First, the sink site is covered by ice most (if not all) of the year, so the seabed environment is very still and calm. At 10,000 feet, there is also very little oxygen, no sunlight, a higher-than-usual concentration of salt and below-freezing water temperatures… all factors that would keep organic materials like wood from disintegrating. My best guess right now (based on photos taken by Frank Hurley just before Endurance sank, and with the above sea conditions in mind) is that Endurance is sitting upright on a fairly barren sea floor, covered in little-to-no seabed silt, and with a hull that is largely intact. Due to the likely lack of other such sources of carbon on the seafloor in this area, the wreck site could also very well be a meeting place for many deep-sea creatures, some of which may be entirely new to science. We won’t know for sure until we visit and take a look around–it’s part of the thrill of discovery!
