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Mankind loves going to places less traveled.
Just think of Christopher Columbus and how he...
Ok, that's a bad example.
How about the first person to step foot on the moon, or the first people to climb Mt.
Everest, though?!
So, of course, when it comes to the deepest darkest parts of the ocean, we can’t help
but be curious about what it is and what lives down there?
Is there something down there that can eat us?
Or, better yet, is there anything down there that WE can eat?!
Well, let’s find out together with these Top 10 Mariana Trench Facts that will blow
your mind!
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section, let us know if you'd ever visit the Mariana Trench, or any other less-traveled
places on Earth!
10.
It's kind of a big deal.
The Mariana Trench, located East of The Philippines, is so massive that we have trouble wrapping
our heads around it.
It’s more than 5 times wider than it is deep, and the deepest point is almost 7 miles!
In comparison, if you were to flip Mt. Everest upside down, there would still be about 1
mile of water underneath the peak!
The depth at the Challenger Deep, the deepest point, is so ...well, deep, that the pressure
you’d feel is eight tons per square inch, or in layman's terms, about the same pressure
as stacking 50 jumbo jets on top of your chest.
To compare, at the surface, we feel 14.7 pounds per square inch.
That’s quite the difference!
9.
Who wants to be an Ocean Astronaut?
It might be scarier than the traditional kind.
Especially considering that more people have been to the moon than have explored the Hadal
Zone.
It’s rarely explored because of the dangers that the massive pressure at such depths creates,
which implodes most instruments with current technology.
Three people in the history of humans have been all the way down to the bottom.
They had their own kind of spaceship, the Trieste submarine in 1960, and later, movie
director James Cameron in 2012.
Many submarines have failed and gone missing during missions, so going down there is no
joke.
8.
Jacques Cousteau Cousteau isn’t just a fun name to say, he’s
also the first to photograph the Hadal Zone.
Why is it that this area draws in so many people who love cameras?
In the 1870’s, expeditions to the Hadal Zone uncovered samples from almost 30,000
feet under the ocean.
With the results, they still had questions.
Were the animal remains from animals who lived that deep?
Or from higher up that made their way down after they deceased?
Well, in 1956, thanks to Jacques Cousteau and his documentary The Silent World, the
Hadal Zone became lit up momentarily and the world saw the first glimpse of this immense
mystery.
7.
The Deepest Fish In November of 2014, the first representation
of the Mariana snailfish fish was discovered at a bone-crushing 8,152 meters or 26,745
feet!
This, of course, breaks the record as the "deepest fish".
The first specimens of this species were caught during the expedition of the research vessel
"Falkor".
To catch the fish, deep-water traps designed to minimize any damage to the caught fish
during the ascent were used.
Mackerel was used as bait.
Only one other species of fish has been recorded more than 8,000 meters or 26,000 feet in depth,
the so-called "ethereal snailfish".
6.
What No One Thought We’d Notice…
In the 1970’s, a large Puerto Rican producer of pharmaceuticals was temporarily allowed
to dump toxic waste while their wastewater treatment site was built.
Dumping went on into the next decade, resulting in tons of toxic waste into the Hadal zone,
in the Puerto Rico Trench.
They did studies in 1981 and found that so much waste had been dumped that it had actually
changed the microbial community and damaged ecosystems.
Who approved this and why?
A toddler?
5.
Preparing for a life in outer space The creatures that can not just live, but
also thrive in these extreme areas are called extremophiles, and how they live can help
us understand how we might possibly survive in outer space if we find that we have to.
Extremophiles live with little to no oxygen, high pressure, low temperatures, and their
abilities can help us understand how life pushes on without oxygen.
The same type of creatures that exist in the deep sea could also exist on Jupiter’s moon,
Europa.
4.
It has Supergiants Not like super giant people.. though, wouldn’t
that be amazing?
No, one of the giant creatures that live in the hadal zone is called the Alicella Gigantea
and it’s 20 times the size of its closest relatives, the sand hoppers!
Wait, that doesn’t sound very menacing, does it.
Here’s the thing, we should mention that supergiants in the hadal zone mean really
small animals, because everything else is microscopic.
Supergiants are about 13.4 inches long.
So… no giant squids are waiting for us in the trenches of the hadal zone, it seems.
Sorry to disappoint.
3.
Pressure Cooker You know how we've talked and talked about
the extreme pressure of the deepest depth of the ocean and what kind of impact it would
do on the human body?
Well, that pressure works the same to itself.
The density of the water at the Mariana Trench increases by about 5 percent - meaning 95
gallons of water at the bottom will be 100 gallons in mass at the surface.
It's kind of like buying a new pillow that is vacuum packed - you open it and the pillow
expands a bit.
In principle, water is doing the same thing.
2.
Extreme temperatures aren’t just on the low end
It’s not just cold, either.
Sure, no sunlight gets there, so the water gets Titanic icy.
What’s crazy, though, is that the water can actually reach temperatures up to 700
degrees Fahrenheit!
How?
Well, there are hydrothermal vents throughout the trench.
This means if you were casually swimming by one of these vents, you would be cooked on
the spot.
Interestingly enough, the only place you can find liquid carbon dioxide in the oceans is
at the Champagne Vent of the Mariana Trench.
1.
It was completely unknown for a long time In 1875, the first pinpointing of the Mariana
Trench was made after being found by sounding equipment on the HSM Challenger.
They named it after the nearby Mariana Islands.
The year was a big one for oceanography.
The ship traveled 70,000 nautical miles, exploring and mapping places we had no idea about.
During that trip they discovered 4,700 species!
So, yes, the Mariana Trench as a huge pit of despair and darkness is crazy and all but
at least they found a lot of life too!
Now that we know about it, it’s been declared a wildlife refuge.