Curious ElfBefore you hit the beach this summer, remember that there is a lot going under the ocean we don’t know yet about. While we talk about going to outer space, there are some places on Earth that are untouched and a little less explored. One of them is the ocean. Oceans are mysterious because there are thousands of unexplored places, and it is home to some of the strangest species on the planet. Technology is restricting us to explore deep down into the ocean.
In terms of depth, oceans are massive. The average depth of the ocean is about 2.3 miles. There are some ocean mysteries that scientists cannot explain. From the ‘Immortal’ Jellyfish to the Bloop Sound, Blue Whales, Undersea Geology, Giant Squid, Baltic Sea Anomaly, Purple Orb, and the Milky Sea phenomenon, it is safe to say that the oceans are a dark mystery. But one such phenomenon that has all the scientists puzzled is the Mariana Trench – the world’s darkest, deepest crevice.
Hot springs at one step and water below freezing point at another. Sunlight has not hit bottom in billions of years. A landscape generally described as ‘lunar-like’ and crumbling pressure. Deep inside the ocean, about 11,000 meters of sea level, there exists an underwater world dripping with strangeness, full of mysteries, and boundless opportunities for scientific discovery. This is Mariana Trench – the deepest place on the planet.
It is its depth that makes Mariana Trench one of the deadliest places on Earth. No one has explored it yet. The water temperature there is below 0° celsius – the place is forever covered in darkness. The extreme water pressure of 8 tons per square inch is what makes Mariana Trench near impossible for life. In the blink of an eye, any air-filled crevice of your body would collapse, the bones would crush, and the lungs filled with air would collapse.
The Mariana Trench was formed when two tectonic plates – Mariana Plate and Pacific Plate, collided, resulting in one plate forcing under the other, with the denser, older oceanic crust sliding into the mantle.
How deep is the Mariana Trench?
The Mariana Trench rests like a crescent dent in the surface of the Pacific Ocean. With a depth of 11,000 (7 miles or 36,000 feet) meters and a width of around 43 miles, the Trench extends over 1500 miles. At this depth, the pressure it experiences from all the water above makes it around 1000-times higher than it would be in New York or Miami. What’s interesting is that its floor vents release liquid carbon dioxide and sulfur bubbles, which are poisonous. Everything is drowning in darkness.
To give you an idea of how deep the Mariana Trench is, the majority of ocean life lives at 660 feet deep, and the nuclear submarines float at 850 feet deep. On the other hand, whales prefer swimming at 8000 feet deep. Moreover, your beloved Titanic ship can be found sunken 12,476 feet deep.
According to scientists, if you place Earth’s highest mountain – Mount Everest – at the bottom of Mariana Trench, its top would still be about 2100 meters (about 7000 feet) below sea level. You can only imagine how deep it is.
The deepest part of the Mariana Trench called the Challenger Deep lies 36,070 feet below the surface. It is the point most distant from the surface of the water.
While thousands of climbers have conquered Mount Everest, only three divers were able to explore the Challenger Deep, lying at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. In 1960, Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard started the first expedition to reach the Challenger Deep. They used a US Navy Submersible – Trieste – to stir the underwater world.
According to them, they experienced an alien environment. Jacques Piccard claimed that he saw something when they reached the bottom after 4 hours and 47 minutes. He called Walsh, and he saw something unique. It was a flatfish. They weren’t able to take any pictures. But, scientists say that it is impossible for life to sustain 11,000 meters deep.
50 years later, in 2012, sci-fi aficionado and filmmaker James Cameron solo dived into the Challenger Deep in a submarine that he designed himself. He spent three hours in the Trench. He captured some videos and photos. Speculations are made that his next Avatar installment is based under the ocean, and he dived into the ocean for inspiration.
