Sea floor survey reveals deep hole

BBC.com ^ | July 16, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Scientists have identified a region of the sea floor whose depth rivals that of the Challenger Deep which, at about 11,000 metres (36,000 feet), is the lowest spot on Earth. The new location lies 200 kilometres (124 miles) further to the east, along the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.

It was found during a sonar sea-floor mapping project carried out in 1997 and 2001 by scientists from Hawaii, US.

The Challenger Deep has been visited by a number of manned and unmanned submersibles since its discovery, but at present there is no craft in operation that can survive the crushing pressure at its bottom.

Sea floor mapping project

It was during a detailed survey near the island of Guam that scientists from the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology found the new super-deep spot.

They towed a submersible containing a sonar mapping system behind a research ship.

Mapping the sea floor by sonar

This produced data on the sea floor that identified previously undiscovered faults, landslides and so-called mud volcanoes.

The scientists have named the new low point HMRG (Hawaii Mapping Research Group) Deep.

Exact measurements of its depth are difficult to make but, the researchers say, it must be close to that of the Challenger Deep.

The Challenger Deep was discovered in 1951 by the Royal Navy ship Challenger 2, after which it is named.

It has been visited by men only once, in 1960, when two scientists made a four-hour descent in the dark in a submersible, touching the bottom at 10,915 metres (35,813 feet).

The location is so deep that Mt Everest could be placed within it and still have 1.6 km (1 mile) of water above it.

Out of reach

No submersible currently in use can reach either the Challenger or the HMRG Deep.

The only recent vessel that could, the Japanese unmanned Kaiko which reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep in 1995, was lost in May after it broke its tethers during a storm.

Kaiko goes deep: Its technology is no longer available The few submersibles that have gone to the deepest spot on Earth report that it is not lifeless. Lugworms, skeleton shrimps and nearly 200 types of microbes have been detected there.

The deepest region of the Pacific Ocean, the Mariana Trench lies at the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates - the eastern edge of the Philippine Sea plate and the Pacific plate.

As they shift their positions across the Earth's surface, the Pacific plate is forced to dive beneath the Philippine Sea plate in a process called subduction.

It is this great down movement of rock that gives the Mariana Trench its huge depth.

[lelio]

Hopefully no one will pull out the giant cork that's stuck in the seabed.

[Support Free Republic]

The former President disembarks from his airplane after a trip back to Arkansas. Although the hoopla is less now that he is out of office, Clinton still occasionally finds himself greeted by military personnel. This is one such occasion.

He climbs down the stairs, carrying two huge pigs, one under each arm. He gets to the bottom, and nods his head in return to the soldier's salute. "Son, what do you think about these?" he says. "Nice pigs, SIR!" comes the reply. Clinton gets mildly miffed and lectures, "I'll have you know these aren't just pigs but the finest of Arkansas Razorbacks. Top notch. I got one for Hillary, and one for Chelsea. What do you think about that?"

"Nice trade, SIR!

Free Republic

Your donations keep us laughing at liberals

[The Brush]

icks-nay on the ork-ka buddy!

Loose lips sink ships!

[The Brush]

icks-nay on the ork-ka buddy!

Loose lips sink ships!

[prairiebreeze]

(Melodically) There's a hole in the bottom of the sea,
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea,

There's a hole, there's a hole, there's a hole in the bottom of the sea.

Prairie

[gas_dr]

Hey -- if we let Klintoon know...think he might drown trying to penetrate it?

[The Great RJ]

I bet that hole contains all my missing socks and Vince Foster's files.

[BenLurkin]

[LiteKeeper]

Hey Sweet...SPOTREP

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Why hello there; how are things with you?


CLASSIFICATION

Spot Report
Report Number________________________ Date/Time (Z)__________________________ FROM: TO:


1. (U) WHAT:______________________________________________________________ 2. (U) WHO:_______________________________________________________________ 3. (U) WHERE:_____________________________________________________________ 4. (U) WHEN:______________________________________________________________ 5. (U) DETAILS:____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 6. (U) REMARKS:__________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ PREPARED BY: APPROVED BY:

[DPB101]

The scientists have named the new low point HMRG (Hawaii Mapping Research Group) Deep.

Aw cripes. Put some poetry and punch back into the language Hawaii Mapping Research Group. Give it a name which will make every 13 year old kid interested in science and want to go there.

[piasa]

Hey -- if we let Klintoon know...think he might drown trying to penetrate it?

There isn't a cigar in the world big enough to plug that hole.

But Cuba might fit nicely into it.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Dear Hawaii Mapping Research Group;

In respect to renewing interest, I respectfully suggest re-naming this new low point

"FREE BEER-----------------------------------------------------------------------------> here

Or something similiar.

[Ichneumon]

[LiteKeeper]

< smile> where did you find the SPOTREP format?

Hope yours is a great and wonderful day in God's creation!

LiteKeeper
Matthew 5:14-16

[strela]

So THIS is the place where all the whale (expletive deleted) ends up ...

[BlueLancer]

There's a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea,
There's a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea,

There's a hole,
There's a hole,
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea.

[Just another Joe]

It was during a detailed survey near the island of Guam that scientists from the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology found the new super-deep spot.

And you wonder where Godzilla goes when he swims back out to sea.
Godzilla's fortress of solitude.

[Hunble]

http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/Bathy.intro.html