E-Mail IMAGE: On board the German research vessel Sonne off the coast of Chile, ready to take samples from 8 kilometers depth in the Atacama Trench system view more Credit: Anni Glud, SDU A newly released scientific paper in Nature Publishing's Scientific Reports Journal has revealed unprecedented amounts of highly toxic mercury are deposited in the deepest trenches of the Pacific Ocean. The study, a multi-national effort involving scientists from Denmark, Canada, Germany and Japan, reports the first-ever direct measurements of mercury deposition into one of the logistically most challenging environments to sample on Earth, and the deepest at eight to 10 kilometers under the sea.