How Deep Is That Hole

Soviet scientific deep drilling project

Kola Superdeep Borehole
Location
Superstructure of the Kola Superdeep Borehole, 2007
Kola Superdeep Borehole Location of the borehole in Murmansk Oblast, Russia Show map of Russia Kola Superdeep Borehole Kola Superdeep Borehole (Murmansk Oblast) Prove map of Murmansk Oblast
Location	Pechengsky District
Province	Murmansk Oblast
Land	Russia
Coordinates	69°23′47″N thirty°36′36″E / 69.3965°N xxx.6100°E / 69.3965; 30.6100 Coordinates: 69°23′47″N 30°36′36″Due east / 69.3965°Due north 30.6100°Eastward / 69.3965; 30.6100
Production
Type	Scientific borehole
Greatest depth	12,262 metres (40,230 ft)
History
Opened	1965
Agile	1970–1983 1984 1985–1992
Closed	1995

The Kola Superdeep Borehole (Russian: Кольская сверхглубокая скважина, romanized: Kol'skaya sverkhglubokaya skvazhina ) SG-3 ^{[note 1]} is the result of a scientific drilling project of the Soviet Union in the Pechengsky District, nigh the Russian border with Norway, on the Kola Peninsula. The project attempted to drill as deeply as possible into the Earth's chaff.

Drilling began on 24 May 1970 using the Uralmash-4E, and later on the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig, and it became the deepest manmade hole in history in 1979. The 23-centimetre (9 in) bore boreholes were drilled by branching from a primal hole.^[1] The deepest reached 12,262 metres (xl,230 ft; 7.619 mi) in 1989, the deepest artificial point on Earth.

In terms of true vertical depth, information technology is the deepest borehole in the world. For two decades, it was as well the world's longest borehole in terms of measured depth along the well bore until it was surpassed in 2008 by the 12,289-metre-long (xl,318 ft) Al Shaheen Oil Well in Qatar.^[ii] ^{[ commendation needed ]}

Drilling [edit]

Kola Superdeep Borehole, commemorated on a 1987 USSR stamp

Drilling began on 24 May 1970 using the Uralmash-4E, a series drilling rig used for drilling oil wells. The rig was slightly modified to be able to reach a 7,000-meter (23,000 ft) depth. In 1974, the new purpose-congenital Uralmash-15000 drilling rig was installed onsite, named later the new target depth, gear up at 15,000 metres (49,000 ft).^[iii]

On 6 June 1979, the earth depth tape held by the Bertha Rogers pigsty in Washita County, Oklahoma, United States, at nine,583 meters (31,440 ft),^[4] was cleaved. In October 1982, the first hole reached 11,662 metres (38,261 ft),^[5] and the second hole was started in January 1983 from a nine,300-metre (thirty,500 ft) depth of the starting time hole.^[3]

In 1983, the drill passed 12,000 metres (39,000 ft) in the second hole, and drilling was stopped for about a year for numerous scientific and celebratory visits to the site.^[6]

This idle period may accept contributed to a breakdown after drilling resumed; on 27 September 1984, afterwards drilling to 12,066 metres (39,587 ft), a 5,000-millimetre (200 in) section of the drill string twisted off and was left in the pigsty. Drilling was restarted in September 1986 from 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) from the first hole.^[half-dozen] ^[5]

The third pigsty reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) in 1989.^{[ citation needed ]} In that yr, the hole depth was expected to attain 13,500 metres (44,300 ft) by the end of 1990 and 15,000 metres (49,000 ft) by 1993.^[7] ^[8] ^{[ failed verification ]}

In June 1990, a breakdown occurred in the third hole at 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) of depth. The drilling of the fourth hole was started in Jan 1991 from 9,653 metres (31,670 ft) of depth of tertiary hole. The drilling of the fourth hole was stopped in April 1992 at 11,882 metres (38,983 ft) of depth. Drilling of the 5th pigsty started in April 1994 from 8,278 metres (27,159 ft) of depth of the tertiary hole. Drilling was stopped in August 1994 at 8,578 metres (28,143 ft) of depth due to lack of funds and the well itself was mothballed.^[5] ^[ix]

Considering of higher-than-expected temperatures at this depth and location, 180 °C (356 °F) instead of the expected 100 °C (212 °F), drilling deeper was accounted unfeasible. The unexpected decrease in density, the greater porosity, and the unexpectedly loftier temperatures acquired the rock to behave somewhat like a plastic, making drilling nearly impossible.^[10] ^{[ amend source needed ]}

Research [edit]

The Kola Superdeep Borehole penetrated about a third of the way through the Baltic Shield continental crust, estimated to be around 35 kilometres (22 mi) deep, reaching Archean rocks at the lesser.^[xi] The project has been a site of extensive geophysical examinations. The stated areas of study were the deep structure of the Baltic Shield, seismic discontinuities and the thermal regime in the Earth'due south crust, the physical and chemical composition of the deep chaff and the transition from upper to lower crust, lithospheric geophysics, and to create and develop technologies for deep geophysical study.

To scientists, 1 of the more fascinating findings to emerge from this well is that no transition from granite to basalt was found at the depth of almost seven kilometres (4.3 mi), where the velocity of seismic waves has a discontinuity. Instead, the change in the seismic wave velocity is caused past a metamorphic transition in the granite rock. In addition, the rock at that depth had been thoroughly fractured and was saturated with water, which was surprising. This water, unlike surface h2o, must take come up from deep-chaff minerals and had been unable to reach the surface because of a layer of impermeable rock.^[12]

Microscopic plankton fossils were found six kilometres (3.7 mi) beneath the surface.^[1]

Another unexpected discovery was a large quantity of hydrogen gas. The drilling mud that flowed out of the pigsty was described as "boiling" with hydrogen.^[13]

In 1992, an international geophysical experiment obtained a reflection seismic crustal cross-section through the well. The Kola-92 working grouping consisted of researchers from the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, the University of Wyoming in the United States, and the University of Bergen in Norway, as well every bit several Russian world science research institutions.^[14] The experiment was documented in a video recorded past Professor David Smythe,^[15] which shows the drilling deck in action during an attempt to recover a tool dropped down the hole.

Status [edit]

The borehole in 2012

The borehole (welded shut), August 2012

The drilling terminated in 1995 due to a lack of funds.^[nine] The scientific team was transferred to the federal land unitary subsidiary enterprise "Kola Superdeep", reduced and reoriented to a thorough written report of the exposed section.^[5] In 2007, the scientific team was dissolved and the equipment was transferred to a private company and partially liquidated.^[v]

In 2008, the visitor was liquidated due to unprofitability,^[16] and the site was abandoned. The site is yet visited by curious sightseers, who have reported that the structure over the borehole has been partially destroyed or removed.^[10]

Like projects [edit]

The Usa had embarked on a similar projection in 1957, dubbed Project Mohole, which was intended to penetrate the shallow crust under the Pacific Ocean off of Mexico. After initial drilling, the project was abandoned in 1966 when funding was cut off. This program inspired the Ocean Drilling Programme, Integrated Sea Drilling Program, and the present International Bounding main Discovery Program.
The KTB superdeep borehole (German language Continental Deep Drilling Programme, 1987–1995) at Windischeschenbach in northern Bavaria was drilled to a depth of 9,101 metres (29,859 ft), reaching temperatures of more than than 260 °C (500 °F). Its ambitious measuring program used high-temperature logging tools that were upgraded specifically for KTB.^[17]

Records [edit]

The Kola Superdeep Borehole was the longest and deepest borehole in the world from 1989 to 2008.^{[ citation needed ]}

In May 2008, the Kola Superdeep Borehole'southward record length (but non record depth) was surpassed by a curved borehole of the extended reach drilling well BD-04A in the Al Shaheen Oil Field in Qatar, with a total length of 12,289 metres (xl,318 ft) and a horizontal attain of x,902 metres (35,768 ft).^[eighteen] ^[xix]

In terms of depth below the surface, the Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 retains the globe record at 12,262 metres (forty,230 ft) reached in 1989 and is however the deepest artificial point on Earth.^[20]

Run into also [edit]

Chikyū – Japanese drill transport, deep oceanic drilling ship, which achieved a subsea drilling tape in 2012
Denman Glacier – Glacier in Queen Mary Land, Antarctica, covers the lowest point on land
Earthscope – Earth science program exploring the construction of the North American continent
Extreme points of Earth – List of extreme geographical points and other geophysical records on Earth
Lake Vostok – Antarctica'south largest known subglacial lake
List of deepest mines
Mohorovičić discontinuity – Boundary between the Earth'southward chaff and the mantle
San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth – Deep borehole intersecting the San Andreas fault
USArray – US earth science projection collecting seismic images of the Northward American lithosphere
Vertical Seismic Profile — Wikipedia Article on the concept for seismic measurements used
Well to Hell hoax – Urban legend around a borehole in Russia observed since 1995

Notes [edit]

^ SG (СГ) is a Russian designation for superdeep (сверхглубокая) borehole intended to be seven,000 meters (23,000 ft) deep. Aralsor SG-1 and Biyikzhal SG-two preceded the SG-three.

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b "Ask Smithsonian: What'due south the Deepest Hole Ever Dug?", smithsonian.com, 19 February 2015
^ Saghalien-1 Project Drills Earth's Longest Extended-Attain Well Archived 31 January 2011 at the Wayback Car
^ ^a ^b Королев, Владимир. "Подземное неземное". nplus1.ru . Retrieved 8 August 2021.
^ "The KTB Borehole—Germany's Superdeep Telescope into the Globe's Crust" (PDF). Oilfield Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 8 Apr 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^east Яковлев, Ю.Н.; Скуфьин, П.К.; Чвыков, О.С. Ч (2014). "ВЛИЯНИЕ ПРИРОДНЫХ ФАКТОРОВ НА ТРАЕКТОРИЮ И ФОРМУ СТВОЛОВ КОЛЬСКОЙ СВЕРХГЛУБОКОЙ СКВАЖИНЫ (СГ-three)" (PDF). ВЕСТНИК Кольского научного центра РАН. 2014–3: 8–fifteen.
^ ^a ^b A. Osadchy (2002). "Legendary Kola Superdeep". Наука и жизнь (Journal of Scientific discipline and Life) (in Russian). Retrieved 8 May 2009.
^ Kola Superdeep is in the Guinness Book of Globe Records, Zemlya i Vselennaya, 1989, no. three, p.9 (in Russian)
^ Cassino, Adam (2003). "Depth of the Deepest Drilling". The Physics Factbook.
^ ^a ^b Galina Khokhlova (15 Oct 2008). "Гордость пойдет в утиль: Кольская сверхглубокая скважина будет ликвидирована (Pride goes to waste: Kola superdeep borehole to exist scrapped)" (in Russian). Российская Газета (Rossiyskaya Gazeta). Retrieved ix July 2010.
^ ^a ^b [1] Kola Superdeep Borehole, Murmansk, Russian federation (Atlas Obscura, accessed xiv August 2020)
^ Ramberg, I.B.; Bryhni I. & Nøttvedt A. (2008). The making of a land: geology of Norway. Geological Society. p. 624. ISBN978-82-92394-42-7 . Retrieved 27 January 2010.
^ Alan Bellows (5 March 2007). "The Deepest Pigsty". Damn Interesting . Retrieved 27 December 2014.
^ G. J. MacDonald (1988). "Major Questions About Deep Continental Structures". In A. Bodén and G. G. Eriksson (ed.). Deep drilling in crystalline bedrock, 5. 1. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp. 28–48. ISBN978-3-540-18995-4.
^ Smythe, D. 1000.; Smithson, S. B.; Humphreys, C.; Gillen, C.; Kristoffersen, Y.; Karaev, N. A.; Garipov, 5. Z.; Pavlenkova, Northward. I. (1994). "Projection images crust, collects seismic data in world's largest borehole" (PDF). Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 75 (41): 473–476. doi:10.1029/94EO01089. ISSN 2324-9250.
^ [2] Smythe, D. G. (1992). Crustal seismic reflection profiling through the Kola superdeep well, Russia.
^ "Росимущество ликвидирует самую глубокую скважину в мире". lenta.ru . Retrieved eight August 2021.
^ Emmermann, Rolf; Lauterjung, Jörn (1997). "The German language Continental Deep Drilling Plan KTB: Overview and major results" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Globe. 102 (B8): 18179–18201. Bibcode:1997JGR...10218179E. doi:10.1029/96JB03945. ISSN 2156-2202. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2012.
^ "Transocean GSF Rig 127 Drills Deepest Extended-Accomplish Well" (Printing release). Transocean Ltd. 21 May 2008. Archived from the original on 12 Nov 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
^ "Maersk Oil finished Drilling (BD-04A) well at Al-Shaheen field, Qatar". Gulf Oil & Gas Marketplace. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
^ "Kola Superdeep Borehole (KSDB)". ICDP. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2017.

External links [edit]

Official Kola Superdeep Borehole website (in Russian)
The World's Deepest Hole – Alaska Science Forum – July 1985
The Deepest Hole 20 June 2006
Kola Superdeep – Scientific research results and experiences past PhD A. Osadchikh 1984 (in Russian)
Photo report on a trip to the Kola superdeep well in 2017. Many photos of the electric current state. (in Russian)