China began drilling a well of at least 10,000 meters in our crust Science and the planet

In any case, it is a rare and unique opportunity to study the mysterious parts of the depths of the surface of the globe. This massive project fits with China’s aspirations to conduct far-reaching scientific exploration above and below the surface of our planet. Drilling of what will become China’s deepest well ever drilled officially began in China’s oil-rich Xinjiang region on Tuesday, according to Xinhua news agency.

This feat is sure to be amazing. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, which is leading the project, said the borehole will provide a great deal of information about the Earth’s internal structure, while at the same time testing drilling technology developed for deep underground drilling. Moreover, the work could help discover very interesting mineral and energy sources and, for example, also help analyze the risks of major environmental disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The well – if the Chinese really stopped at 10,000 meters – would not be the deepest man-made hole in the world. The record was held by the Russians for years. The “Kola deep well”, on the Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia, reached a depth of 12,262 meters in 1989 after years of drilling.

Today, the Kola Super Deep Borehole is still the deepest artificial point on Earth. At the time, it was a failed attempt by the Russians to drill into the center of the Earth, but this effort yielded many remarkable and important scientific discoveries.

The Chinese project is expected to last “only” 457 days, or 15 months. If it succeeds, then drilling a well 10,000 meters deep is in any case a very difficult task. “You can compare it to a big truck that has to travel on two thin steel cables,” Sun Jinsheng, a scientist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told Xinhua.

Crater in Russia also learned that from a depth of 3,000 meters or 3 kilometers, temperatures begin to rise steadily. At 12 kilometres, temperatures peaked at no less than 180 degrees Celsius, making the drill unusable in Russia.