steel 20-inch rope, at which it was lowered, was half-perepilennym. Who tried to leave the "hedgehog" in depth and why - an absolute mystery. Details of this interesting experiment conducted by American oceanographers in the Mariana Trench, were published in 1996 the newspaper "The 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. Once at a depth of 7 km, the unit suddenly refused to emerge. Finding out the cause of problems that included hydronauts infrared camera. What they see in the next few seconds seemed to them a collective hallucination: a huge prehistoric lizard, teeth glaring at bathyscaphe, tried to bite through it like a nut. Recovering himself, the crew set in motion a device called the "electric gun". Monster, struck a powerful discharge disappeared in the abyss.

Inexplicable and unfathomable always attracted people, so scientists around the world because they want to answer the question: "What hides in its depths of the Mariana Trench?"

Can dwell on such a huge depth of living organisms and how they should look like, given the fact that they pressured the huge mass of ocean water, the pressure of more than 1100 atmospheres? Complexities associated with the exploration and comprehension of creatures that live in these unimaginable depths, it is enough, but human ingenuity knows no bounds. For a long time, oceanographers considered insane hypothesis that at depths greater than 6000 m in the impenetrable darkness, a horrible 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 6000-meter mark, there are huge colonies of living organisms Pogonophora ((rogonophora, from the Greek. Pogon - beard and phoros - bearing), a type of marine invertebrate animals living chitin in the long, open at both ends of the tubes). Recently, the veil of secrecy lifted the manned and unmanned, made ​​of heavy-duty materials, underwater vehicles equipped with video cameras. As a result, it was discovered a rich community of animals, consisting of both known and less familiar marine groups.

Thus, at depths of 6000 - 11,000 km were found: - barofilnye bacteria (developing only at high pressure) - from the simplest - foraminifera (elementary division squad rhizopods with the cytoplasmic body, dressed in a sink) and ksenofiofory (barofilnye bacteria from the simplest) - from multicellular - polychaete worms, isopods, amphipods, holothurians, bivalves and gastropods.

At a depth of no sunlight, no algae, salinity constant, low temperature, the abundance of carbon dioxide, the enormous hydrostatic pressure (increases by one atmosphere for every 10 meters). What is feed the inhabitants of the abyss? Food sources of deep animals - bacteria, as well as rain "dead" and organic detritus coming from the top, deep or blind animals, or with a very developed eyes, are often telescopic, and many fish and cephalopods from fotoftorami, other forms of illuminated surface of the body or its areas. Therefore, these animals face the same awful and incredible as the conditions in which they live. Among them - the kind of awesome Worms 1.5 meters long, with no mouth and anus, octopus mutant, unusual starfish and some soft-bodied creatures two meters in length, which do not yet identified.

Thus, a person could never resist the desire to explore the unknown, and the fast-paced world of technological progress allows to penetrate deeper into the secret world of the most inhospitable and rebellious world environment - the oceans. Subjects for research in the Mariana Trench will be enough for many years, given the fact that the most inaccessible and mysterious point of our planet, in contrast to the Mount Everest (altitude 8848 m), was conquered only once. So, January 23, 1960, the naval officer of the U.S. Don Walsh and Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard, protected armored, 12-centimeter-thick walls of submersibles called "Trieste", were able to descend to a depth of 10,915 feet. Despite the fact that scientists have made ​​a huge step in studies of the Mariana Trench, the questions did not decrease, new puzzles, which are yet to be solved. A deep ocean is able to keep their secrets. Will people soon discover it?