'There might be life' on bridges six miles below the surface New York- Arabstoday A 'hydrographic' ship from the U.S. Navy recently mapped the Marianas trench from north to south using a 'multibeam echosounder', a standard device for mapping the ocean floor. The ship, associated with CCOM, the Centre for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, mapped the whole of the Marianas Trench to a 100m resolution. 'The instrument allows you to map a swath of soundings along the line of travel of the ship,' said Dr Jim Gardner to the BBC. 'It's like mowing the grass.' The researchers are examining the process of how underwater mountains are 'pulled under' another tectonic plate. 'Our data shows they are getting really fractured,' said Dr Gardner, 'As soon as the Pacific Plate starts bending down, it cracks that old, old crust. It cracks right through the seamount. They get splintered and whittled away, then pulled under.' A 'hydrographic' ship from the U.S. Navy recently mapped the Marianas trench from north to south using a 'multibeam echosounder', a standard device for mapping the ocean floor. The ship, associated with CCOM, the Centre for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, mapped the whole of the Marianas Trench to a 100m resolution. 'The instrument allows you to map a swath of soundings along the line of travel of the ship,' said Dr Jim Gardner to the BBC. 'It's like mowing the grass.' The researchers are examining the process of how underwater mountains are 'pulled under' another tectonic plate. 'Our data shows they are getting really fractured,' said Dr Gardner, 'As soon as the Pacific Plate starts bending down, it cracks that old, old crust. It cracks right through the seamount. They get splintered and whittled away, then pulled under.' A 'hydrographic' ship from the U.S. Navy recently mapped the Marianas trench from north to south using a 'multibeam echosounder', a standard device for mapping the ocean floor. The ship, associated with CCOM, the Centre for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, mapped the whole of the Marianas Trench to a 100m resolution. 'The instrument allows you to map a swath of soundings along the line of travel of the ship,' said Dr Jim Gardner to the BBC. 'It's like mowing the grass.' The researchers are examining the process of how underwater mountains are 'pulled under' another tectonic plate. 'Our data shows they are getting really fractured,' said Dr Gardner, 'As soon as the Pacific Plate starts bending down, it cracks that old, old crust. It cracks right through the seamount. They get splintered and whittled away, then pulled under.'