There are numerous sea graves in the oceans of the world, abysses thousands of meters deep rarely visited by man, surpassed all by the Mariana Trench, in the Pacific Ocean , in the that is the deepest chasm of all, Challenger, with more than eleven kilometers.
Those of the Atlantic are not as spectacular, and among them, that of Cariaco , in the The Caribbean Sea, would not be particularly noticeable, if not for a small detail: it is the only permanent anoxic basin in the world located in the open sea.
The anoxic basins
The Cariaco Trench is located on the eastern coast of Venezuela, west of the Araya Peninsula , between Cumana and the Margarita Island , and reaches a maximum depth of 1,400 meters, and after the Black Sea is the second largest anoxic basin in the world.
It is said that a basin is anoxic when after a certain depth there is no oxygen dissolved in the water, which dramatically reduces the presence of life, but also creates spaces with very few changes over time, allowing everything that falls into it to be preserved for long periods of time.
The Black Sea, between Europe and Asia, it is the largest anoxic basin on the planet because 90% of its waters are anoxic: without oxygen from 200 meters deep , with a maximum depth of 2,200 meters.
The pit and the study of climate change
For twenty years Venezuelan and foreign universities and organizations have been carrying out e studios in the pit, with support in recent times of the Unesco (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).The interest in it is because, in addition to lacking of oxygen, does not receive light either, to which is added the absence of sea currents and other disturbances from a certain depth.
These conditions have allowed r Carry out studies on the sea and the atmosphere in periods that can go back thousands of years, and in general on the changes that the world climate has undergone.
There is nothing on the surface that indicates the presence of the Cariaco Trench, but well worth knowing and enjoy its surroundings, one of the most beautiful places on the Venezuelan coast , in case one day you decide travel around est os places.
Images: Jose ILIDIO Spinola , johann napp , Cesar Gonzalez , Plamen Stoev
Comments
Post a Comment