The Marianas Trench has recently been nominated as one of the Seven Wonders of Nature by Internet users. It joins dozens of other natural sites around the world vying for the honor. The nonprofit foundation New7Wonders is behind this effort to identify the world's seven most important natural sites.
New7Wonders only recently starting taking nominations and the goal is to have the Seven Wonders identified by Summer 2010. The contest will progress through several stages in which different natural sites will be identified and voted on.
The first stage in the process for a site to be nominated, which has already been completed for the Marianas Trench, is for somebody to go online and suggest a nominee. This can be done at the New7Wonders website at www.new7wonders.com.
People who wish to nominate the Marianas Trench again can go to the website and submit their nomination, with up to six other nominations. All that is needed is an e-mail address. When submitting your nomination for the Marianas Trench, be sure to list the country as the Northern Mariana Islands.
After a nominee is nominated online, a Supporting Committee must be created. The Supporting Committee must be authorized by a legitimate national, regional or local government or public authority with responsibility for the Marianas Trench.
People interested in supporting the Marianas Trench as a natural wonder will have until Dec. 31, 2008 to form an Official Supporting Committee. Once the committee is created and an application form is sent in, the nominee will become official and will be eligible for voting.
In January 2009, taking into account online and text votes from across the Globe, a New7Wonders Panel of Experts will narrow the nominations down to 21 finalists. Online and text voting will then determine the final seven Wonders. The finalists will be announced in Summer 2010.
According to Wikipedia, the Marianas Trench is the deepest known oceanic trench, with a maximum depth of about 11,000 m (6.8 miles), and the deepest location on the surface of the Earth's crust. It is located to the east and south of the Mariana Islands. To put it in perspective, the average depth of the Pacific Ocean is only 4,188 meters (13,740 feet) deep.
The bottom of the trench is farther below sea level than Mount Everest is above it. At the bottom, the water column above exerts a pressure of 108.6 MPa, over one thousand times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level.
The Marianas Trench is 2, 542 km (1,580 miles) long and 69 km (43 miles) wide and lies beneath International Waters and waters inside the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Marianas, Guam and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Earlier this year the New 7 Wonders of the World were announced by New7Wonders. In a Declaration Ceremony on July 7, 2007 (07.07.07), the Taj Mahal in India, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Christ Redeemer in Brazil, Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, the Coliseum in Italy, and Chichen Itza in Mexico were elected by over 100 million votes to “represent global heritage throughout history.”
More information on the New 7 Wonders of Nature can be found at http://www.new7wonders.com/natural.php.
(Angelo Villagomez is the executive director of MINA.)
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