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And even though there are areas of the Arctic ocean floor that go closer to the earth's core (because Earth is not a perfect sphere and the Marianas is at its widest point in the tropics), it is a phenomenal place.
Cool facts:
- It is 1 to 4 degrees C at the bottom.
- Xenophyophores are a microbial bacteria life form found deep in the trench.
- The Marianas Islands were claimed by Spain in 1668.
- The trench was first 'sounded' in the 1870s.
- In 1995, an unmanned remote controlled Japanese vehicle completed the deepest dive on record.
- Four manned descents have been made, the first in 1960, and the most recent by director James Cameron in 2012.
- Sole, flounder and shrimp have been observed at the bottom.
- It has been proposed as a place for nuclear waste disposal, in hopes that the tectonic movements will eventually push the waste under the earth and into the earth's mantle. Thank goodness it's prohibited by international law!
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