All articles tagged with #mariana trench
Scientists discovered signs of microbial life in a highly alkaline, blue volcanic goo beneath the Pacific Ocean near the Mariana Trench, providing insights into extreme habitats and potential origins of life on Earth.
Don Walsh, a retired Navy captain and deep-sea explorer, has passed away at the age of 92. In 1960, Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard became the first to reach the deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. Descending to a depth of 35,800 feet, they spent 20 minutes on the seafloor, confirming the existence of marine life. Walsh's pioneering spirit and contributions to oceanography will be remembered.
Researchers have discovered a new virus, vB_HmeY_H4907, in sediment from the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. The virus is a bacteriophage that infects bacteria in the phylum Halomonas, commonly found in deep-sea sediments and hydrothermal vents. This discovery suggests the existence of a previously unknown viral family in the deep ocean and provides insights into the diversity and evolution of deep-sea phages. The study also highlights the need to investigate the survival strategies and co-evolution of viruses and their hosts in extreme environments.
James Cameron, the Hollywood director of "Avatar" and "Titanic," has made 33 dives to the wreckage site of the Titanic. He has also dived to the Mariana Trench, one of the deepest spots in the Earth's oceans, in a submersible vehicle he designed called the Deepsea Challenger. Cameron sees his filmmaking and sea exploration as connected, both being about storytelling. He believes that exploring the remote edge of human experience and then coming back to tell that story is the explorer's job.
Scientists have captured the deepest recording of a fish ever, a snailfish swimming at 8,336 meters below sea level in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench near Japan. The previous record was set in the Mariana Trench in 2018 at 8,178 meters. The snailfish was identified as a juvenile of the species Pseudoliparis, and scientists speculate that the fish were able to survive greater depths than those found in the Mariana Trench due to the Izu-Ogasawara's slightly warmer waters.