Mariana Trench Has Been Heavily Contaminated By Plastic Pollution

There is no longer any place on Earth that has never been polluted at one point or another, not even the deepest part of the ocean.

The researchers plumbed the depths of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, near Challenger Deep, the lowest place on the face of the planet.

They found the highest levels of microplastics yet found in the open ocean, compared with surveys from elsewhere in the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

(Image credit: Dr. Richard Kirby via The Guardian)