Japan Trench

This time, I got to go back underwater, to visit the Japan Trench.  A submarine took me down into this oceanic trench, in the seafloor off of northeast Japan. It’s about 30,000 feet at its deepest, and is an extension of the Mariana Trench, the deepest oceanic trench in the world.

 Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japan_trench_topographic.png?uselang=fr

The Trench is created by the Pacific plate subducting under the Okhotsk plate (that holds part of northern Japan and part of Russia). This process makes the Pacific plate bend as it is pulled downward, and creates the Trench.

 Source : http://alterman47.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/alter-man-underway-now/

 Source: http://alterman47.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/point-of-elemental-wateratthe-japan-trench/

The trench itself was like a massive crack in the ocean. It was so dark in there that the only source of light was from the sub’s headlights. As we descended, strange creatures were illuminated against the darkness. I even got to see the species of fish that was the deepest ever recorded! They kind of reminded me of ghostly koi fish.

Cool, huh? Well, the Trench has a dark side too. The movement in the subduction zone that makes up the Japan Trench is one of the main causes of tsunamis and earthquakes in northern Japan, including the one that caused so much destruction recently.

  

I’m heading to the areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami next, to help out the Red Cross Foundation to contribute to the recovery process.

Wish me luck!

Carly