ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典の解説
ビーチャジ海淵
ビーチャジかいえん
Vityaz Deep
本文は出典元の記述の一部を掲載しています。
出典|ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典
Copyright (c) 2014 Britannica Japan Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
それぞれの記述は執筆時点でのもので、常に最新の内容であることを保証するものではありません。
- 허만하, 「깊이의 순수」 전문(<시와 사상>, 2015. 가을)
태평양의 마리아나 해구에 있는 해연. 세계에서 가장 깊은 해연이다(11,034m). 1957년 소련의 비티아즈 호가 발견했으며, 이 배의 이름을 따서 붙인 지명이다.
[네이버 지식백과] 해연 [海淵, deep] (자연지리학사전, 2006. 5. 25., 한울아카데미)
깊이 6000 m를 넘는 심해저(深海底)에 있는 요지(凹地) 중에서 측량에 의하여 형태가 분명히 밝혀진 가장 깊은 곳을 해연이라고 한다. 해구(海溝) 안에서 깊은 부분인 경우가 많고, 일반적으로 이것을 발견한 선박의 이름을 붙여서 부른다. 현재 세계에서 가장 깊은 곳은 마리아나(mariana) 해구의 챌린저(Challenger; 10924 m, 1984년 일본 수로부(水路部)의 측량선(測量船)에 의하여 발견) 해연으로, 1951년 영국의 측량선 챌린저호에 의하여 발견된 것인데, 최신예 기기를 이용하여 조사한 바에 의하면, 가장 깊은 곳의 위치와 그의 깊이가 수정된 것이다.
구 소련의 관측선인 비티아스에 의하여 발견되어, 최근까지 세계에서 가장 깊은 곳으로 알려졌던 이른바 비티아스(Vityaz) 해연의 11034 m는 조사결과 10900 m 전후인 것으로 알려졌다. 국제적으로 해저지형 용어에 관한 협정에서는 해연이라는 용어를 쓰지 않는다.
[네이버 지식백과] 해연 [海淵, abyss, deep] (지구과학사전, 2009. 8. 30., 북스힐)
돌 안에 고여 있는 시간이 광물질에 동화하여 침묵하고 있을 때, 고뇌 안에 쌓여 있는 슬픔은 비티아즈 해연 깊이가 된다. 빛이 뚫지 못하는 투명한 물의 두께가 만드는 어둠의 깊이에서, 생명은 스스로 형광을 만들며, 암흑에 저항한다. 에베레스트 산정에서 공기의 희박을 느끼고 쓰러진 인간이 높이를 깨닫 듯, 조여드는 어둠의 농도로 최후의 숨가쁨을 느끼는 물의 깊이. 밤 하늘 시름 하나, 별똥별 무게로 바다 밑바닥에 가라앉는 깊이. 슬픔과 고뇌를 초월한 명석한 깊이의 순수.
- 허만하, 「깊이의 순수」 전문(<시와 사상>, 2015. 가을)
The Mariana Trench or Marianas Trench[1] is the deepest known part of the world's oceans. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. The trench is about 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi) long with an average width of 69 kilometres (43 mi). It reaches a maximum-known depth of 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) (± 40 metres [130 ft]) at a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep, at its southern end,[2] although some unrepeated measurements place the deepest portion at 11,034 metres (36,201 ft).[3]
At the bottom of the trench the water column above exerts a pressure of 1,086 bars (15,750 psi), more than 1,000 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. At this pressure, the density of water is increased by 4.96%, so that 95 litres of water under the pressure of the Challenger Deep would contain the same mass as 100 litres at the surface. The temperature at the bottom is 1 to 4 °C (34 to 39 °F).[4]
The trench is not the part of the seafloor closest to the center of the Earth. This is because the Earth is not a perfect sphere; its radius is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) less at the poles than at the equator.[5]As a result, parts of the Arctic Ocean seabed are at least 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) closer to the Earth's center than the Challenger Deep seafloor.
Xenophyophores have been found in the trench by Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers at a record depth of 10.6 kilometres (6.6 mi) below the sea surface.[6] On 17 March 2013, researchers reported data that suggested microbial life forms thrive within the trench.[7][8]
The Mariana Trench is named for the nearby Mariana Islands (in turn named Las Marianas in honor of Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria, widow of Philip IV of Spain). The islands are part of the island arc that is formed on an over-riding plate, called the Mariana Plate (also named for the islands), on the western side of the trench.
The Mariana Trench is part of the Izu-Bonin-Marianasubduction system that forms the boundary between two tectonic plates. In this system, the western edge of one plate, the Pacific Plate, is subducted (i.e., thrust) beneath the smaller Mariana Plate that lies to the west. Crustal material at the western edge of the Pacific Plate is some of the oldest oceanic crust on earth (up to 170 million years old), and is therefore cooler and more dense; hence its great height difference relative to the higher-riding (and younger) Mariana Plate. The deepest area at the plate boundary is the Mariana Trench proper.
The movement of the Pacific and Mariana plates is also indirectly responsible for the formation of the Mariana Islands. These volcanic islands are caused by flux melting of the upper mantle due to release of water that is trapped in minerals of the subducted portion of the Pacific Plate.
The trench was first sounded during the Challenger expedition in 1875, using a weighted rope, which recorded a depth of 4,475 fathoms (8,184 metres; 26,850 feet).[9] In 1877, a map was published called Tiefenkarte des Grossen Ozeans ("Deep map of the Great Ocean") by Petermann, which showed a Challenger Tief ("Challenger deep") at the location of that sounding. In 1899, USS Nero, a converted collier, recorded a depth of 5,269 fathoms (9,636 metres; 31,614 feet).[10]
Challenger II surveyed the trench using echo sounding, a much more precise and vastly easier way to measure depth than the sounding equipment and drag lines used in the original expedition. During this survey, the deepest part of the trench was recorded when the Challenger II measured a depth of 5,960 fathoms (10,900 metres; 35,760 feet) at 11°19′N 142°15′E, known as the Challenger Deep.[11]
In 1957, the Soviet vessel Vityaz reported a depth of 11,034 metres (36,201 ft) at a location dubbed the Mariana Hollow.[3]
In 1962, the surface ship M.V. Spencer F. Baird recorded a maximum depth of 10,915 metres (35,810 ft) using precision depth gauges.
In 1984, the Japanese survey vessel Takuyō (拓洋) collected data from the Mariana Trench using a narrow, multi-beam echo sounder; it reported a maximum depth of 10,924 metres (35,840 ft), also reported as 10,920 metres (35,830 ft) ±10 m (33 ft).[12]
Remotely Operated Vehicle KAIKO reached the deepest area of the Mariana trench and made the deepest diving record of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) on March 24, 1995.[13]
During surveys carried out between 1997 and 2001, a spot was found along the Mariana Trench that had depth similar to that of the Challenger Deep, possibly even deeper. It was discovered while scientists from the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology were completing a survey around Guam; they used a sonar mapping system towed behind the research ship to conduct the survey. This new spot was named the HMRG (Hawaii Mapping Research Group) Deep, after the group of scientists who discovered it.[14]
On 1 June 2009, sonar mapping of the Challenger Deep by the Simrad EM120 sonar multibeam bathymetry system for deep water, mapping aboard the RV Kilo Moana (mothership of the Nereus vehicle), indicated a spot with a depth of 10,971 metres (35,994 ft). The sonar system uses phase and amplitude bottom detection, with an accuracy of better than 0.2% of water depth across the entire swath (implying that the depth figure is accurate to ± 22 metres (72 ft)).[15][16]
In 2011, it was announced at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting that a US Navy hydrographic ship equipped with a multibeam echosounder conducted a survey which mapped the entire trench to 100 metres (330 ft) resolution.[2]The mapping revealed the existence of four rocky outcrops thought to be former seamounts.[17]
The Mariana Trench is a site chosen by researchers at Washington University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2012 for a seismic survey to investigate the subsurface water cycle. Using both ocean-bottom seismometers and hydrophones the scientists are able to map structures as deep as 97 kilometres (60 mi) beneath the surface.[18]
Four descents have been achieved. The first was the manned descent by Swiss-designed, Italian-built, United States Navy-owned bathyscaphe Trieste which reached the bottom at 1:06 pm on 23 January 1960, with Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard on board.[11][20] Iron shot was used for ballast, with gasoline for buoyancy.[11] The onboard systems indicated a depth of 11,521 m (37,799 ft), but this was later revised to 10,916 m (35,814 ft).[21] The depth was estimated from a conversion of pressure measured and calculations based on the water density from sea surface to seabed.[20]
This was followed by the unmanned ROVs Kaikō in 1996 and Nereus in 2009. The first three expeditions directly measured very similar depths of 10,902 to 10,916 m (35,768 to 35,814 ft).
The fourth was made by Canadian film director James Cameron in 2012. on 26 March, he reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the submersible vessel Deepsea Challenger.[22][23][24]
In July 2015, members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oregon State University, and the Coast Guard submerged a hydrophone into the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep. Never having deployed one past a mile, the titanium-shelled hydrophone was designed to withstand the immense pressure 7 miles under.[25] Although researchers were unable to retrieve the hydrophone until November, the data capacity was full within the first 23 days. After months of analyzing the sounds, the experts were surprised to pick up natural and man-made sounds such as boats, earthquakes, a typhoon, and baleen whales.[26] Due to the mission's success, the researchers plan to deploy a second hydrophone in 2017 for an extended period of time.
As of February 2012, at least two other teams are planning piloted submarines to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench. These include: Triton Submarines, a Florida-based company that designs and manufactures private submarines, for which a crew of three will take 120 minutes to reach the seabed;[27] and DOER Marine, a marine technology company, based near San Francisco and set up in 1992, for which a crew of two or three will take 90 minutes to reach the seabed.[28]
The expedition conducted in 1960 claimed to have observed (with great surprise because of the high pressure) large creatures living at the bottom, such as a flatfish about 30 cm (1 ft) long,[21] and shrimp.[29] According to Piccard, "The bottom appeared light and clear, a waste of firm diatomaceous ooze".[21] Many marine biologists are now skeptical of the supposed sighting of the flatfish, and it is suggested that the creature may instead have been a sea cucumber.[30][31]
During the second expedition, the unmanned vehicle Kaikō collected mud samples from the seabed.[32] Tiny organisms were found to be living in those samples.
In July 2011, a research expedition deployed untethered landers, called dropcams, equipped with digital video and lights to explore this region of the deep sea. Amongst many other living organisms, some gigantic single-celled amoebas with a size of more than 4 in (10 cm), belonging to the class of xenophyophores were observed.[33] Xenophyophores are noteworthy for their size, their extreme abundance on the seafloor and their role as hosts for a variety of organisms.
In December 2014, a new species of snailfish was discovered at a depth of 8,145 m (26,722 ft), breaking the previous record for the deepest living fish seen on video.[34] Several other new species were also filmed, including huge crustaceans known as supergiants.[34] Deep sea species are also known to grow much larger than their shallow water relatives. This is known as marine gigantism.
Like other oceanic trenches, the Mariana Trench has been proposed as a site for nuclear waste disposal,[35][36] in the hope that tectonic plate subduction occurring at the site might eventually push the nuclear waste deep into the Earth's mantle. However, ocean dumping of nuclear waste is prohibited by international law.[35][36][37] Furthermore, plate subduction zones are associated with very large megathrust earthquakes, the effects of which are unpredictable and possibly adverse to the safety of long-term disposal.[36] Also, disposal of nuclear wastes may cause havoc in the hadopelagic ecosystems.
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Overall length – 109.44 m
Beam on load waterline - 14.56 m
Midship section – 8.75 m
Full-load draught – 5.86 m
Displacement – 5 710 t
Endurance of a ship- 18 500 miles
Engine power – 3000 hp
Speed - 14 knots
Working depth for deep-anchoring, trawling, bottom, tests, etc. – 11 000 m
Crew - 66 persons
Research staff - 70 persons
The Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the Earth's seabed hydrosphere, with a depth of 10,898 to 10,916 m (35,755 to 35,814 ft) by direct measurement from submersibles, and slightly more by sonar bathymetry. It is in the Pacific Ocean, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench near the Mariana Islands group. The Challenger Deep is a relatively small slot-shaped depression in the bottom of a considerably larger crescent-shaped oceanic trench, which itself is an unusually deep feature in the ocean floor. Its bottom is about 11 km (7 mi) long and 1.6 km (1 mi) wide, with gently sloping sides.[1] The closest land to the Challenger Deep is Fais Island (one of the outer islands of Yap), 287 km (178 mi) southwest, and Guam, 304 km (189 mi) to the northeast. It is located in the ocean territory of the Federated States of Micronesia, 1.6 km (1 mi) from its border with ocean territory associated with Guam.[2]
The depression is named after the British Royal Navy survey ship HMS Challenger, whose expedition of 1872–1876 made the first recordings of its depth. According to the August 2011 version of the GEBCO Gazetteer of Undersea Feature Names, the location and depth of the Challenger Deep are 11°22.4′N 142°35.5′E and 10,920 m (35,827 ft) ±10 m (33 ft).[3]
June 2009 sonar mapping of the Challenger Deep by the Simrad EM120 (sonar multibeam bathymetry system for 300–11,000 m deep water mapping) aboard the RV Kilo Moana indicated a depth of 10,971 metres (35,994 ft). The sonar system uses phase and amplitude bottom detection, with a precision of 0.2% to 0.5% of water depth; this is an error of about 22 to 55 m (72 to 180 ft) at this depth.[4][5][6] Further soundings made by the US Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping in October 2010 are in agreement with this figure, preliminarily placing the deepest part of the Challenger Deep at 10,994 m (36,070 ft), with an estimated vertical uncertainty of ±40 m (131 ft).[7][8] A 2014 study concludes that with the best of 2010 multibeam echosounder technologies a depth uncertainty of ±25 m (82 ft) (95% confidence level) on 9 degrees of freedom and a positional uncertainty of ±20 to 25 m (66 to 82 ft) (2drms) remain and the location of the deepest depth recorded in the 2010 mapping is 10,984 m (36,037 ft) at 11.329903°N 142.199305°E (11°19′47.650″N 142°11′57.498″E).[6]
Only four descents have ever been achieved. The first descent by any vehicle was by the manned bathyscaphe Trieste in 1960. This was followed by the unmanned ROVs Kaikō in 1995 and Nereus in 2009. In March 2012 a manned solo descent was made by the deep-submergence vehicle Deepsea Challenger.[9][10][11] These expeditions measured very similar depths of 10,898 to 10,916 metres (35,755 to 35,814 ft).