How is mariana trench formed

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content. Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.

The Challenger scientists recorded a depth of 4, fathoms about five miles, or eight kilometers using a weighted sounding rope. In , the British vessel H. Challenger II returned to the spot with an echo-sounder and measured a depth of nearly 7 miles 11 kilometers. The majority of the Mariana Trench is now a U. Bush in Permits for research in the monument, including in the Sirena Deep, have been secured from the U.

Fish and Wildlife Service. Permits for research in the Challenger Deep have been secured from the Federated States of Micronesia. Because of its extreme depth, the Mariana Trench is cloaked in perpetual darkness and the temperature is just a few degrees above freezing. Sometimes ocean trenches are gradually filled with muddy sediment from rivers but as the Mariana trench is far from any coastline it has remained relatively empty and maintains its depth.

It also has dense rock which weighs down the tectonic plates. At the bottom of the Mariana trench the pressure exceeds atmospheres, which is enough to crush all but the most robust submersibles. It would kill an unprotected human instantly. 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. As challenging as it is to explore the Mariana Trench and the Challenger Deep in particular, several intrepid explorers have succeeded in this task. The first recordings of the depth of the trench were made by the British Royal Navy Challenger expedition in , using a weighted rope, which recorded a depth of 4, fathoms 8, meters; 26, feet.

In , the Japanese sent a survey vessel to the Trench to collect data using a multibeam echo sounder. The sound waves sent from the echo sounder bounce off the bottom of the ocean and are plotted on a graph to make a map of the ocean bottom. This system allowed scientists to collect important environmental data without endangering a human diver.

A multibeam sonar survey of the Mariana Trench by the University of New Hampshire found new seafloor features, and obtained the most precise measurement of Challenger Deep— 10, meters 6. This expedition collected data and specimens previously unknown, leading to a wealth of scientific knowledge about one of the least known parts of our Earth. Along with a visual journey to the Mariana Trench, you can view a wealth of data related to the area, including multibeam bathymetry data and digital elevation models DEMs that illuminate seafloor features, such as seamounts and fault scarps.

DEMs are a 3D representation of terrain, merging both land and seafloor.