There are countless mountains, grasslands, deserts, lakes, rivers and forests on the earth, as well as vast and unfathomable oceans. However, so far, humans have not explored the earth enough, especially when it comes to the deep sea. It is even more unfamiliar. Many people have the impression that it is a desolate place with high pressure, darkness, silence, cold, and harsh environment, where it is difficult for life to survive.
However, with the development of science and technology in recent years, human detectors have also penetrated into the Mariana Trench, which is 10,000 meters deep, and magical discoveries have been made in such deep seas, which are different from human beings' inherent impressions. , there is actually full of vitality, what is going on? Let’s open Xigua Video, search for the creator of Xigua Video, use the scientific time machine, and follow the creator’s perspective to find out!
The Mariana Trench was formed 60 million years ago. It is located in the western Pacific and east of the Mariana Islands. It is the result of the collision of the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate. Because the Pacific Plate rocks are dense and low, it is easy to Subducted beneath the Eurasian plate, the plate gradually melts and disappears after entering the mantle, forming a trench at the collision site.
Although it is called a trench, the terrain is not a smooth "undersea abyss", but has different distances and heights, and is distributed in an arc shape, which is very different from our imagination. Most of the water is 8,000 meters deep, with the deepest point at 11,034 meters, the deepest point in the world. If converted to equal proportions, it would be enough to submerge the Himalayas, the highest peak on earth at 8,844.43 meters. So far, many people in the world have climbed to the top of Mount Everest, but no one has been able to penetrate to the deepest point of the Mariana Trench.
However, human beings have climbed to high peaks and flown into space. Of course, they also want to challenge the deep sea. Human beings have never given up on the exploration of the Mariana Trench.
In 1960, the U.S. Navy's Trieste submersible dived 10,916 meters into the trench and found that everything here was shrouded in darkness and the water pressure was huge. No living thing could survive here. ; In 2014, scientists once again explored the Mariana Trench in depth and accidentally discovered a fish at a depth of 8,145 meters. With the deepening of exploration, people have summarized a map of life in the Mariana Trench:
Compared with the 1-3 meters underwater where ordinary humans can move, within 100 meters underwater there are giant octopuses, The activity range of whale sharks and killer whales is that within 500 meters underwater is the diving depth of blue whales, giant crabs, and oarfish; within 1,200 meters underwater is the survival area of ??great white sharks and giant squids, and at 2,000 meters underwater, there are Deep-sea black dragon fish, further down there are sperm whales at 2,200 meters, deep-sea anglerfish at 4,500 meters, and Mariana lionfish at 8,076 meters...
Is there any life further down? You must know that there is no life on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak with an altitude of 8843.43 meters.
The answer is of course yes, this is the magic of the ocean. At 10,600 meters underwater in the Mariana Trench, there is a magical single-cell organism called the giant amoeba. At 10,994 meters underwater, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench has about 1,100 surface atmospheric pressures. If you are in it, it will feel like tens of thousands of people are stepping on you. Just imagine the terrifying scene. It makes people shudder, so they also admire the magic of nature's creations and the mystery of the creatures that live in it. For more details, please open Xigua Video and search for the creator of Xigua Video, Scientific Time Machine, to watch the full video!
The Mariana Trench, which has a harsh living environment, should be one of the most uninhabitable places on earth in our minds. However, somehow, the Mariana Trench not only has a thriving biological population, but also It has also formed its own unique ecosystem.
As we all know, there is a lightless and silent world below 100 meters in the ocean, and there are fewer and fewer fish below 1,000 meters, but below 4,000 meters it seems that "cathode and yang grow". Sperm whales were discovered in the Mariana Trench, as well as new types of hydroid jellyfish, purple sea cucumbers, deep-sea angler fish, sparkling fish, giant amoeba and even beautiful coral forests, etc., which can crush people in the deep sea. It can swim freely in the terrifying water pressure of the flat tank and survive normally.
You must know that at such a depth, the water pressure is so terrifying that it can even crush a tank. If a person goes deep into it, he will be crushed to pieces, but there are fish that can survive here. It is simply unbelievable!
The reason is that deep-sea creatures have one thing in common, that is, their cell membranes generally contain a large amount of unsaturated fat, which helps maintain the fluidity of energy and prevent cell membranes from rupturing.
In addition, each deep-sea creature also has its own "way to save life."
Take the lionfish that lives 8,000 meters underwater as an example. Although it is small, only the size of our palm, it has larger, wider, wing-like fins, a small head, small eyes, and It has an eel-like tail and a fan-shaped face, but what makes it different from other fish is that its bones are very thin and its body is soft. The skin part is not fish meat, but a thin membrane, which makes the physiology of the lionfish The tissue is filled with water and can maintain the balance of internal and external pressure. This is its "life-saving way" to survive 8,000 meters underwater.
It is worth mentioning that humans have also discovered some things that should not exist in the Mariana Trench 10,000 meters underwater, such as plastic waste, which illustrates the impact of human activities on nature. The damage is becoming more and more serious, and research on degrading plastics to reduce ocean plastic pollution is a top priority.