The Mariana Trench, located in the western Pacific Ocean, stretches over 2,540 km and is home to the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point on Earth, reaching approximately 11,000 meters below the water’s surface. The depth of the Challenger Deep is estimated to be three times deeper than the location of the Titanic wreckage and even deeper than the height of Mount Everest.
The Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench, is the deepest point known on Earth. Photo: NOAA
Director James Cameron, known for the movie Titanic, has visited the Challenger Deep.
In 1960, the first expedition to the Challenger Deep marked a historic dive by the Trieste Bathyscaphe, a type of free-diving vessel. During the dive, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh were astonished to witness living organisms thriving at the Earth’s deepest point.
Dr. Gene Feldman, a marine scientist with over 30 years of experience at NASA, said, “Witnessing life in the Challenger Deep shattered all human preconceptions about the ocean.” Filmmaker James Cameron, director of the 1997 film Titanic, became the next person to visit the Challenger Deep in a specially designed submersible. Cameron explored the depths to approximately 10,908 meters, setting a world record in 2012.
Director James Cameron, known for “Titanic,” once explored the depths of the Challenger Deep, reaching a depth of 10,908 meters. Photo: AFP
Discovery of plastic bags at the deepest point on Earth
Explorer Victor Vescovo returned to the Challenger Deep in 2019, reaching a depth of 10,927 meters and setting another world record.
Vescovo provided a sobering perspective on the human impact on seemingly inaccessible places when he observed a plastic bag and candy wrappers at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Since Vescovo’s expedition, there have been few recorded dives to the Challenger Deep. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a journey to the Challenger Deep subjects a vessel to pressures “equivalent to the weight of 50 jumbo jets.”
The Challenger Deep is located in the abyssal zone of the deep sea, known for its extreme darkness.
Similar to the Earth’s atmosphere, the ocean is also divided into layers. The uppermost layer is called the sunlit zone, extending from the surface to a depth of 200 meters.
The mesopelagic zone, also known as the twilight zone, stretches from the edge of the sunlit zone to approximately 1,000 meters. Beyond that is the hadalpelagic zone, which extends from 4,000 to 6,000 meters. Very few forms of life can survive in this region due to the absence of light and near-freezing temperatures.
The Challenger Deep lies even deeper than the hadalpelagic zone, within the realm of the hadalpelagic zone, or the zone of deep-sea trenches. This area is named after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, who is believed to govern the realm of the dead.
The Challenger Deep serves as a habitat for marine species and mud volcanoes.
The hadalpelagic zone is one of the least explored environments on Earth. In the absence of sunlight at such depths, it has long been believed that nothing could exist there. However, this belief has been disproven. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, life persists even at the ocean floor. In 2005, a resilient organism called foraminifera was discovered in the Challenger Deep.
Explorations of the Challenger Deep have also revealed colorful rock formations and deep-sea cucumbers residing at the seafloor.
Life still exists at the deepest place on Earth. Photo: Atlantic Productions for Discovery Channel
NOAA states that mud volcanoes and hydrothermal vents in the Mariana Trench provide support for unique life forms. The life-sustaining environment is a result of chemical reactions between seawater and magma that rises from beneath the ocean floor.
The exact depth of the Challenger Deep remains uncertain.
“In fact, we have clearer maps of the Moon and Mars than we do of our own planet,” said Dr. Gene Feldman in an interview with CNN.
According to NOAA’s 2022 data, despite centuries of exploring the Earth’s surface, only about 20% of the seafloor has been mapped.
In recent years, researchers have made significant efforts to create a more detailed picture of the Mariana Trench and the Challenger Deep, but it remains a challenging endeavor.
With increasingly advanced equipment and sonar technology, the estimated depth of the Challenger Deep was most recently updated in 2021 to be approximately 10,935 meters.