Talk:Challenger Deep

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the depth info i added was verified from guiness

Contents

[edit] Inconsistencies

The deepest depth listed at the top of the Depth section is 10,923, which is inconsistent with 10,911 listed elsewhere, and 10,911 listed on the Mariana Trench page. I see that the depth is discussed below, but the different numbers for the bottom persist.

Also, according to the heading the Deep was named for a 1951 excursion, but in the body it is stated the "Challenger Deep" had a name in the 1912 encyclopedia. I'm guessing the heading is wrong and had the name earlier, but I don't know this.Daggerot 04:10, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Landforms

Does this qualify under Category:Landforms or what's the alternative? Alren 18:25, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Not really. I didn’t see Africa on that list. This is a point in the bottom of a trench (the Mariana Trench). The aforementioned trench is there under oceanic trenches. That list is for things that peninsula, not Florida (e.g. mariana trench) and surely not Miami (e.g. Challenger Deep). Cavebear42 21:46, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Should a new category be started for "deeps?" I think they are just as important as the peaks of a mountain range such as Everest or Denali. Sowelilitokiemu 19:06, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Depth

How could it be that the deep is "10,911 meters (35,797 feet) deep at its maximum", but "Trieste descended to 10,916 meters (35,813 feet) deep in the trench"? 10,916 is more than 10,911.

Yes I would also like to know Reply to David Latapie
Okay, let me try to get to the meat of this. there are 3 articels we should be looking at:
Bathyscaphe Trieste
"she reached a record depth of 35,813 feet"
Mariana Trench
"The trench has a maximum depth of 35,840 ft"
"[Trieste] indicated a depth of 37,800 ft, but this was later revised to 35,800 ft"
Challenger Deep
"the deepest known point in the oceans, 35,797 feet"
"Trieste descended to 35,813 feet deep in the trench"
I think that part of the problem is metric - feet convertions messing people up. Part of it is the dates of the measures. according to Guinness World Records "On January 23, 1960, the US Navy Trieste vessel descended to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and on March 24, 1995, the Japanese probe Kaiko recorded a depth of 10,911 m (35,797 ft), the most accurate measurement yet taken.". Ironicly, accoring to this article from the navy, it was deeper than 37,000 feet. (the only article I could find on the navy site.) I was the one that put the data in from guinness and didn't mess with the other data from the sourses. I am open to whomever think that there is a clear way to present this. Cavebear42 23:07, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

== Helicopter landing and mountain growing ==::::Let's stay away from meters as that it has never been measured in them. The depth is known and has been measured a few times in differnt methods. weve sent people to the bottom, weve meatured with sonar. im inclined to use guinness as a source and trust its measure (which is well quoted ont he web). Still, we should clean these articles to make them match. Cavebear42 23:46, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I've modified this article alongwith Bathyscaphe Trieste with the depth measured by Kaiko. Other articles updated are Jacques Piccard, Don Walsh, and January 23. Jay 11:53, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Thought everyone might be interested to know that JAMSTEC'S own KAIKO page lists the depth it achieved at 10,911.4 meters (or 35,798.6 feet). The 35,840 ft number that was floating around comes from the CIA Factbook (take from it what you will). I agree with Sowelilitokiemu's comment below and also believe that a specific number can't be expected.

How much of the difference in measurements is accuracy and how much is actual change in depth? Nature abhors a vacuum, and I'm sure tons of sediment fall into the trench every year. If the subduction slows, I imagine that the Challenger Deep would fill in quite quickly. Sowelilitokiemu 19:01, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Still there´s the question wether Challenger Deep is the deepest known spot in the ocean, which is probably the Vityaz Deep 1 (Mariana Hollow) with - 11.022m. Would be nice to correct that.User:easternsun 0:53, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Soles and flounders

"They observed small soles and flounders..." I don't suppose this was actually at 10.900 m depth? That's what the article seems to say but I don't know if it is possible. Piet 13:23, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Allogromids?

A lot of words that I don't understand, and without explanation. Leptohalysis and Reophax are two more. Maybe some of them can be left out and for others a stub/article can be created? Piet 13:28, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarification or edit in Fauna section

Over the course of six to nine million years, as the Challenger Deep grew to its present depth, many of the species present in the sediment died out or were unable to adapt to the increasing water pressure and changing environment. The remaining species may have been the ancestors of the Challenger Deep's current denizens.

The sentence in bold seems pretty obvious to me, or perhaps I am reading it incorrectly? The section is describing the unique abundance of soft-shelled organisms in the Challenger Deep compared to other deep-sea survey sites. The last few sentences provide a possible explanation stating basically that the reason is because the current species present adapted to the change. How is this different than evolution in any other corner of the world? That is the premise of evolution, no? The species that adapt to change and survive are able to propagate their lines. The last sentence seems the most (my apologies) "duuh" of all. The current living organisms came from their ancestors... Would anyone think any differently? I mean even to people who believe in "intelligent design" :P

But perhaps I'm missing something obvious, and this section is stating something different? --Acefox 19:50, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

The above sentence also mentions that CHallenger Deep grew to it's present depth over six to nine million years. This is a very short period geologically and it would be a great addition to the article to explain briefly how this happened e.g. are there specific currents that caused erosion of the sea bed, or is it plate tectonics and if so what type of plate movements cause the trench to become deeper?

I disagree that the sentence makes sense as it is. Let's break it down. "The remaining species may have been the ancestors of the Challenger Deep's current denizens." The remaining species (the species currently in the Deep) may have been the ancestors of the Challenger Deep's current denizens (which is insane, because the species currently in the Deep cannot be their own ancestors). I think the author meant for "remaining" to apply to those species that did not die out; (this part of the previous sentence: "...many of the species present in the sediment died out..." and those that did not die out were "remaining.") But that makes "remaining" the modifier of a section of an entirely different sentence, rather than the noun currently following it. It should be changed for clarity sake. 23:47, 21 February 2007 (UTC)~ryanpm

[edit] Typhoon

Just a quibble. It says that the cables snapped during a typhoon on March 29, 2003, but there wasn't a typhoon then. There was a tropical storm in January, and a supertyphoon in early April, but nothing in March. Are you sure that date is right? Hurricanehink (talk) 02:13, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] HMS Challenger

It seemed odd that there wasn't much info on HMS Challenger, which first surveyed the Challenger Deep. So I've added some info. 86.136.195.43 12:15, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

==the name "Challenger Deep" The first section (which does not appear to be editable) states that "the point is named after the ... survey ship HMS Challenger, which first surveyed the trench in 1951."

This is contradicted by the next sentences which state that the 1910 Murray book calls the location surveyed by the H.M.S. Challenger in 1875 the Challenger Deep. This fact is true, based on the citation of the page on which the statement occurs.

Therefore, the (uneditable) lead to the discussion should read: "The point is named after the British steam corvette HMS Challenger, which discovered the deep in 1875. The first survey of the Marianas Trench which includes the Challenger Deep at its southern extremity, was fittingly made by Challenger's namesake, the British Royal Navy survey ship,HMS Challenger. ---- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hmschallenger (talkcontribs) 18:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC).