Plastic Bags Dive Into The Deep Sea Of 10,000 Meters, Threatening The Safety Of Marine Life. How Does White Pollution Reach The Bottom Of The Sea?
The Mariana Trench is one of the most mysterious places in the world. Scientists have discovered human-related items at a depth of 10,928 meters. However, this discovery did not arouse the joy of scientists. On the contrary, they were shocked and angry because what they found was plastic.
Important Geological Observation Samples
The Mariana Trench is one of the deepest oceanic canyons in the world, located near the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is huge in scale, extending about 2,550 kilometers. In terms of depth, with human capabilities, the measured result is that the maximum depth reaches about 11,034 meters. This is a trench created by movement between tectonic plates and includes the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates.
In this area, the Pacific plate is subducting under the Philippine Sea plate, creating an unfathomable canyon. The trench is famous for its amazing depth and magnificent geological landscape. It can be said that it puts the magnificent geological landscape on the earth underwater. The trench has cliffs, canyons, and mountains, as well as a series of submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vents.
Biodiversity is also abundant in this environment, including a variety of fish, mollusks, corals, and other marine life. These sea creatures have attracted a lot of attention because of their distinctive appearance and habits that are different from other sea creatures in environments of great pressure and extreme darkness.
The Mariana Trench is an important area of scientific research, and the trench provides a unique sample of observations of deep-sea ecosystems, Earth's geological processes, and Earth's interior structure. Scientists have used technologies such as unmanned submersibles and remote controls to explore the trench deep, collecting samples and recording valuable data.
Difficult To Penetrate The Mariana Trench
The observation of the Mariana Trench is extremely challenging. Its depth is extremely high, reaching about 11,000 meters. This number makes it the limit of human exploration. Observing this trench requires the use of special detection equipment and technology. It is also a huge challenge for divers, which also makes the discovery of plastic in the Mariana Trench very bizarre.
First of all, it is difficult for traditional submersibles to withstand such a high-pressure environment, and they also need to withstand huge changes in water pressure when diving. Therefore, only a few specially designed bathyscaphes can perform the dive and they are very expensive and complicated to use.
Secondly, the environment of the Mariana Trench is extremely harsh. It is conceivable how terrifying the high pressure, low temperature, and darkness of the 10,000-meter-deep sea are. The extreme environmental conditions make scientists face many challenges when conducting observations, and it is difficult to simulate on the ground. Submersibles and instruments must be rigorously tested and designed to handle these extreme conditions.
Finally, the complexity of the seabed topography also increases the difficulty of observation. The terrain of the Mariana Trench is rugged, and it is already difficult to study a steep cliff on the ground, let alone in the 10,000-meter-deep sea. This makes the detection mission very difficult, and precise positioning and navigation are also a challenge because, in the deep sea, landmarks and reference objects are very limited.
Why Is There Plastic In The Mariana Trench?
The plastic bag found in the Mariana Trench is no different, it's the same plastic bag you'll find in grocery stores, and the scientists found it by looking at the Deep Sea Debris Database, a collection of photos and videos from 5,010 dives over the past 30 years. Scientists were shocked and angry. In places that are difficult for humans to reach, garbage is one step ahead.
Plastic is not uncommon in the ocean, nor is it unusual in the Mariana Trench. Of the photos in the database, plastic is the most prevalent, especially plastic bags, which are the largest source of plastic waste. Other litter includes materials such as rubber, metal, wood, and cloth, all of which can easily find their way into the ocean.
What's more, nearly 20 percent of the images of plastic recorded in the database showed "interactions" with marine life, such as animals becoming entangled in debris. This once again sounded the alarm for human beings. Marine life is already plagued by human garbage, and it seems that deep-sea life in the trench is also hard to escape.
The discovery of plastic in the deep sea is due to several reasons. First, plastic waste usually enters the ocean through land or rivers. Most plastic waste enters waters due to improper disposal or pollution caused by human activities. Second, once plastic waste enters the ocean, it is affected by currents and ocean dynamics.
Simply put, these plastic wastes can be carried to deep sea areas by coastal currents, ocean currents, and tidal movements. In addition, plastic waste may also be brought to the deep sea by marine organisms. Some marine organisms may mistake plastic waste for food, and when they eat, plastic waste may move into the deep sea with them.
In the deep ocean, plastic litter may settle to the seafloor or remain suspended in the water, depending on its density and physical properties. Theoretically speaking, plastic waste will gradually decompose in the deep sea, but this process is very slow, because the light and oxygen in the deep sea environment are relatively scarce, and it is basically difficult for plastic to completely disappear.