China, Chile to explore Atacama Trench in Pacific with ‘tools no other country possesses’

China and Chile are set to launch a three‑month expedition into the uncharted depths of the eastern Pacific Ocean – a “historic opportunity” to seek new forms of life and geological insights into the causes of earthquakes and tsunamis. Setting off aboard the Chinese research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao on Monday, the researchers will cover 700km (435 miles) around the Atacama Trench, one of the deepest and least explored regions of the eastern Pacific. The expedition, three years in the making, is...