Chapter 1 — The Mariana Cave

Location

11°21'N 142°12'E — 200km east of Guam

Western Pacific — Mariana Islands

0 m

2,000 m

4,000 m

6,000 m

8,000 m

10,000 m

Persian Gulf

40 m

Yellow Sea

152 m

Baltic Sea

459 m

Caspian Sea

1,025 m

Black Sea

2,212 m

Red Sea

3,040 m

Timor Sea

3,200 m

RMS Titanic

3,800 m

Andaman Sea

4,198 m

Labrador Sea

4,316 m

Bay of Bengal

4,694 m

Mediterranean

5,267 m

Arctic Ocean

5,607 m

USS Johnston

6,500 m

Indian Ocean

7,258 m

Caribbean Sea

7,686 m

Atlantic Ocean

8,376 m

Mt. Everest

8,848 m (inverted)

Coral Sea

9,140 m

Challenger Deep

10,916 m

The Mariana Trench — Challenger Deep

The Numbers

How Deep Does It Go?

10,935

metres deep

35,876 feet — deeper than Everest is tall

1,086

bars of pressure

Over 1,000 times the pressure at the surface

1–4°C

temperature

Near freezing, in total darkness

2,550

kilometres long

A crescent-shaped scar in the ocean floor

Who Has Been There

The Few Who Descended

1960

Jacques Piccard & Don Walsh

Aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste, they became the first humans to reach the bottom. The descent took almost five hours. They stayed for twenty minutes.

2012

James Cameron

The filmmaker piloted Deepsea Challenger solo to the bottom of Challenger Deep. He spent three hours filming what no human had ever seen.

2019

Victor Vescovo

In the DSV Limiting Factor, he reached 10,928m — the deepest solo dive ever recorded. He found plastic at the bottom.

2020

Kathryn Sullivan

Former NASA astronaut. The first woman to reach the deepest point on Earth — aboard the DSV Limiting Factor. Having already been to space, she became one of a handful of humans to have done both.

2019–2022

Victor Vescovo & Caladan Oceanic

A record 15 dives to Challenger Deep in the DSV Limiting Factor. Vescovo brought scientists, researchers, and explorers along — opening the deepest place on Earth to more humans than ever before.

Life in the Abyss

Creatures of the Deep

Mariana Snailfish

8,336m

The deepest-living fish ever recorded. Translucent, scaleless, and perfectly adapted to crushing pressure.

Amphipods

10,000m+

Shrimp-like scavengers found at the very bottom. They consume anything that sinks from the world above.

Xenophyophores

10,600m

Giant single-celled organisms. Some grow to 10cm across — the largest single cells on Earth.

Dumbo Octopus

7,000m

Named for its ear-like fins. Glides through the deep like a ghost, feeding on worms and crustaceans.

Deep-sea Jellyfish

Various

Bioluminescent drifters. Their faint glow is the only light in a world of permanent darkness.

The Pressure

What the Body Cannot Survive

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the pressure is 15,750 psi.
Imagine 50 jumbo jets stacked on top of you.

THE MARIANA TRENCH

How Deep Does It Go?

The Few Who Descended

Creatures of the Deep

What the Body Cannot Survive

The Coast of Guam