Definition of Mariana Trench

The Mariana Islands are located in the ocean Pacific, specifically south of Japan and east of the Philippines. They constitute a archipelago of 15 islands whose global area is slightly greater than 1000 square kilometers. The Marianas are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and are of volcanic origin.

This archipelago is politically integrated into the overseas territories of the United States, but is known worldwide for a reason: in the nearby waters lies the deepest place in the world. Earth crust, the Mariana Trench.

Main data of interest

The length of the pit is equivalent to a round trip from Madrid to Paris (2,500 kilometers) and its average width is 70 kilometers.

The deepest point is the Challenger Chasm and reaches 11,034 meters (this name is related to the British ship HMS Challenger that led the discovery of it in the 18th century).

In 1960 a Soviet bathyscaphe was the first to reach the deepest point of the pit. The geologists found that the structure of the pit coincides with the distribution geographic location of the Mariana Islands.

In 2012, Canadian filmmaker James Cameron descended solo with a submersible into the depths of the pit and his feat was recorded in a documentary film, "Deepsea Challenge 3D".

From a geological point of view, the formation of the pit was produced by the action of two tectonic plates

In the depths of the pit have been found organisms live and curious creatures: sponges, hitherto unknown forms of plankton, large octopuses size, giant squid, sea shells and a new species (a slimy fish whose name is Mariana snailfish).

The deepest abyss on the planet is of great interest to the scientific community

The Mariana Trench not only holds the world record for depth. Scientists study its depths for one fundamental reason: to explain how species have adapted to such an environment. hostile. It must be taken into account that it is an absolutely dark place, the temperatures are extremely low and the atmospheric pressure it is a thousand times greater than what exists on the surface.

One of the aspects that draws attention to the scientific community is the high level of microbial activity.

The data that have been collected is of zoological interest, but it is also relevant to better understand two phenomena: the action of underwater earthquakes and the climate change.

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