Introduction
There are numerous places in the globe that are undisturbed and regarded to be the most organic and unpolluted settings in the world’s ecosystem; nevertheless, stunning news recently showed the existence of pollutants in the world’s deepest ocean trenches. The Mariana trench, located not far off the coast of Guam, is one of the deepest trenches in the world, with an estimated depth of 10,994 meters above sea level. This depth allows it to accommodate some of the world’s tallest mountains while still leaving 2 km of space between the base and the ocean’s surface.
Pollution in Ocean Trenches
This isolation has led many to believe that the place is one of the most pristine places on the planet. However, the recent report by Allan Jameson of Newcastle University has revealed that these isolated places are packed with pollutants and the ecosystem is at risk due to the fact that it has ingested pollutants. In his study about nature of ecology and evolution, he revealed that the ocean trenches are polluted to the core.
Unique Ecosystem
Despite the fact that they are isolated, these parts of the ocean are home to many species of plants and animals just like any other places on Earth. However, since it is so far away from the sun and other nutrients, organisms that inhabit these trenches get their food through decaying matter on the ocean bed. In terrestrial ecosystem, the sun influences the growth of the ecosystems and enables them to produce food for animals. In shallow waters, plants that grow are fueled by chemicals that reach them thought hydrothermal vents. Due to the fact that thermal vents do not go below 5000 meters below the sea level, the plants and animals that thrive in the trenches get their food from dead and decaying plant and animal matter.
Pollutant Ingestion
Dr. Jameson was surprised to discover that the trenches were untouched due to the fact that the decaying matter therein includes pollutants that have no way out of the trenches and, therefore, he suspected that the organisms had ingested pollutants such as polychlorinated and polybrominated biphenyl ethers. In order to test the idea, he sent an unmanned lander not only to the bottom of Mariana trench, but also to Kermadec. The lander then captured some of the amphipods and even managed to scoop some ballast from the ocean bed before floating back to the surface of the ocean. The lander collected specimen from at least ten sites of the two ocean beds. It is worth noting that the shallowest part of Kermadec is more than 7000 meters deep and the deepest part of the Marian trench is about 10994 meters above the sea level.
High Levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyl
There were some of the polybrominated diphenyl in the specimen, but their levels were not too high. However, the researcher and his team found out that the levels of polychlorinated-biphenyl were very high. Animals collated in a clean coastal environment have a much lower level of polychlorinated biphenyl per monogram. The reason why there is such a high level of chlorination in these deep parts of the ocean is still unknown and, at the moment, it is attributed to proximity to the North Pacific. The scenario has proven that no part of the Earth’s surface is beyond the reach of man’s activities.
References
Fischer, V., Elsner, N.O., Brenke, N., Schwabe, E., & Brandt, A. (2015). Plastic pollution of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench area (NW pacific). Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 111, 399-405.
Koslow, J.A., Auster, P., Bergstad, O.A., Murray, J., Roberts, A.R., Vecchione, M. & Bernal, P. (2016). Biological communities on seamounts and other submarine features potentially threatened by disturbance. In L. Inniss & A. Simcock (Joint Coordinators), The first global integrated marine assessment, world ocean assessment I. (Chapter 51, p. 1-26). New York: United Nations.
