How Deep is Your Love of Texas? Do You Think It’s Deeper Than the Ocean?

We all know everything in Texas is big, but apparently not even we can beat the vast depth that can be found in the world’s oceans. In a 3.5-minute animated clip from Tech Insider, some extremely interesting facts are released regarding depth, surface area that oceans cover on Earth, how deep man has actually explored in the ocean, and how much has been explored – a surprisingly low 5-10 percent.

To put things into some sort of perspective, 831 feet is the deepest free-dive by man on record. At that depth, the pressure is 26 times greater than on the surface, which would crush the average person’s lungs. Whales dive to a maximum depth of 1,640 feet, hunting for giant squid, and going any deeper than 2,400 feet, modern nuclear attack submarines are in danger of having their hulls implode. At this point, we’re nowhere near the section of the ocean called the “midnight zone,” where zero amount of sunlight shines through. Cool creatures such as eyeless shrimp live in this section (only one of the many that we’ve only just begun to become aware of), thriving near scalding hot underwater volcanoes. They do so because, in this particular zone of the ocean, temperatures are just a few degrees above freezing.

Even more fascinating is that, although still not half-way down to the lowest depths of the ocean, the RMS Titanic rests on part of its floor sitting at 12,500 feet! The pressure here is 378 times greater than on the surface. At 20,000 feet, you’ll reach the “Hadal Zone” which is an area where expanses such as the Mariana Trench exist. Yet the two deepest manned missions into the ocean’s depths include director James Cameron’s expedition to 35,756 feet, and the record-setting 35,797 feet, which was reached in 1960 by oceanographer Jacques Piccard and Lt. Don Walsh. The latter descended to the lowest point on Earth, called “Challenger Deep.” With all of our research and exploration on land and into space, we haven’t even put a dent into doing the same in our waters. Scientists estimate that there are literally thousands of species living there that we are yet unaware of. It really is quite staggering when you think about it.