Department of Earth Science

Dr. Hickey reports from the Mariana trench where she and graduate student Julie Johnson are part of a team aboard the Japanese Yokosuka research ship and Shinkai 6500 submersible on a two-week cruise in the Western Pacific near Guam. The deepest point on the Earth’s surface—Challenger Deep—is almost 7 miles down inside the trench.

"Here's a picture of me just before my dive last Thursday, with the two Shinkai pilots. We only went to 2800 meters, alas, because the weather was bad. It was actually an amazing experience. Julie is having alot of fun too, and we are collecting a lot of rocks. Tomorrow, Japanese scientist Katsu Michibayashi will go to 6500 meters looking for the Moho along the trench wall. Pretty exciting."