These Mariana Trench Facts include various information starting from its name to the unique creatures that dwell in its dark environment.
The crescent-shaped trench still remains to be one of the mysterious places in the world. Because its dark depth prevents visitors ascending down in the absence of a costly diving equipment.
Here are the 10 Mariana Trench Facts that may surprise you, or even amaze you in a degree that you will forget to play that addictive phone game you play every day.
1. The trench was called Mariana because it locates near the Mariana Islands of the Pacific Ocean. The islands themselves were named after Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria.
2. Mariana trench is the deepest spot in the world’s oceans with the maximum depth reaching up to 36,070 ft (10,994 m)
3. If we place the Mount Everest in the bottom of the trench, we would not see its peak poking out of the ocean water. Because its peak will be still 1.2 miles (2 km) under the water surface. That is how deep it is.
4. The president of the United States, George W. Bush, established the Mariana Trench as a Marine National Monument on January 6, 2009. As a result, the U.S added the large portion of the trench in its protected zone.
5. The Challenger Expedition of 1875 was the first to measure the depth of Mariana Trench. However, their measurement accuracy was based on measuring with a weighted rope. Still, they were able to measure the depth of 26,850 ft (8,184 m).
6. The deepest point of the Mariana Trench was named Challenger deep after the second Challenger Expedition. This time, Challenger II surveyed the area in 1957, using the more precise depth sounding equipment.
7. It is extremely difficult to dive down into the trench due to the crushing pressure. The pressure in the bottom of the Mariana trench is 1000 times stronger than the atmospheric pressure.
8. Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh were the first two people who accomplished historic descend to the Marina Trench. In 1960, they landed on the bottom in bathyscaphe called the Trieste and stayed there for 20 minutes. But they could not take any clear pictures the trench because of milky dim caused by stirred silt.
9. The second descend to the bottom of Mariana Trench was successfully accomplished 50 years after the Trieste. On March 26, 20012, James Cameron, a famous filmmaker, descended in the custom-built submersible that he co-designed.
10. The temperature at the floor of the Mariana Trench is slightly above freezing. Sun can’t penetrate into that depth. For that reason, the Mariana trench is also the darkest part of the world.
11. There are hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the trench. Those vents release hot bubbles of minerals which are partially consumed by microorganisms. A temperature around those vents reaches up to 572 Fahrenheit (300 Celsius).
12. The Mariana trench was formed as result of a collision between two massive slabs of oceanic crust.
13. Despite the darkness and an extreme pressure, surprisingly, the trench houses several living organisms in its deepest parts. Three major organisms are small sea cucumbers, xenophyophores, and amphipods. Also, over 200 microorganisms were identified in the sample mud from the Challenger Deep.
14. Even the deepest part of the world, the Mariana Trench, is not free from pollution. The research conducted by the Newcastle University discovered that plastic particles were present in the animals living down there.
15. Robert Dziak, an oceanographer in NOAA, and his team dropped a titanium-encased hydrophone down to the Challenger Deep. The hydrophone has kept recording for 23 days straight. The results revealed the picked up sounds of whales, ships, earthquakes, and the typhoon. You can list them here.
