They point to the discovery of anaerobic bacteria called actinomycetes several kilometers deep in the South China Sea. In the April 12 issue of Science, Richard Lutz and Paul Falkowski discuss the potential biological riches of the deep ocean trenches. Recently, giant multinucleated but single celled animals called Xenophiophores have been recently identified in the Marianas Trench by National Geographic researchers. Sea cucumbers ( holothurians) are probably the dominant life form in the trenches, thriving on organic material that they sift from the mud. Shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods sit in ocean deep and devour practically anything that drifts down from above. Snail fish ( Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis) hold the record as the deepest fish recorded on camera. Piccard and Walsh reported seeing a flatfish upon first arriving at bottom in the Challenger Deep, although many scientists still doubt that vertebrates can actually survive that deep. There are no obvious easily-exploitable resources in the ocean trenches, which is probably why, like the moon, man has left them alone after the initial exploration. The earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 was spawned in the Japan Trench. The friction between the plates is what causes devastating earthquakes, including the one that recently destroyed Fukushima, Japan, with the resultant nuclear catastrophe. The main reason to visit the deep ocean trenches is that "We need to understand the mechanics of our planet," says Walsh. It takes about 200 million years for a portion of the crust to make the trip from the mid-Pacific to the Trench. In the Mariana Trench, the denser Pacific plate is being shoved underneath the smaller Mariana plate. This occurs at "subduction zones" in the ocean trenches. Since the Earth is not expanding, as new crust is being continuously formed, it must also somewhere be folded back into the earth's mantle. According to Walsh, this is where magma flow from the volcanoes forms new crust for the oceanic tectonic plates. The vents abound in the mid-ocean ridges. Cameron also co-produced the IMAX documentary Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, about hydrothermal vents, or as Walsh called them, "black smokers," around which an impressive variety of life forms have formed unique biological communities. He regarded Cameron as more than qualified, calling him "an intuitive engineer who knows the science." Cameron, of course, is no stranger to the ocean, having directed such epics as Titanic and The Abyss, in addition to the wildly popular Avatar. From 1975-1983, he was professor of Ocean Engineering at the University of Southern California, and since 1976, he has been president of his own consulting firm, International Maritime, Inc.ĭespite his impressive credentials, Walsh had no desire to replace Cameron as the pilot of the Deep Sea Challenger. Lieutenant Walsh has long since become Dr. "Oh, advisor, engineer.or ceremonial object," he responded with a flash of humor. I was privileged to have a long phone conversation recently with Don Walsh, who was also a participant in the Cameron expedition. On March 25, 2012, filmmaker James Cameron performed a solo dive to the Challenger Deep in the vessel Deep Sea Challenger. Later on the surface, having survived the trip and now lounging in the bathyscaphe Trieste, waiting for the tender to retrieve them, they wondered how long it would be before somebody repeated their adventure. At one point, as they were approaching the deepest point, they heard a load crack, which turned out to be the Plexiglas in the viewport cracking from the pressure of about 16,000 pounds per square inch. It was frightening trip down, from rough seas into total darkness. Navy officer, Lieutenant Don Walsh, made the first descent ever to the Challenger Deep, nearly 7 miles down in the Mariana Trench, the deepest place known in the ocean. On January 23, 1960, Jacques Piccard and a U.S. ![]() Filmaker James Cameron made a return visit to the deepest piont in the ocean in March 2012. Jacques Piccard (center) and Lieutenant Don Walsh (bottom) head down to the Mariana Trench inside the Trieste in 1960.
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