Deep-sea investigations: from the past to the future
Compared to more familiar terrestrial or coastal environments,
the deep sea, defined here as environments beyond
continental shelf depths (200 m), encompasses many
extremes on Earth, with an average depth of approximately
4.2 km, near total darkness, average temperatures
1508C, even in sediments
at 10 000 m depth and microbial life at 1000 m
below the seafloor