The deepest point of the earth is deep sea. Where is the deepest place in the world?

We still know very little about our planet. This is especially true for the depths of oceans and seas. But even on land there are places that capture the human imagination. For example, the deepest places on Earth. What we know about them and where the lowest points of the earth's surface are located - more on that later.

IN everyday life There are rarely huge holes or cliffs, but our planet has a varied landscape. Along with the highest mountain peaks there are also the deepest places on our planet- both natural and man-made.

1,642 m

It would be a mistake to think that the deepest places on Earth are only in the oceans and seas. Baikal has a depth of 1,642 meters and is among the lakes. Locals That’s why Baikal is often called the sea. This depth is explained by the tectonic origin of the lake. Many other records and amazing discoveries are associated with this place. Baikal can be called the largest natural reservoir fresh water on Earth. This is the oldest lake on our planet (it is more than 25 million years old) and two-thirds of the flora and fauna of the reservoir are found nowhere else.

Krubera-Voronya Cave 2,196 m

There are also giants among the caves. The Krubera-Voronya cave (Abkhazia) is one of the deepest places on Earth. Its depth is 2,196 meters. It should be noted that we are talking about the studied part of the cave. It is possible that the next expedition will go even lower and set a new depth record. Karst cave consists of wells connected by passages and galleries. It was first opened in 1960. Then speleologists were able to descend to a depth of 95 meters. The two-kilometer limit was overcome by a Ukrainian expedition of speleologists in 2004.

TauTona Mine 4,000 m

Tau Tona Mine in South Africa- This is the deepest mine on Earth. It is located in the Republic of South Africa, near Johannesburg. This world's largest gold mine goes 4 kilometers into the ground. At this incredible depth there is an entire underground city with a network of kilometer-long tunnels. To get to their workplace, miners have to spend about an hour. Working at such a depth is associated with a large number of dangers - humidity, which reaches 100% in some branches of the mine, high temperature air, the danger of an explosion from gas leaking into the tunnels and collapse from earthquakes, which occur here quite often. But all the dangers of work and the costs of maintaining the functionality of the mine are generously paid for by the mined gold - over the entire history of the mine’s existence, 1,200 tons of the precious metal were mined here.

12,262 m

The most deep well on Earth – Kola ultra-deep well, which is located in Russia. This is one of the most unusual and interesting experiments posed by Soviet scientists. Drilling began in 1970 and had only one goal - to learn more about the Earth's crust. The Kola Peninsula was chosen for the experiment because the oldest rocks on Earth, about 3 million years old, come to the surface here. They were also of great interest to scientists. The depth of the well is 12,262 meters. It made it possible to make unexpected discoveries and forced us to reconsider scientific ideas about the occurrence of rocks on the Earth. Unfortunately, the well, created for purely scientific purposes, did not find use in subsequent years, and a decision was made to mothball it.

9,810 m

In 1873-76, the American oceanographic vessel Tuscarora surveyed the seabed for laying an underwater cable. The lot, abandoned off the Japanese Izu Islands, recorded a depth of 8,500 meters. Later, the Soviet ship Vityaz in 1955 established the maximum depth of the depression at 9810 meters.

10,542 m

- This is not only one of the deepest places on Earth, the trench is also the narrowest in the Pacific Ocean. The width of the trench is 59 meters, and the maximum depth is 10,542 meters. The depression is located in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. In the middle of the last century, Soviet scientists studied it on the Vityaz ship. No further detailed studies have been carried out. The trench was opened by the American vessel Tuscarora and for a long time bore this name until it was renamed.

10,047 m

Located in the Pacific Ocean near the Kermadec Islands. The maximum depth of the depression is 10,047 meters. Explored by the Soviet ship "Vityaz". In 2008, a previously unknown species of sea slug from the snail fish family was discovered at a depth of 7 kilometers in the Kermadec Trench. The researchers were also surprised by other dwellings of this deepest place on Earth - huge 30-centimeter crustaceans.

10,540 m

Unlocks the three deepest points on the planet. 10,540 meters is its depth. It was formed millions of years ago as a result of the collision of the earth's plates. Located in the east of the Philippine archipelago. By the way, scientists have long believed that the Philippine Trench is the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean.

10,882 m

Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, near the Tonga Islands. This area is extremely interesting because it is a very active seismic zone. Several events take place here every year. strong earthquakes. The depth of the trench is 10,882 meters. It is only 100 meters smaller than the Mariana Trench. The difference is about a percent, but it makes the Tonga Trench the second deepest place on Earth.

10,994 m

It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and is shaped like a crescent moon. The length of the trench is more than 2.5 thousand kilometers, and the deepest point is 10,994 meters. It is called the Challenger Deep.

The most deep place on Earth was discovered in 1875 by the English ship Challenger. Today, the trench is the most studied of all other deep-sea trenches. They tried to reach its bottom during four dives: in 1960, 1995, 2009 and 2012. IN last time Director James Cameron descended into the Mariana Trench all alone. Most of all, the bottom of the trench reminded him of the lifeless lunar surface. But, unlike the Earth’s satellite, the Mariana Trench is inhabited by living organisms. Researchers have found here toxic amoebas, mollusks and deep-sea fish that look very scary. Since a full-scale study of the trench, except for short-term dives, has not been carried out, the Mariana Trench may still hide a lot of interesting things.

Which are different the highest pressure and darkness, through which it is almost impossible to see anything. The deepest depressions on Earth, which will be discussed further, have not been fully studied by humans to date.

Mariana Trench

It tops the ranking and is also known as the Mariana Trench. Its location is in the Pacific Ocean, not far from The depth of the fault is 10994 meters, however, according to scientists, this value can vary within 40 meters. The first dive into the Mariana Trench occurred on January 23, 1960. The bathyscaphe, which contained US Navy Lieutenant Joe Walsh and scientist Jacques Piccard, dropped to 10,918 meters. The first explorers claimed that they saw fish below, appearance resembling flounder. However, no photographs were taken. Later, two more dives were carried out. It turned out that the largest depression in the world has mountains at its bottom that reach a height of about 2500 meters.

Tonga Trough

This trench is only slightly inferior to the Mariana trench and has a depth of 10,882 meters. Its characteristic feature is its movement speed, which reaches 25.4 cm per year (while the average value of this indicator is about 2 cm). Interesting fact Regarding this trench, it is that at a depth of approximately 6 km there is located the Apollo 13 lunar landing stage, which fell here from space.

Philippine Trench

It is located near the Philippine Islands and takes third place in such a rating as “The deepest depressions on Earth.” The depth of the Philippine Trench is 10,540 meters. This depression was formed as a result of subduction and is not fully studied due to the fact that Mariana is of much greater interest.

Kermadec

The trench is connected in the northern part with the above-mentioned Tonga and reaches a depth of 10,047 meters. A thorough study of it, which took place at a depth of about seven and a half kilometers, was carried out in 2008. During the research, rare living creatures were discovered, distinguished by their original pink color.

Izu-Bonin Trench

The deepest depressions on Earth were predominantly discovered in the twentieth century. In contrast, the Izu-Bonin Trench, 9810 meters deep, was first discovered by humans at the very end of the nineteenth century. This happened when determining the bottom depth for laying telephone cable. Later it turned out that the trench is part of a whole chain of depressions in the ocean.

Kuril-Kamchatka Trench

The depth of this depression is 9783 meters. It was discovered during the exploration of the previous trench and has a very small width (59 meters). On the slopes there are many valleys with ledges, terraces and canyons. At the bottom there are depressions separated by rapids. Detailed studies have not yet been carried out due to difficult access.

Puerto Rico Trench

The deepest depressions on Earth are not only in the Pacific Ocean. The Puerto Rico Trench formed on the border of the Caribbean Sea. Its deepest point is located at 8385 meters. The depression differs from others in its relatively high seismic activity, as a result of which underwater eruptions and tsunamis sometimes occur in this place. It should also be noted that the depression is gradually lowering, which is associated with the subsidence of the tectonic North American plate.

There is no world more amazing than the underwater world. The ocean occupies 2/3 of the earth's surface, and its biomass is tens of times greater than the biomass of land. The oceans and seas of the planet are home to both the largest animals on the planet - whales - and the smallest microorganisms. Top layer The ocean is essentially a soup of plankton, which is the initial link in a complex food chain.

But this is on the surface of the water. And the depths of the world's oceans remain the most unsolved mystery of planet Earth.

Exploring the depths of the ocean involves a lot of technical and psychological difficulties. Man has learned to climb upward quite confidently, and even conquering the highest point on the planet - Everest - does not cause a storm of delight among the average person. In the 57 years since the first conquest of the Roof of the World, dozens of daredevils have reached the 8848-meter mark. The same can be said about all other peaks. But people have only visited the opposite point of the Earth - the bottom of the Mariana Trench - once. Needless to say, the heroes, who sank to the very bottom of the Pacific Ocean, saw only a small fraction of what the almost eleven-kilometer layer of water contains.

A more or less detailed study of the ocean and the Mariana Trench as its deepest point began in the middle of the 20th century. First, an American expedition on the converted military ship Challenger measured the depth, showing a result of 10,863 meters, as evidenced by a documentary book that can be purchased on the website vipbook.info. A few years later, the Soviet expedition clarified the result - 11,022 meters. In addition to this, Soviet scientists pulled from the abyss evidence of the existence of life at depths where nothing living can exist in our usual understanding.

In 1960, a year before the first man flew into space, two heroes in a specially designed bathyscaphe sank to the bottom of the Challenger abyss, becoming the only people to this day who have been to such a depth. The depth they measured was 10918 meters. The water pressure here exceeds atmospheric pressure by 1100 times, and temperatures are close to 0 Celsius. And in such incredible conditions, the pilots of the bathyscaphe saw life! Unusual to the eye, luminous monsters feel great where more than a ton of water presses on every square centimeter! Mutant octopuses, terrible glowing one and a half meter worms without a mouth, scary looking angler fish with a “lantern” on their forehead... Such creatures in the ordinary world can be found, perhaps, only in science fiction films.

All subsequent dives were carried out using unmanned vehicles. High-quality photographs and soil samples from a depth of 11 kilometers were delivered by the Japanese bathyscaphe robot Nereus. But all attempts to learn the secrets of the ocean brought more mysteries than answers. During some dives of deep-sea vehicles, contacts were noted with hitherto unknown and inexplicable from the point of view modern science forms of life.

Thus, the expedition of the Glomar Challenger vessel, during the next dive of a deep-sea “hedgehog” developed by NASA, began to receive sounds from a depth of several thousand meters, similar to the grinding of a saw on metal. Large silhouettes appeared on the TV monitor, looking like fairy-tale dragons with several heads. It was decided to save the unique equipment, and after 8 hours the device was raised to the surface. It turned out that the beams of the structure, made of titanium-cobalt steel, were significantly deformed, and the 20-centimeter cable was half sawn (or chewed?). Details of this expedition were published in 1996 in the newspaper " New York Times".

A similar encounter with the inhabitants of the abyss occurred with the German crew of the Haifish apparatus. Having dropped to the level of 7000 meters, the device began to float. The hydronauts turned on the camera to find out the cause of the problem - and... At first, what they saw was taken for a collective hallucination - a huge prehistoric lizard tried to chew the bathyscaphe with its teeth like a nut! Fortunately for the researchers, the device was equipped with an “electron gun”, and the lizard that received the discharge disappeared into the darkness.

Here we cannot help but recall the huge, half-decomposed carcasses of unknown sea giants that are periodically thrown to the surface. Perhaps the size of the blue whale is not such a record for the world's oceans? Before modern whales, killer whales, and sharks, megalodons swam in the ocean - huge predators, whose mouth width alone reached 2 meters! As was previously thought, these giants died out 2 million years ago. But recently, megalodon teeth were recovered from the bottom of the oceans, the age of which was determined to be 24 and 11 thousand years. In 1918, Australian lobster fishermen saw a transparent white fish at least 35 meters long, which exceeds the maximum known height of a fin whale! The lack of pigmentation is also characteristic of deep-sea animals. Perhaps megalodon did not go extinct, but adapted to life in unbearable conditions at a depth of 10 kilometers? By the way, the coelacanth, which Europeans considered extinct in the Mesozoic era, was periodically caught by Indonesian fishermen and sold at the market. Only in the 19th century did Europeans “discover” “extinct” fish from the Mesozoic era at the fish market. So, maybe we shouldn’t bury other prehistoric animals?

Be that as it may, the World Ocean still contains many secrets and mysteries that we have yet to answer.

Among the deepest places on the planet there are both natural and man-made. Whatever the history of their appearance, this does not make these depressions and mines any more mysterious.

No. 10. Lake Baikal - 1,642 m

Baikal has a depth of 1,642 meters and is the deepest among the lakes. Therefore, local residents often call Baikal the sea. This depth is explained by the tectonic origin of the lake.

Many other records and amazing discoveries are associated with this place. Baikal can be called the largest natural reservoir of fresh water on Earth. This is the oldest lake on our planet (it is more than 25 million years old) and two-thirds of the flora and fauna of the reservoir are found nowhere else.

Source: baikalia.com

No. 9. Krubera-Voronya Cave – 2,196 m

The Krubera-Voronya cave (Abkhazia) is one of the deepest places on Earth. And we are talking only about the studied part of the cave. It is possible that the next expedition will go even lower and set a new depth record.

The karst cave consists of wells connected by passages and galleries. It was first opened in 1960. Then speleologists were able to descend to a depth of 95 meters. The two-kilometer limit was overcome by a Ukrainian expedition of speleologists in 2004.

Source: travel.ru

No. 8. TauTona Mine - 4,000 m

Located in the Republic of South Africa, near Johannesburg. This world's largest gold mine goes 4 kilometers into the ground. At this incredible depth there is an entire underground city with a network of kilometer-long tunnels. To get to their workplace, miners have to spend about an hour.

Working at such a depth is associated with a large number of dangers - humidity, which reaches 100% in some branches of the mine, high air temperatures, the danger of an explosion from gas leaking into the tunnels and collapse from earthquakes, which occur here quite often. But all the dangers of work and the costs of maintaining the functionality of the mine are generously paid for by the mined gold - over the entire history of the mine, 1,200 tons of the precious metal were mined here.

Source: hetaqrqir.info

No. 7. Kola well - 12,262 m

Located on the territory of Russia. This is one of the most unusual and interesting experiments carried out by Soviet scientists. Drilling began in 1970 and had only one goal - to learn more about the Earth's crust. The Kola Peninsula was chosen for the experiment because the oldest rocks on Earth, about 3 million years old, come to the surface here. They were also of great interest to scientists.

The depth of the well is 12,262 meters. It made it possible to make unexpected discoveries and forced us to reconsider scientific ideas about the occurrence of rocks on the Earth. Unfortunately, the well, created for purely scientific purposes, did not find use in subsequent years, and a decision was made to mothball it.

No. 6. Izu-Bonin depression - 9,810 m

In 1873-76, the American oceanographic vessel Tuscarora surveyed the seabed for laying an underwater cable. The lot, abandoned off the Japanese Izu Islands, recorded a depth of 8,500 meters. Later, the Soviet ship "Vityaz" in 1955 explored and established the maximum depth of the depression - 9810 meters.

Source: ethnonet.ru

No. 5. Kuril-Kamchatka Trench - 10,542 m

The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench is not only one of the deepest places on Earth, the trench is also the narrowest in the Pacific Ocean. The width of the trench is 59 meters, and the maximum depth is 10,542 meters. The depression is located in the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. In the middle of the last century, Soviet scientists studied it on the Vityaz ship. No further detailed studies have been carried out. The trench was discovered by the American ship Tuscarora and bore this name for a long time until it was renamed.

Source: skybox.org.ua

No. 4. Kermadec Trench - 10,047 m

Now we know approximately internal structure of our planet. The outer hard shell of the Earth is called the crust. It makes up less than 1% of the planet's mass and has a thickness of 5 to 70 kilometers. Next comes the mantle (outer and inner), and then the core (outer and inner).

How close to the core do you think a person can go? Theoretically, in the future we can make devices that can withstand colossal loads and temperatures in order to get as close to the core as possible, but in practice we have not yet gotten to the areas that are under the crust.

Let's see what are the deepest places on the planet we know.

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Lake Zakaton

Depth 319 meters

The lake is the world's largest natural well. It is located in Central Mexico. Its depth is 319 meters and its diameter is about 100 meters. At the same time, a hole was found on one of the “walls” of the well, which may be the entrance to another, deeper “well” or even to a system of deep-sea underground caves.

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Depth 370 meters

This is a coal mine located in Elsdorf in Germany. It is considered the deepest open pit mine in the world. Its depth is about 370 meters and its area is about 33.9 sq. km. Next to the quarry there is an artificial hill, which was formed from the material taken from the quarry.

The hill has its own name Sophienhöhe and is the largest artificial hill in the world. Its height is 301 meters.

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Woodingdean Well

Depth 392 meters

Let's start with a man-made feat that appeared in 1862 in the English town of Woodingdean. It all started with the fact that in 1858, during the construction of a new building, a source of water was required. It was decided to dig a well. To reduce costs, the well was dug by workers. It was planned to go 122 meters into the ground, lining the walls of the well with bricks.

The workers lowered themselves into the well, and lifted the excess earth in buckets to the surface. After 2 years of digging, the depth of the well exceeded the design depth by 12 meters, but there was still no water. Despite the fact that this depth was slightly below sea level.

Then it was decided to dig four horizontal shafts at this depth to get to the water. But this also did not give any results. Then the construction organizers decided not to give up and get to the water at any cost. At the end of one of the horizontal shafts they began to dig deeper again. After another 2 years, in March 1862, workers felt the ground in the mine begin to rise. People began to rush to the surface. After 45 minutes, water rushed out.

This well is the deepest well in the world that was dug by hand.

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Lake Baikal

Depth 1642 meters

Reaching a maximum depth of 1,642 meters, Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. The lake is a treasure not only of Russia, but of the whole world; it is a natural reservoir for the purest fresh water. It is home to many plants and animals that are unique.

An interesting fact is that if all the water from Lake Baikal is divided equally among all Russian citizens, then for each resident there will be approximately 2,780 railway tanks of 60 tons each.

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Depth 2199 meters

This deepest cave in the world is located in Abkhazia near the city of Gagra. The cave has several entrances located at an altitude of above 2000 meters above sea level. It is a system of several wells, which are interconnected by manholes and galleries. Inside there are several high plumbs, the deepest of which are 110, 115 and 152 meters.

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Depth 3048 meters

The Mponeng mine in South Africa is considered the deepest mine in the world. Its depth is 4000 meters. However, a mine called Kidd Mine in Ontario, Canada, which has a depth of 3048 meters, is closer to the Earth's core than the Mponeng mine. This is because our planet does not have an ideal spherical shape. Due to the rotation of the Earth, the diameter in the equatorial part is slightly larger than at the poles. The difference in size is about 140 kilometers. So a person standing at the equator is on average 70 kilometers further from the core than a person standing at the pole.

The Kidd Mine opened in 1964 as an open pit mine and has gradually expanded underground. It is now the largest copper mine in the world. It employs 2,200 workers and produces millions of tons of ore annually.

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Litke Gorge

Depth 5449 meters

Litke's Gap (Litke's Trench) is an oceanic trench located northeast of Greenland, 350 km north of Spitsbergen, in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean. This is the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean, its depth is 5449 meters.

The gorge was found and explored by a Soviet expedition on the icebreaker Fedor Litke in 1955.

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Milwaukee Depression

Depth 8385 meters

The Milwaukee Trench is the deepest part Atlantic Ocean. Its maximum depth is 8385 meters. The place is named after the American cruiser that discovered it in 1939.

The Milwaukee Trench is located in the Puerto Rico Trench, which is located at the boundary of two lithospheric plates. The Caribbean Plate moves east and the North American Plate moves west.

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Challenger Deep

Depth 10994 meters

The top five deepest sea trenches in the world include trenches located in Pacific Ocean, and the most famous of them is the Mariana Trench, with a maximum depth of 10994 meters (Challenger Deep).

The name of the depression comes from the Mariana Islands, located nearby. The depression stretches for 1500 kilometers, they have a standard V-shaped profile. The bottom of the depression is flat, ranging from 1 to 5 km wide.

The water pressure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep is 108,600 Pa, which is 1,100 times higher than atmospheric pressure on the Earth's surface. People have dived to the bottom of the Mariana Trench twice. The first dive was made in 1960 by explorer Jacques Piccard and US Navy SEAL Don Walsh. Their bathyscaphe "Trieste" had walls 127 millimeters thick to resist the monstrous pressure. I visited the bottom of the depression for the second time famous director James Cameron in 2012. He plunged into the Challenger Deep in the single-seat deep-sea submersible Deepsea Challenger. During the dive, he filmed in 3D.

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Depth 12262 meters

This is the deepest man-made place on Earth. It is located in the Murmansk region near the city of Zapolyarny.

Work to begin drilling the well was timed to coincide with the centenary of the birth of V.I. Lenin in 1970. Unlike others, this well was drilled specifically for the purpose of studying the structure of the planet. The location was chosen specifically where the thickness of the earth's crust is supposed to be thinnest.

Up to 7000 meters drilling proceeded normally. The drill passed through a uniform granite layer lithospheric plate. But lower down the rock was less dense and crumbled, jamming the equipment. I had to change the drilling angles a little.

Thirteen years later, in 1983, drillers reached a level of 12,066 meters and stopped. But after drilling resumed, the drill string broke. Drilling had to be started again from a depth of 7,000 meters. By 1990, the drill crossed the 12,262 meter mark and the accident repeated. Then, for financial reasons, the project had to be frozen, and in 2008, the Kola Superdeep Well project was finally abandoned.

I really want to believe that Russian science will turn his face to this project. He has many prospects. The lion's share of the work has already been completed, and to revive the project, several million rubles are required, a significant amount for a country with high scientific ambitions.