Mesmerizing Sea Life

Some 92 to 66 million years ago, as the Age of Dinosaurs waned, giant marine lizards called mosasaurs roamed in the ocean that covered North America from Utah to Missouri and Texas to the Yukon. The air-breathing predators were streamlined swimmers that gorged almost everything in their path, including fish, turtles, clams, and even smaller mosasaurs. First, the mosasaur bones have been discovered near the Delta County town of Cedaredge in 1975,  by Coloradoan Gary Thompson which the teen reported to his high school science teacher. The specimens made their way to Utah's Brigham Young University, where, in 1999, the creature that left the fossils was named Prognathodon stadtmani. "I first learned of this discovery while doing background research for my Ph.D.," says newly arrived Utah State University Eastern paleontologist Joshua Lively, who recently took the control as curator of the Price campus Prehistoric Museum. "Ultimately, parts of this fossil, which were prep

At sea level, the air that surrounds down presses down at 14.7 pounds per square inch. We don't feel it, because the body releases the same force pushed by the fluids in our body. Dive deep into the ocean, you will encounter a noticeable change. You can feel an increase in pressure at your eardrums. This is due to the increase in hydrostatic pressure, the pressure exerted by a fluid on an immersed object. The deeper you go, the increase the pressure pushes you down. For every 33 feet, you dive deep, there is a change in the atmosphere by 1 unit. The animals living deep, are experienced to live extreme pressure conditions. They have special features which help them to deal with these tough conditions. In the deepest part of the Atlantic, the pressure can reach up to 840 bars while the pressure at the challenger deep ( Mariana Trench ) can go up to 1000 bars or more.  Whales, deep dive to almost 2000 meters to capture the squid. They breathe air, but their lungs are collapsible, so t

Mariana Trench, just known because it is the deepest part, or does it hold any deepest secrets. Or is it popular because only 3 humans have successfully reached the bottom of it? Diving to these deepest points is known as the "Challenger Deep". The first dive has been done in 1960 successfully by oceanographer Don Walsh reaching about 35814 ft. Over 50 years later, Canadian Explorer the famous writer and director "James Cameron" (popularly known for the films "Titanic" and "Avatar") took the first solo dive and reached the depth of 35787 ft.  Located in the Western Pacific Ocean about 200 kilometers east of the Mariana Islands. The Mariana trench Measures about 2550 km in length and 69 km in width. Why is it known as the deepest trench? One reason the Mariana trench is so deep is the result of the subduction zones. Where one part of the sea bed in this case the Pacific plate dives beneath the other, the Philippine plate. Though tectonic plates e

Out of all the deep sea movies, this is my top favorite.  "How much do you like?"   "I can't say" But made me watch over 30 times in the past 2 years it has been released. Every time I watch the movie I just feel like the first time. What truly awesome in this movie is Jason Statham, who has performed most of the scenes in the open water. He was a member of the British Olympic team in Korea and remained in the national diving squad for ten years.  While coming to the movie storyline, when international deep-sea facility scientists exploring the Mariana trench have been attacked by some unknown massive creature. So, the research facility makes their way to Jonas (Jason Statham) to seek his help in saving the team members who were trapped at the bottom of the Pacific. What makes so interesting is that a 75 feet prehistoric shark thought to be extinct makes way to the surface. Jonas has to team up with the research facility and risk his own li