Interesting Facts of Mariana Trench, the Deepest Trench in the World

Trench is defined as a depression in the ground. It’s created due to erosion by geological movement of tectonic plates. There are some causes of deep ocean trenches. Unlike a basin, trench has such steep creature at the sea bottom. There are some remarkable trenches in the world. This article is going to elaborate about some interesting facts of Mariana Trench, the deepest trench in the world.

Characteristics of Mariana Trench

Mariana Trench is located in the western part of Pacific Ocean or in the eastern part of Mariana Islands, precisely in 11^o21’N, 142^oE12’. Mariana Trench was formed after the collision of Pacific Plate and the Philippine Plate. It has the depth of 10.994 meters below sea level, with the length of 2.550 km and wide of 69 km.

Interesting Facts of Mariana Trench

1. Many researchers use Mariana Trench as their research object. One of the simple ways to do it is by making comparison between Mariana Trench and Mount Everest. As we know, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world with the elevation of 8.848 meters above sea level. Meanwhile Mariana Trench has the depth of 10.994 meters below sea surface. It can be imagined how deep the Mariana Trench is if you put Mount Everest the other way around. Even some researchers believe that Mariana Trench has no bottom.
2. Regarding the remarkable depth of Mariana Trench, it can produce high pressure as well. The deeper water should give higher pressure for human body. Mariana Trench has the pressure of 1.086 bar or 108 Mpa. It’s relatively similar as 8 tons per square inch, or it can be illustrated as 1.600 African elephants or 50 jet planes are put above the diver body. Therefore, we need a significant protective tool, a submarine for instance, to be able to dive into Mariana Trench.
3. One of the interesting facts of Mariana Trench, the deepest trench in the world, is about its history. Mariana Trench was formed around 180 million years ago, after the collision of Pacific Tectonic Plate and the Philippine Plate. That collision produced some collapsed Earth crust, then it created basin. Before those expedition and research of Mariana Trench, sailors and fishermen avoided the trench area since they believed it was danger. But now Mariana Trench becomes an interesting object for marine experts. Marine biota is also an interesting object to learn.
4. There was not even a single professional diver who tried diving into Mariana Trench. In 1951, a marine ship HMS Challenger investigated the depth of Mariana Trench using special equipment of sound waves. On 23 January 1960, two divers Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard successfully entered Mariana Trench until 10.911 meters below sea surface with mini submarine named Trieste. Meanwhile on 25 March 2012, a famous movie director James Cameron became the first person who successfully dived into Mariana Trench as far as 11 km using deep-diving submersible called The Deepsea Challenger.
5. Based on the expedition in 2012, scientists have found three organisms in Mariana Trench, they were giant amoeba (Xenophyophores), shrimp with no shells (Amphipoda), and little sea cucumber (Holothurian). An expedition in 2016 successfully discovered little jellyfish species in Mariana Trench. This jellyfish is quite unique since its head can glow in the dark. There are some general classifications of jellyfish. Another expedition found fish species with long and sharp fangs, then it was called Fangtooth fish. This fish is about 18 cm long and cannot glow in the dark as other deep-sea animals. They also found Anglerfish or Sea Devil with sharp fangs in its mouth. The Anglerfish can glow in the dark and consume preys with bigger size. Some marine predators are also living in the Pacific Ocean.
6. Apparently, water pollution occurred in Maliana Trench too. Based on the pictures and videos in the last 30 years, many wastes have been found in Maliana Trench. It’s not only plastic waste though, but also some other rubbishes like rubber, metal, wood, etc. However, mercury is danger for marine ecosystems and you should know why.

So that’s the article of the interesting facts of Mariana Trench, the deepest trench in the world. After all, the  development of technology should be able to uncover other secrets of Mariana Trench.