Why the Mariana Trench didn’t wind up a nuclear waste dump
At one time, the Mariana Trench was considered a possible destination for nuclear waste. Since it was the deepest part of any ocean and the deepest part of the earth, no one thought that anything could live at that depth. Then two explorers went on a manned expedition to the floor of the Mariana Trench and found life.
The bottom of the Mariana Trench was explored by Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lt. Donald Walsh on January 23, 1960. The men descended 10, 900 meters (35,810 feet) to the bottom of the trench in a bathyscaph called “Trieste”.
The bathyscaph had been invented by Jacques father Auguste Piccard. It used a " 50-foot long tank filled with gasoline (which is lighter than seawater) and lead pellets as a counterweight or ballast" to make it’s journey.
Until the Trieste’s Marianna descent, most scientists thought that life could not possibly exist at such depths, pressures, temperatures and darkness. The trip provided proof that fish and other life existed in such a deep dark place. "Nearly 5000 new species of sea creatures were discovered during the 4 year expedition."
The Musee du Leman sent out a press release concerning the dive and announcing a lecture on “A dive into the Piccard family archives” that will be given by Prof.. Dr. Jean-François Rubin on Thursday, January 21,2010 . According to the press release, Piccard and Lt. Walsh were able to “to prove the existence of vertical currents circulating oxygen between the surface and depths.” Finding life in the Mariana Trench put an end to the plans to use it as a nuclear waste dump.
Other non-manned submersibles have explored the trench and have added to our knowledge of life in the oceans, but it was the manned dive in the Trieste that made those further trips possible. Without that trip, the Mariana Trench might have become nothing more than a lifeless nuclear waste pit.
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