The first expedition happened in when Jacques Piccard and Navy Lt. Don Walsh reached the Challenger Deep in a U. Navy submersible. They were only able to spend 20 minutes there due to the extreme pressures, and their arrival stirred up too much dust from the seafloor for them to take any pictures. Cameron was able to spend three hours there. And, of course, he captured video and took many photos—he is a Hollywood filmmaker, after all.
The extreme pressures took a toll on his equipment, though. Already a subscriber? What's down there in its black, crushing depths? The Mariana Trench is a crescent-shaped dent in the floor of the Pacific Ocean, extending over miles long with an average width around 43 miles and a depth of almost 7 miles or just under 36, feet. For comparison, most ocean life lives above a depth of feet.
Nuclear submarines hover around feet below the surface as they travel through the ocean waters. The site of the sunken Titanic, can be found at 12, feet. Bacteria and small invertebrates are able to survive in the deepest spot. Somewhere between Hawaii and the Philippines near the small island of Guam, far below the surface of the water, sits the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot in the ocean.
What's down there? How deep is the Mariana Trench? The Trench sits like a crescent-shaped dent in the floor of the Pacific Ocean, extending over miles long with an average width around 43 miles and a depth of almost 7 miles or just under 36, feet. At that depth, the weight of all that water above makes the pressure in the Trench around times higher than it would be in, say, Miami or New York. Floor vents release bubbles of liquid sulfur and carbon dioxide. Temperatures are just above freezing, and everything is drowning in darkness.
According to National Geographic, if you were to put Mount Everest at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, its peak would still sit around 7, feet below sea level. But scientists say there are many new species awaiting discovery and many unanswered questions about how animals can survive in these extreme conditions.
Scientists are particularly interested in microorganisms living in the trenches, which they say could lead to breakthroughs in biomedicine and biotechnology. Additionally, studying rocks from ocean trenches could lead to a better understanding of the earthquakes that create the powerful and devastating tsunamis seen around the Pacific Rim, geologists say.
Marine Protected Areas. Find us on Facebook. Follow deepchallenge Join the Conversation. National Geographic. Thank you! Science Partners Additional major support provided by. Surprisingly, given these hostile conditions, there is life at the bottom. Since then many species have been observed including tiny organisms living in the seabed, large single-celled amoebas measuring more than 10 centimetres across, jellyfish, amphipods and snailfish — which have even inspired a new type of soft deep-sea submersible.
Sadly, what can also be found at the bottom is rubbish. Scientists have found high levels of toxic pollutants in the area and plastic bags have been found on the seabed. A new shrimp-like species found in the trench was discovered to have ingested microplastics and was given the name Eurythenes plasticus to highlight the problem.
There have even been proposals to dump nuclear waste in the trench , which were thankfully not carried through. But the enormous pressures involved make it a difficult and dangerous place for humans and robots alike.
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