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The bottom of the ocean was explored by who? Researchers of the World Ocean

Researchers from different countries have proved that living organisms inhabit the entire thickness of the water of the World Ocean (MO). Scientists came to this conclusion as far back as the last century, and modern deepwater technology confirms the existence of fish, crabs, crayfish, worms at a depth of up to 11,000 m. We will find out how the French scientist Jacques Picard researched the bottom of the World Ocean, what contributions were made by English and Russian oceanologists.

Water on Earth is an object of the untiring attention of mankind

About 400-500 years ago, many travelers did not know what the true size and depth of the oceans was. The minds of many bore the legend of Atlantis, immersed in the abyss of the sea, myths about the amazing country of Eldorado, where water sources bestow eternal youth. Swimming Europeans to distant shores, where gold, jewels and spices were abundant, have always been dangerous because of the presence of rocky reefs and vast chunks on the way of ships. But this did not stop the Great geographical discoveries, to map most of the seas and bays, to find the passages between the continents and the islands.

Who investigated the bottom of the World Ocean in antiquity and in the Middle Ages? Seafarers studied the underwater terrain by their available methods, applied to maps and globes. Scientists have calculated that the water surface on our planet is three times the land area (361 and 149 million km 2, respectively). The world ocean in all periods of history influenced the development of trade, fishing and travel. The role of the MO in the formation of climate and weather on land is great, providing the population with food.

The origin of oceanology (oceanography)

The bottom of the World Ocean was explored by Fernand Magellan during his round-the-world voyage; Paid attention to measuring the depths of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. But these were not scientists, but merchants and seafarers. In the XIX-XX centuries, the role of science in the exploration of the ocean increased. Thanks to the achievements of the 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 navigation had a significant impact on the organization and work of scientific expeditions. This happened with the voyages of Russian ships, which set off on a round-the-world voyage, approached the shores of Antarctica. The study of the coast and the depth of the northern and Far Eastern seas was organized.

Who researched the bottom of the World Ocean

The success of sea voyages contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about the IO. Gradually, the formation of one of the geographical sciences - oceanology. Among its founders - Dutchman B. Varenius and Russian Yu. Shokalsky. A significant contribution to this process was made by Russian navigators and the military. The bottom of the World Ocean was investigated by one of the first Italian L. Marcilli.

At the beginning of the XIX century, Russian scientists E. Lenz and E. Parrot invented a depth. In the middle of the same century, an American JM Brooke created a lot with a detachable cargo to collect soil samples. These achievements were successfully used by the members of the oceanographic expedition on the British ship Challenger. Working under the aegis 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 Russian oceanographer SO 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 map of the depths. About 100 years ago, the rope lots were replaced by sound waves and instruments - echo sounders. The device emits a beep which is reflected from the bottom and is caught. Knowing the time and speed of sound in the water, you get as a result of calculations the distance, which should be divided in half. This will be the depth in the measurement area.

Discoveries at the bottom of MO

The echo sounders opened wide opportunities for the researchers of the World Ocean. The last decades of the XIX century and the years after the Second World War were marked by growing interest in the biology of the Ministry of Defense. Scientists have gathered evidence of the existence of life, not only in the surface layer of water, but also at depth. In the second half of the XX century, the whole world flew pictures, in which people saw the bottom of the World Ocean. Photos of deep-sea organisms astonished the imagination of the inhabitants. After all, creatures living in pitch dark at a temperature of about 2-3 ° C, have luminous and electrical organs.

Scientists have drawn on maps extended median-oceanic ridges, hollows, separate mountains. The easiest way was to explore the shelf and the continental slope, but the true pioneers attracted depths. As early as the end of the 19th century, the members of the Challenger expedition discovered and charted the deepest place in the MO in the Mariana Islands in the northwest Pacific. Similar troughs arose as a result of the collision of powerful continental platforms with thin ocean plates. On the continents, young mountain massifs correspond to deep depressions in the ocean.

The object of study is the bottom of the World Ocean

Jacques Picard, a Swiss oceanographer, studied the Mariana Trench with a US citizen Don Walsh. For immersion, scientists used the deep-water vehicle Trieste. This important event took place on January 23, 1960. Before that, the famous French director and naturalist Jacques Yves Cousteau participated in the experimental dives, which later shot documentary films about life at the bottom of the World Ocean.

Jacques Piccard, together with Don Walsh in the "Trieste" plunged into the "Abyss of Challenger" in the south-west of the Mariana Trench. The depth here reaches 10 911-11 030 m below the level of the MO. The descent time of the bathyscaphe was about 5 hours, the researchers of the deepest trough in the world stayed on its bottom for 20 minutes, reinforced the strength with chocolate and began the ascent lasting more than 3 hours.

Studies have shown that the diversity of species of deep-sea animals competes with the richness of the fauna of tropical coral reefs. Marine benthic organisms are adapted to their habitat, although the bottom of the depressions is dark and cold.

The main directions of modern research MO

The second half of the 20th century marked the beginning of an international phase of the study of the world's oceans. Navigations of research vessels were organized, deep-sea drilling to collect soil samples. At the end of the last century, scientists paid more attention to the interaction of the MO with the continents, the impact on the climate.

Since the bottom of the World Ocean explored Jacques Picard, a long time passed. Oceanographic studies are continuing, they allow us to identify solitary volcanoes, fault zones and seismic activity in the MO. As a result of the collision of oceanic and continental slabs, volcanic eruptions, natural phenomena occur, hundreds of thousands of people are dying, plunged into the abyss of the island's waters, and huge waves emerge - the tsunami. The typhoons that originate over the oceans and collapse on the coast have a destructive power. The study and timely warning of the population about these dangerous phenomena is one of the tasks of modern oceanology.

The impressive reserves of natural resources of the MoD 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 vessels. Geological exploration and research ships, mining platforms have become elements, without which it is already difficult to imagine the vast sea spaces.

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