Lifeforms below the keel

Good graphics of organisms below the surface that mariners don’t often think about - all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench including the amazing accomplishment of the Trieste crew.

https://neal.fun/deep-sea/?fbclid=IwAR2so1X8JyvJRefPAnMEWFOPlgZMKRQ9sZLyqDbO7H6xQj6hq5Opk-q0ttQ

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Cool info! This is one reason I believe there’s possibly life outside of our solar system. No matter how cold, hot & extreme we find life. From the 2 links below, scientists say some organisms breath rocks, some are called zombie life because they ebb back & forth from life & death & supposedly there’s more life 6 miles underground than humans above. One article that I was looking for but couldn’t find says if the Sun disappeared, went out today, life miles below the surface could live indefinitely. Amazing IMO.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/science/deep-life-microbes-underground-bacteria-earth-surface-carbon-observatory-science-study-a8677521.html%3Famp


This guy crashing into the drill string always cracks me up. And some reading to go with it. Maybe these will be the creatures to survive whatever is coming.

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I was blessed to work on some of these jobs when I first started sailing. Back in '70, We had the DSVs TURTLE and SEACLIFF testing them in the Tounge of the Ocean. The USN bought them and moved the OP to San Diego. Late '70 and '71, we operated the DSVs to a max of 6400 ft. In the same group, the Bathyscaphe TRIESTE was in operation. I remember them hauling the TRIESTE on the ARD WHITE SANDS. A few years later, (I wasn’t there) the DSV SEACLIFF was certified to 11400 ft. They discovered the Tube Snakes off Equador. {ZZ TOP composed the song Tube Snake Boogie)
In Dec '79.I was on a relief job in Hawaii with the RUWS when the tether broke and it was lost at 10, 000 ft…Fun times

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Leave it to ZZ Top to write a song about a scientific discovery:

I got a girl, she lives on the hill
She won’t do it but her sister will
She do the tube snake boogie
Well now, boogie, little baby
Boogie-woogie all night long

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thanks lee shore for posting that . I was most surprised at the depth some of those animals go. like the polar bear? and some of the dolphin etc. scrolling down sure helps ‘envision’’ the depth. The Trieste is up near Poulsbo Wa. I’ve seen it a few times, I shall now look for more info on that remarkable and scary dive. Thx!!

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Don Walsh: It was 31,000 ft below sea level, pitch black, that a window cracked with a loud bang, shaking the capsule.

Call me chicken but personally, at that point, I would have aborted the mission to go fix the window.

They weren’t instantly turned to red hot paste under 14,000 psi of pressure, and they were half an hour from the bottom and three hours from the surface. Why not go on?

My guess would be that after all the prep,money and all it took to get that far, and after such a huge ‘bang’ / shock and everything was still holding it was probably a ok decision to keep going, plus after the bang, they may not of gotten another chance.
I’d want to know how much further they had yet to descend and some engineering particulars about what broke before i’d decide but just from the initial report, I’d probably abort the mission, then change underwear also !! makes me wonder if people were a little more gutsy just a few years ago or because things are run more by committee or if the ‘ships captain’ held a lot more sway over decision making then as I am certain they were in contact with the surface.

Because the window might cave in?

If it did they’d never know it. I suspect that they had a lot of motivation and nerves of steel.

Hehehe, oh, man. . . can relate. . .

Your post motivated me to buy the book “seven miles down” crimany, even used they average $40 !! i got one for about $35 + shipping of course. the next time i get to the naval undersea warefare museum i’ll know more of what i’m looking at when viewing the Trieste sitting outside. Thx