| Location | |
|---|---|
| Type | Scientific borehole |
| Greatest depth | 12,262 metres (40,230 ft; 7.619 mi) |
| History | |
| Opened | 1965 |
What was found in the Kola Superdeep borehole?
The Kola Superdeep Borehole was just 9 inches in diameter, but at 40,230 feet (12,262 meters) reigns as the deepest hole. It took almost 20 years to reach that 7.5-mile depth—only half the distance or less to the mantle. Among the more interesting discoveries: microscopic plankton fossils found at four miles down.
What was found at the bottom of the deepest hole on Earth?
The answer is yes! Scientists were amazed when they found fossils, 24 species of plankton at 4 and half miles (7 kilometers) down. And at nearly the same depth, they discovered water. Rock samples at this depth were dated at 2.7 billion years old.
Why did they stop digging the Kola Superdeep borehole?
Drilling was stopped in 1992, when the temperature reached 180C (356F). This was twice what was expected at that depth and drilling deeper was no longer possible. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union there was no money to fund such projects – and three years later the whole facility was closed down.
Why was the deepest hole on earth sealed?
The drill was rendered useless at such temperatures. The project was officially closed down in 2005, and the site has since fallen into disrepair. The hole itself was welded shut by the rusted metal cap that today covers it, as if to permanently hide the hole’s many mysteries from the surface world.
Has anyone ever dug into mantle?
Drilling To The Mantle Of The Earth : NPR. Drilling To The Mantle Of The Earth Fifty years ago, scientists attempted to drill deep through ocean crust to the Earth’s mantle, an endeavor called “Project Mohole.” That project failed, but scientists are sharpening their drill bits again.
Can you dig a hole to China?
Take a closer look at a globe: China is actually not antipodal to the United States. That would be impossible, since they’re both in the Northern Hemisphere. If you dug a hole from anywhere in the lower 48 states straight through the center of the Earth, you’d actually come out… in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
How hot is it 1 mile underground?
Geologists calculate that, for every mile you dig beneath the Earth’s surface, the temperature rises 15º F and the pressure increases simultaneously at a rate of about 7,300 pounds per square inch. Violations of the 15-degrees-per-mile rule are unknown and constitute the notorious forbidden zone.
What would happen if you drilled to the Earth’s core?
The drill would fail at about 40,000 -45,000 feet (12 -14 km). At that depth you could roast a chicken, and it only gets hotter closer to the mantle. Eventually, magma would erupt through the hole. The hole reached 12,262 m (40,230 ft) in 1989.
Why can’t we drill to the center of the Earth?
It’s the thinnest of three main layers, yet humans have never drilled all the way through it. Then, the mantle makes up a whopping 84% of the planet’s volume. At the inner core, you’d have to drill through solid iron. This would be especially difficult because there’s near-zero gravity at the core.
Why did Russia dig a hole?
Drilling the Kola Superdeep Borehole was, for the most part, purely science-driven. Soviet scientists wanted to learn more about our planet’s outermost layer, called the crust, to understand how that crust has formed and how it evolved.
Is it possible to dig a hole through the earth?
The furthest humans have ever gotten is the tip of the Kola Superdeep Borehole in northwestern Russia, which reaches a mere 7.5 miles beneath the ground. Even so, it took almost 25 years and ended when temperatures of over 350 degrees Fahrenheit made drilling impossible.
How deep can you dig into the earth?
Deepest drillings
The Kola Superdeep Borehole on the Kola peninsula of Russia reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) and is the deepest penetration of the Earth’s solid surface. The German Continental Deep Drilling Program at 9.1 kilometres (5.7 mi) has shown the earth crust to be mostly porous.
How deep have we gone in the ocean?
It’s been a record-breaking expedition in more ways than one. Vescovo’s trip to the Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, back in May, was said to be the deepest manned sea dive ever recorded, at 10,927 meters (35,853 feet).