Facts about the Mariana Trench
- 10
Hadal snailfish species in the Mariana Trench have gelatinous bodies composed of 90 percent water, allowing them to withstand crushing pressures exceeding 1,000 atmospheres.
- 09
Oxygen levels in Mariana Trench sediments remain surprisingly high despite extreme depth, supporting diverse microbial communities that consume organic matter from the surface.
- 08
The Mariana Trench was formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Mariana Plate, a process occurring at rates of approximately 10 centimeters annually.
- 07
Sediment cores from the Mariana Trench contain radioactive isotopes from nuclear weapons testing conducted during the 1950s and 1960s.
- 06
Bioluminescent bacteria in the Mariana Trench produce light through chemiluminescence, with some species found at depths exceeding 10,000 meters.
- 05
The Mariana Trench spans approximately 2,550 kilometers in length and is located in the western Pacific Ocean near Guam and the Philippines.
- 04
James Cameron's 2012 solo dive to Challenger Deep in the Deepsea Challenger submersible made him only the third person ever to reach the trench's bottom.
- 03
The tripod fish, Bathypterois grallator, lives on the Mariana Trench floor and uses elongated fin rays as stilts to stand on the seafloor.
- 02
The pressure at Challenger Deep reaches approximately 1,100 atmospheres, equivalent to having 50 jumbo jets stacked on top of a person.
- 01
The Mariana Trench's deepest point, Challenger Deep, reaches approximately 10,994 meters below sea level.