We know quite little about what interesting things our planet hides on its surface, especially when it comes to its deepest points, located both on land and in water. But, still, what do we know about these places and in what areas are the lowest parts of the Earth located? We present to you a list consisting of the 10 deepest places on Earth that have been explored to date.
The deepest place on Earth
Krubera-Voronya Cave
This famous place is located in Abkhazia, and its studied part reaches a depth of 2196 meters. This natural object consists of a network of wells connected to each other by passages and galleries.
The cave was discovered in 1960 by speleologists, who then descended into it to a depth of 95 meters. The depth, which is reliably established today, was recorded by Ukrainian researchers in 2004.
TauTon Mine
TauTona holds the title of the deepest gold mine on the planet, descending four kilometers into the ground. It hides underneath an entire infrastructure-developed underground complex with a large network of many kilometers of tunnels. Deserves the title of one of the largest gold mining enterprises.
Woodingdean Well
The largest ever dug by man. Its construction began in 1858 through the free labor of prisoners from the penitentiary. All work to create this object was done manually, and buckets with excavated earth were removed using a winch. After two years of hard work, the depth of the well was about one hundred and thirty-four meters, but water was never discovered.
Then it was decided to create four additional mines connected to each other, but this did not yield any results. After the failure, work to deepen the main shaft continued for another two years. Finally, in 1862, 4 years after the start of work, water was discovered, and the depth of the well reached 392 meters.
Kola well
This well, of course, is not the deepest place on Earth, but it is definitely the most famous in the history of mankind and a container created by human labor. It is located on the territory of Russia and bears the title of one of the most unusual and risky experiments of Soviet scientists. The project began in 1970 and had only one single task - scientists wanted to obtain as much information as possible about the structure of the earth's crust by getting to its mantle.
At the time of the emergency completion of the project, the depth of the well was 12,262 meters and allowed scientists of the Soviet Union to make unexpected discoveries. But, having found no further use, the government decided to mothball the facility.
Lake Baikal
The length of the “Siberian Sea” reaches 1637 meters and deserves the title of the deepest among. It is for this reason that residents of the Baikal region most often call it the sea. The significant depth can be explained by the tectonic origin of Baikal, and many other records and interesting discoveries are also associated with it.
The lake bears the title of the largest natural reservoir of fresh water and the oldest, since it appeared about 25 million years ago. In addition, more than one third of the animals and plants living near the lake and in its thickness cannot be found anywhere other than here.
Congo
The length of the river is 4700 meters. The area of the basin is 3,600 kilometers, and the greatest depth was recorded at more than 230 meters. It is also worth noting that the river is the second most water-rich on the planet, right after the Amazon. The Congo is the only major river that crosses the equator twice.
Tonga Trench
Located in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean, this trench reaches a depth of 10,882 meters. Therefore, it takes pride of place in the list of the deepest points on Earth.
Kermadec gutter
It is located in the Pacific Ocean, near the Kermadec Islands, and reaches a depth of ten 10047 meters. It is home to many species of marine organisms discovered relatively recently by Russian scientists.
Philippine Trench
Reaching a depth of 10,540 meters, this trench was formed as a result of the collision of tectonic plates millions of years ago. Located in the east of the Philippine archipelago.
Mariana Trench
The deepest place on Earth is, of course, the Mariana Trench
It is a deep-sea trench of oceanic origin, the name of which is taken from the Mariana Islands located nearby. The lowest point of the depression is called Challenger Place and goes 11,035 meters deep.
Only ten places have been listed above that have earned the title “The Deepest Place on Earth,” but even today they remain unexplored. Deep-sea depressions hide many mysteries, but, as we know, science does not stand still, and in the near future we can expect a number of new discoveries in the field of exploring little-studied places.
Incredible facts
The earth is still full of secrets even though many of them have been revealed scientists and researchersfor many years.
You can learn about several unusual places created by people, but mostly by nature, here.
Plunge into the depths of our planet and imagine how many undiscovered secrets our planet holds.
The world's deepest well (the deepest well in the USSR)
In the Murmansk region, in 1970, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny, the Kola superdeep well SG-Z was located, the depth of which is 12,262 meters, which makes it the deepest well in the world. The cost of drilling work is equal to the cost of the project to fly to the Moon. In 1989, the Guinness Book of Records registered the well as the deepest on Earth. It was drilled to study the boundaries of the lithosphere of our planet.
The deepest metro
The Kyiv metro station "Arsenalnaya" ("Arsenalna") is the deepest in the world. It is located on the Svyatoshinsko-Brovarskaya line and was opened on November 6, 1960. The "English type" station has a short middle hall and its depth is 105.5 meters.
The deepest ocean
The Pacific Ocean is not only the largest ocean on our planet by area, but also the deepest.
The deepest trench (the deepest place in the ocean, the deepest depression)
The Mariana Trench (or Mariana Trench) is an oceanic deep-sea trench. Its name comes from the nearby Mariana Islands. The deepest part of the depression is called “Challenger Deep” and it goes down to 11,035 meters.
The deepest lake in the world
Lake Baikal, which many Russians call the sea, is a lake of tectonic origin and is located in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. In addition to being the world's deepest lake at 1,642 meters, Baikal is also the largest natural reservoir of fresh water. There is a unique diversity of flora and fauna here - more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, 2/3 of which cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. In addition, the lake is considered the oldest on Earth - its age is about 25 million years.
The deepest sea
The Philippine Sea, located near the Philippine archipelago, has an average depth of 4,108 meters, and is considered the deepest thanks to the Philippine Trench, the deepest point of which is 10,540 meters.
The deepest river
The length of the Congo River is 4344-4700 kilometers, the basin area is 3,680,000 square kilometers, and the maximum depth is more than 230 meters, making it the deepest in the world. It is also worth noting that this is the second most water-rich river on Earth after the Amazon and the only large river that crosses the equator 2 times. As the lower Congo begins to break through the South Guinean Highlands in a deep gorge, it forms the Livingston Falls, and it is here that the river reaches its greatest depths.
Deepest mine
At the moment, the deepest mine in the world can be called the Tau-Tona mine, which is located 70 kilometers from Johannesburg (South Africa). The name of the mine can be translated from one African language as “great lion”. Gold is mined here, and so far this deposit has a depth of about 4 km, but mining is carried out at a depth of 2.3 to 3.595 kilometers.
Deepest cave
The Krubera-Voronya cave, located in Abkhazia, can be called the deepest in the world (at least among the caves studied). The entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of approximately 2,256 meters in the Orto-Balagan tract. It is worth noting that the Krubera-Voronya cave was discovered by Georgian speleologists in 1960. At the moment it has been explored to a depth of 95 meters.
Where is the deepest place on Earth? How far is it from the center of the Earth? If Everest was placed there, would it rise above the surface of the Earth?
Today we will deal with the deepest places, holes, wells, caves, wells in the world, natural and man-made.
1.8 meters
Graves are usually dug at this depth. It is from this depth that the zombies will emerge when the time comes.
20 meters
Here are the famous Paris catacombs- a network of winding underground tunnels and artificial caves near Paris. The total length, according to various sources, is from 187 to 300 kilometers. Since the end of the 18th century, the remains of almost six million people have been buried in the catacombs.
40 meters
The Terme Millepini hotel in Italy chose this bold strategy, digging a 40-meter-deep tunnel for snorkelers and divers. This is the Y-40 pool. The most interesting thing about the deepest is that it is filled with thermal water and has a wonderful temperature of 33 degrees Celsius.
105.5 meters
This is the depth Kyiv metro station "Arsenalnaya", which is located on the Svyatoshinsko-Brovarskaya line between the Khreshchatyk and Dnepr stations. This is the deepest metro station in the world.
122 meters
Tree roots can penetrate to this depth. The tree with the deepest roots is a wild ficus growing at Echo Caves near Ohrigstad, South Africa. This tree is native to South Africa. Its roots go almost 122 meters deep.
230 meters
The deepest river. This Congo - river in Central Africa. In the lower reaches of the Congo breaks through the South Guinea Highlands in a deep narrow (in some places no more than 300 meters) gorge, forming the Livingston Falls (total drop 270 meters), the depths in this area are 230 meters or more, which makes the Congo the deepest river in the world .
240 meters
This is a railway tunnel with a length of 53.85 km. The tunnel descends to a depth of about 240 meters, 100 meters below the seabed. It is the deepest under the seabed and the second longest (after the Gotthard Base Tunnel) railway tunnel in the world.
287 meters
It is located even deeper, laid along the bottom of the Storfjord in the Norwegian province of Møre og Romsdal, connecting the cities of Eiksund and Rjanes. Construction began in 2003, the opening ceremony took place on February 17, 2008, full traffic opened on February 23, 2008. With a length of 7765 m, the tunnel goes to a depth of 287 m below sea level - this is the deepest tunnel in the world. The slope of the road surface reaches 9.6%.
382 meters
Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of Brighton and Hove, located in East Sussex, England. It is notable for the fact that on its territory there is deepest well in the world, dug by hand between 1858–1862. The depth of the well is 392 meters.
Of course, it doesn't look so picturesque, it's just an illustration.
603 meters
"Cave of Vertigo" Vrtoglavica in the Julian Alps. It is located on the territory of Slovenia, near the border with Italy). The cave was discovered by a joint Slovenian-Italian group of speleologists in 1996. Located in the cave the world's deepest karst well, its depth is 603 meters.
The North Tower can easily fit here (its height is 417 m, and taking into account the antenna installed on the roof - 526.3 m).
If you accidentally fall into this hole, you can reach the bottom in 11 seconds.
700 meters
33 miners were trapped under the rubble on August 5, 2010. They were held captive at a depth of 700 meters for more than 2 months and were listed as dead for almost 3 weeks. As a result of 40 days of work, a well was drilled to rescue Chilean miners.
970 meters
This largest dug hole in the earth, from the bottom of which you can still see the sky. The Bingham Canyon Quarry in Utah is one of the largest man-made (man-dug) formations in the world. After more than 100 years of mining, a large crater was formed, 970 meters deep and 4 km wide. This unique canyon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
This quarry will fit entirely into the tallest structure in the world ever created, whose height is 828 meters. And not only will it fit, but from its “top” there will be more than 140 meters to the surface.
On April 10, 2013, a giant block of earth broke off and rushed into a huge hole in the artificial Bingham Canyon in Utah. Approximately 65 - 70 million cubic meters of earth thundered along the walls of the mine, reaching speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour. The event was so powerful that it shook the earth - seismic sensors were activated, recording the earthquake. Intensity was measured as 2.5 on the Richter scale.
1642 meters
The deepest lake on Earth. The current maximum depth of the lake is 1642 m.
1857 meters
One of the deepest canyons in the world. Located on the Colorado Plateau, Arizona, USA. Depth - more than 1800 m.
2199 meters
So we reached the deepest cave in the world. This is the only known cave in the world deeper than 2 kilometers. The main entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of about 2250 m above sea level.
3132 meters
To date, the deepest mine is located southwest of Johannesburg. Its depth is a little over 3 kilometers. The elevator takes 4.5 minutes to reach the very bottom, but you can speed up the process: if a person accidentally falls here, the flight to the bottom will take him 25 seconds.
3600 meters
A living organism was found at this depth. About a hundred years ago, the English scientist Edward Forbes argued that there are no living creatures deeper than 500 meters. But in 2011, nematode worms were found in a gold mine in South Africa. The second name for these 0.5 mm creatures is “worm from hell.”
4500 meters
The deepest mines in the world are located in South Africa: Tau-Tona, Witwatersrand - depth more than 4500 m, Western Deep Levels Mine - 3900 m (De Beers company), Mponeng - 3800 m. For miners have to work in extreme conditions. The heat reaches 60 °C, and at such depths there is always the danger of water breakthrough and explosions. These mines produce gold. The journey here takes miners about 1 hour.
By the way, from 25 to 50% of the gold mined in the world is obtained from the Witwatersrand deposit. Extraction is carried out, among other things, from the deepest mine in the world, “Tau-Tona” - its depth is more than 4.5 km, the temperature in the workings reaches 52 degrees.
10994 meters
The Mariana Trench (or Mariana Trench) is an oceanic deep-sea trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the deepest known on Earth. Named after the nearby Mariana Islands. The deepest point of the Mariana Trench is the Challenger Deep. According to measurements in 2011, its depth is 10,994 m below sea level.
This is very deep. If Everest, 8848 meters high, could be placed here, then there would still be more than 2 km left from its top to the surface.
Yes, there is a place on Earth about which we know much less than about distant space - mysterious ocean floor. It is believed that world science has not yet really even begun to study it...
At a depth of 11 kilometers. At the bottom, the water pressure reaches 108.6 MPa, which is approximately 1072 times greater than normal atmospheric pressure at the level of the World Ocean.
12262 meters
We have reached the deepest well in the world. This . Located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny. Unlike other ultra-deep wells that were drilled for oil production or geological exploration, SG-3 was drilled solely for scientific research purposes in the place where the Mohorovicic boundary comes close to the surface of the Earth.
At a depth of five kilometers, the ambient temperature exceeded 70 °C, at seven - 120 °C, and at a depth of 12 kilometers, sensors recorded 220 °C.
Kola superdeep well, 2007:
The Kola Superdeep served as the source of the urban legend about the “well to hell.” This urban legend has been circulating on the Internet since at least 1997. The legend was first announced in English in 1989 on the American television company Trinity Broadcasting Network, which took the story from a Finnish newspaper report published on April Fool's Day. According to this legend, in the very thickness of the earth, at a depth of 12,000 meters, microphones of scientists recorded screams and moans. The tabloid newspapers write that this is “a voice from the underworld.” The Kola superdeep well began to be called “the road to hell” - every new kilometer drilled brought misfortune to the country.
If you drop something into this hole, it will take 50 seconds before that “something” falls to the bottom.
This is it, the well itself (welded), August 2012:
12376 meters
Which was drilled in Russia on the shelf of Sakhalin Island, it is considered the deepest oil well in the world. It goes to a depth of about 13 kilometers - this depth is comparable to the height of 14.5 skyscrapers Burj Khalifa, which remains the tallest in the world. This the deepest hole that humanity has been able to drill.
At the moment, this is deepest place in the world. And it is located only at a depth of about 12.4 km. Is this too much? Let us remember that the average distance to the center of the Earth will be 6371.3 kilometers...
Despite the fact that the oceans are closer to us than the distant planets of the solar system, people have explored only five percent of the ocean floor, which remains one of our planet's greatest mysteries. The deepest part of the ocean - the Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench is one of the most famous places, about which we still do not know very much. With water pressure that is a thousand times greater than at sea level, diving into this place is akin to suicide. But thanks to modern technology and a few brave souls who risked their lives and went down there, we learned a lot of interesting things about this amazing place.
The Mariana Trench or Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean east (about 200 km) of the 15 Mariana Islands near Guam. It is a crescent-shaped trench in the earth's crust about 2,550 km long and an average width of 69 km.
The coordinates of the Mariana Trench are 11°22′ north latitude and 142°35′ east longitude.
According to the latest research in 2011, the depth of the deepest point of the Mariana Trench is about 10,994 meters ± 40 meters. For comparison, the height of the highest peak in the world, Everest, is 8,848 meters. This means that if Everest were in the Mariana Trench, it would be covered by another 2.1 km of water.
Here are other interesting facts about what you can find along the way and at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench.
1. Very hot water
Going down to such depths, we expect it to be very cold. Temperatures here reach just above zero, varying from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius. However, at a depth of about 1.6 km from the surface of the Pacific Ocean there are hydrothermal vents called “black smokers”. They shoot water that heats up to 450 degrees Celsius.
This water is rich in minerals that help support life in the area. Despite the water temperature being hundreds of degrees above the boiling point, the water here does not boil due to the incredible water pressure, 155 times higher than on the surface.
2. Giant toxic amoebas
A few years ago, giant 10-centimeter amoebae called xenophyophores were discovered at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. These single-celled organisms likely became so large because of the environment they live in at a depth of 10.6 km. Cold temperatures, high pressure and lack of sunlight likely contributed to the enormous size of these amoebas.
In addition, xenophyophores have incredible abilities. They are resistant to many elements and chemicals, including uranium, mercury and lead, that would kill other animals and people.
3. Shellfish
The intense water pressure in the Mariana Trench does not give any animal with a shell or bones a chance of survival. However, in 2012, shellfish were discovered in a trench near serpentine hydrothermal vents. Serpentine contains hydrogen and methane, which allows living organisms to form. How the mollusks preserved their shells under such pressure remains unknown.
In addition, hydrothermal vents emit another gas, hydrogen sulfide, which is lethal to shellfish. However, they learned to bind the sulfur compound into a safe protein, which allowed the population of these mollusks to survive.
4. Pure liquid carbon dioxide
The Champagne Mariana Trench hydrothermal vent, which lies outside the Okinawa Trench near Taiwan, is the only known underwater area where liquid carbon dioxide can be found. The spring, discovered in 2005, was named after the bubbles that turned out to be carbon dioxide.
Many believe these springs, called "white smokers" due to their lower temperatures, may be the source of life. It was in the depths of the oceans, with low temperatures and an abundance of chemicals and energy, that life could begin.
5. Slime
If we had the opportunity to swim to the very depths of the Mariana Trench, we would feel that it was covered with a layer of viscous mucus. Sand, in its familiar form, does not exist there. The bottom of the depression is mainly made up of crushed shells and remains of plankton that have sunk to the bottom over the years. Due to the incredible water pressure, almost everything there turns into fine grayish-yellow thick mud.
6. Liquid sulfur
The Daikoku volcano, which lies at a depth of about 414 meters on the way to the Mariana Trench, is the source of one of the rarest phenomena on our planet. There is a lake of pure molten sulfur here. The only place where liquid sulfur can be found is Jupiter's moon Io.
In this pit, called the "cauldron", the bubbling black emulsion boils at 187 degrees Celsius. Although scientists have not been able to explore this site in detail, it is possible that even more liquid sulfur is contained deeper. This could reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth.
According to the Gaia hypothesis, our planet is one self-governing organism in which everything living and nonliving is connected to support its life. If this hypothesis is correct, then a number of signals can be observed in the natural cycles and systems of the Earth. So the sulfur compounds created by organisms in the ocean must be stable enough in the water to allow them to move into the air and return to land.
7. Bridges
At the end of 2011, four stone bridges were discovered in the Mariana Trench, which stretched from one end to the other for 69 km. They appear to have formed at the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates.
One of the Dutton Ridge bridges, which was opened in the 1980s, turned out to be incredibly high, like a small mountain. At its highest point, the ridge reaches 2.5 km above the Challenger Deep. Like many aspects of the Mariana Trench, the purpose of these bridges remains unclear. However, the very fact that these formations were discovered in one of the most mysterious and unexplored places is surprising.
8. James Cameron's Dive into the Mariana Trench
Since the discovery of the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, in 1875, only three people have visited it. The first were American Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Piccard, who dived on January 23, 1960 on the Challenger.
52 years later, another person dared to dive here - the famous film director James Cameron. So on March 26, 2012, Cameron went down to the bottom and took several photographs. During James Cameron's 2012 dive to the Challenger Deep on the DeepSea Challenge submersible, he attempted to observe everything that was happening in the area until mechanical problems forced him to the surface.
While he was at the deepest point of the world's oceans, he came to the shocking conclusion that he was completely alone. There were no scary sea monsters or any miracles in the Mariana Trench. According to Cameron, the very bottom of the ocean was "lunar...empty...lonely" and he felt "complete isolation from all humanity."
9. Mariana Trench
10. The Mariana Trench in the ocean is the largest nature reserve
The Mariana Trench is a US national monument and the largest marine sanctuary in the world. Since it is a monument, there are a number of rules for those who want to visit this place. Within its borders, fishing and mining are strictly prohibited. However, swimming is allowed here, so you could be the next one to venture into the deepest place in the ocean.
In everyday life, we get used to the fact that the earth is flat and level. Potholes on the roads seem like a personal insult, a depression of 10-20 meters is a serious pit. But behind this routine, we sometimes forget that the topography of our planet is very heterogeneous. We have already talked about high points, and now it’s time to look at the other side of this problem and find the deepest place on Earth.
Underwater depths
One of the creatures from the Mariana Trench. It's alive and pretty happy
It may seem like a funny paradox, but some of the deepest points on Earth are located under water. It is in the ocean that numerous trenches are hidden - faults of lithospheric plates. Filled with water, they turned into amazing places, completely different from the world we are used to. The multi-kilometer layer of water creates unimaginable pressure; not a single ray of sunlight, even the fastest, can pass through this barrier. As a result, it is very dark and difficult there.
There are quite a lot of such points in the world, but the most impressive of them are known to everyone:
- Mariana Trench. Its bottom is the deepest point of the Pacific Ocean and the ocean in general. Many times they tried to accurately determine its depth, and according to the latest data it is 10994 meters. This value is difficult to comprehend, but for comparison, the height of Everest, the tallest mountain, is just over 8800 meters. Thus, our planet is rather deep than high.
- Tongo gutter. The second deepest and much less studied trench. Its deepest point is at level 10882, which is only 100 meters less than the Mariana Trench. It turns out that the difference between the two deepest gutters is about 1%. Not so much. But if he loses in depth, he is first in other respects. For some reason, in this place the plates move an order of magnitude faster than in other places. The movement speed is about 25 centimeters instead of the required 2.
- Philippine Trench. The third deepest point in the World Ocean. The maximum value is 10,265 meters, which is clearly less than that of the Mariana Trench and the Tongo Trench.
The funny thing is that these trenches are quite well studied, unlike most of the seabed. People imagine what is happening on approximately 5% of its area, while the remaining places escape our attention.
At the same time, gutters hide many secrets. For example, previously people did not even think that at such pressure, without light and oxygen dissolved in water, someone could exist. But the expeditions still found quite cheerful, albeit strange creatures there. And this is just one of many surprises that human nature has prepared.
Wells
Despite the fact that the underwater faults and trenches created by nature itself are amazing, the deepest place is still the work of man. And these are wells.
This is what KS-3 looks like from the outside. And under the cover - 12 kilometers of puncture
If a fault is an open wound on the body of the planet, then a well is more like a trace of an injection from the thinnest needle, but sometimes they can bring no less surprises and unexpected data. And the following wells boast the most impressive depth:
- Kola superdeep well. Its total depth is 12263 meters. At the same time, the diameter of the outer part of the well is only about half a meter. The purpose of creating this well was to obtain new data on the structure of the earth's crust. And scientists received them in full. The study of this place brought them an incredible amount of new and unexpected information, which significantly influenced people’s ideas about the structure of our planet.
- OR-11. Another well created by Russian engineers. It belongs to the Sakhalin-1 project, within the framework of which the field was studied. Its depth is 11,345 meters, a very impressive achievement. In total, 10 wells were drilled as part of this project.
- BD-04A. This well, located in Qatar, was created with one very specific purpose - to study the oil field. Exploration required some effort, first of all, the creation of one of the deepest wells - 10,092 meters.
It turns out that the deepest place on the planet is still the fruit of human hands. And even if this mistake is infinitely small, the achievement cannot but rejoice.
