Even The Deepest Place On Earth Cannot Escape From Plastic

Parvati Divakar - Jan 01, 2019

A recent study discovered that Mariana Trench, the deepest point on earth was polluted by plastics.

You think the creepiest thing about the deep ocean is the mysterious nightmarish creatures living there? Try thinking how plastic can get that deep and pollute the farthest ocean floor.

According to a report from the publication Geochemical Perspectives Letters, scientists found that the Mariana Trench is polluted by plastic. The Mariana Trench, for those who don't already know, is the deepest known part of the ocean, stretching down roughly 11 kilometers beneath the ocean surface between the Philippines and East China.

In such a depth that no light can access, the Mariana Trench has imploded under pressures of 16,000 psi, which is over 1,100 times greater than atmospheric pressure on the surface. Additionally, the water temperature in the Mariana Trench ranges from 1 to 4 degrees Celsius only.

While it was believed that emptiness reigned and life there a priori was impossible in such a remote and monstrously deep place, life somehow exists. Plus, more and more evidence was revealed that the microplastic of the Mariana Trench existed in huge numbers. According to the research, this area, which is beyond the hadal zone, is probably the most massive microplastic sink on Earth.

Researchers found that microplastics range from 2.06 to 13.51 pieces per liter in hadal bottom water, much higher than those in subsurface water in the Pacific and Atlantic ocean. Furthermore, the findings of the study also indicate that microplastics were not contained in the water but also widely found in sediments 7 to 11 kilometers downstream. Additionally, these microplastics were most likely from industrialized regions in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the Northwest Pacific which floats just near the Mariana Trench, and so plastics and other chemicals end up sinking to its depths.

It is an undeniable fact that people have spent the last few decades dumping tons of trash into the ocean. And undoubtedly, pollution has now reached far and wide, leaving no corner untouched, even the deepest part of the ocean.