Mariana Trench

Location of the Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about 200 kilometres (124 mi) east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about 2,550 km (1,580 mi) in length and 69 km (43 mi) in width. The maximum known depth is 10,984 ± 25 metres (36,037 ± 82 ft; 6,006 ± 14 fathoms; 6.825 ± 0.016 mi) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep.[1] The deepest point of the trench is more than 2 km (1.2 mi) farther from sea level than the peak of Mount Everest.[a]

At the bottom of the trench, the water column above exerts a pressure of 1,086 bar (15,750 psi), more than 1,071 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. At this pressure, the density of water is increased by 4.96%. The temperature at the bottom is 1 to 4 °C (34 to 39 °F).[4]

In 2009, the Mariana Trench was established as a US National Monument.[5]

One-celled organisms called monothalamea have been found in the trench at a record depth of 10.6 km (35,000 ft; 6.6 mi) below the sea surface by researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. [6] Data has also suggested that microbial life forms thrive within the trench.[7][8]

  1. ^ Gardner, James V.; Armstrong, Andrew A.; Calder, Brian R.; Beaudoin, Jonathan (2 January 2014). "So, How Deep Is the Mariana Trench?" (PDF). Marine Geodesy. 37 (1). Informa UK Limited: 1–13. Bibcode:2014MarGe..37....1G. doi:10.1080/01490419.2013.837849. ISSN 0149-0419. S2CID 128668687.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference smmt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Official height for Everest set". BBC News. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  4. ^ "The Temperature in the Mariana Trench". Infoplease. 28 February 2017.
  5. ^ "About the Monument – Mariana Trench". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  6. ^ "Giant amoeba found in Mariana Trench – 6.6 miles beneath the sea". Los Angeles Times. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  7. ^ Choi, Charles Q. (17 March 2013). "Microbes Thrive in Deepest Spot on Earth". LiveScience. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  8. ^ Glud, Ronnie; Wenzhöfer, Frank; Middleboe, Mathias; Oguri, Kazumasa; Turnewitsch, Robert; Canfield, Donald E.; Kitazato, Hiroshi (17 March 2013). "High rates of microbial carbon turnover in sediments in the deepest oceanic trench on Earth". Nature Geoscience. 6 (4): 284–288. Bibcode:2013NatGe...6..284G. doi:10.1038/ngeo1773.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by Nelliwinne