Researchers from different countries have proven that living organisms inhabit the entire water column of the World Ocean (MO). Scientists came to this conclusion back in the past century, and modern deep-sea technology confirms the existence of fish, crabs, crayfish, and worms at depths of up to 11,000 m.
Water on Earth is the object of the tireless attention of mankind
400-500 years ago, many travelers did not imagine what the true size and depth of the oceans were. The minds of many have stirred up legends about Atlantis, plunged into the abyss of the sea, myths about the amazing country of Eldorado, where water sources bestow eternal youth. European voyages to distant shores, where gold, jewelry and spices were in abundance, were always dangerous due to the presence of rocky reefs and extensive shallows in the way of ships. But this did not prevent the Great Geographical Discoveries from being made, to mapmost seas and bays, find passages between continents and islands.
Who explored the bottom of the oceans in antiquity and in the Middle Ages? Sailors studied the underwater relief using the methods available to them, put it on maps and globes. Scientists have calculated that the water surface on our planet is three times the land area (361 and 149 million km2 respectively). The oceans in all periods of history have influenced the development of trade, fishing and travel. The role of the Moscow Region is great in shaping the climate and weather on land, providing the population with food.
The birth of oceanology (oceanography)
The bottom of the oceans was explored by Ferdinand Magellan during his trip around the world; paid attention to measuring the depths of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. But these were not scientists, but merchants and navigators. In the XIX-XX centuries, the role of science in the study of the ocean increased. Thanks to the achievements of researchers, safe waterways were laid, maps of currents, salinity and temperature, underwater and under-ice relief were created.
At the same time, the development of shipping had a significant impact on the organization and work of scientific expeditions. This happened with the voyages of Russian ships, which went on round-the-world trips, approached the shores of Antarctica. A study of the coast and depth of the northern and Far Eastern seas was organized.
Who explored the bottom of the oceans
The success of sea voyages contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about MO. Gradually there was a formationone of the geographical sciences - oceanology. Among its founders are the Dutchman B. Varenius and the Russian Yu. Shokalsky. A significant contribution to this process was made by Russian navigators and the military. The bottom of the World Ocean was explored by one of the first Italian L. Marsigli.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Russian scientists E. Lenz and E. Parrot invented a depth gauge. In the middle of the same century, the American J. M. Brook created a lot with a separating weight for collecting soil samples. These achievements were successfully used by the members of the oceanographic expedition on the British ship Challenger. Working under the auspices of the Royal Society of England, scientists in 1872-1876 collected rich collections of marine plants and animals, measured the depths in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Among the outstanding researchers of that time should be attributed the Russian oceanologist S. O. Makarov, who studied the Black and Mediterranean Seas.
Measurements in the ocean made it possible to create at the turn of the 20th century an almost complete depth map. About 100 years ago, rope lots were replaced by sound waves and devices - echo sounders. The device emits a sound signal, which is reflected from the bottom and is captured. Knowing the time and speed of sound in water, the distance is obtained as a result of calculations, which must be divided in half. This will be the depth in the measurement area.
Openings at the bottom of MO
Echosounders have opened wide opportunities for researchers of the World Ocean. The last decades of the 19th century and the years after World War II were marked by a growing interest inbiology MO. Scientists have collected evidence of the existence of life not only in the surface layer of water, but also at depth. In the second half of the 20th century, pictures spread around the world, in which people saw the bottom of the oceans. Photos of deep-sea organisms struck the imagination of the inhabitants. After all, creatures that live in pitch darkness at a temperature of about 2–3 ° C have luminous and electrical organs.
Scientists mapped long mid-ocean ridges, basins, individual mountains. It was easiest to explore the shelf and the continental slope, but the true discoverers were attracted by the depths. Back at the end of the 19th century, members of the Challenger expedition discovered and mapped the deepest place in MO in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Northwest. Such trenches arose as a result of the collision of powerful continental platforms with thin oceanic plates. On the continents, young mountain ranges correspond to deep depressions in the ocean.
Object of study - the bottom of the oceans
The Mariana Trench was explored by Swiss oceanologist Jacques Picard together with US citizen Don Walsh. For immersion, scientists used the Trieste deep-sea submersible. This important event took place on January 23, 1960. Prior to this, the famous French director and naturalist Jacques Yves Cousteau, who subsequently made documentaries about life at the bottom of the oceans, participated in experimental dives.
Jacques Picard, together with Don Walsh in the "Trieste", plunged into the "Challenger Abyss" in the southwestMariana Trench. The depth here reaches 10911–11030 m below the MO level. The duration of the descent of the bathyscaphe was about 5 hours, the researchers of the deepest trench in the world stayed at its bottom for 20 minutes, reinforced their strength with a chocolate bar and began the ascent, which lasted more than 3 hours.
Studies have shown that the diversity of deep sea animals rivals the richness of tropical coral reef fauna. Sea bottom organisms are adapted to their habitat, although the bottom of the depressions is dark and cold.
The main directions of modern research in the MO
The second half of the 20th century marked the beginning of the international stage of the study of the World Ocean. Sailings of scientific research vessels, deep-sea drilling for collecting soil samples were organized. At the end of the last century, scientists paid more attention to the interaction of MO with the continents, the impact on climate.
Since the bottom of the World Ocean was explored by Jacques Picard, a lot of time has passed. Oceanographic studies are ongoing, they allow to identify single volcanoes, fault zones and seismic activity in the Moscow Region. As a result of the collision of oceanic and continental plates, volcanic eruptions, natural phenomena occur, hundreds of thousands of people die, sink into the abyss of the island's waters, and huge waves arise - tsunamis. Devastating power is possessed by typhoons that originate over the oceans and fall on the coast. The study and timely warning of the population about these dangerous phenomena is one of the tasksmodern oceanology.
The impressive natural resources of MO allow mankind to count on a comfortable existence for hundreds of years. The waters of the oceans have long been plowed not only by fishing, cargo, passenger and military ships. Geological exploration and research ships, mining platforms have become elements without which it is already difficult to imagine the vast expanses of the sea.
