Voices from Hell” and drilling the Earth through and through. Myths about the deepest well in the world.
The spectacular scientific project featured in the Guinness Book of Records – The Super-Deep Wheel (SH-3) – still irritates the imagination of ordinary people and experts.
Soviet scientists have set ambitious goals – to explore the oldest rocks of our planet and to learn the secrets of the processes that take place in them. In order to carry out their plans, they had to drill more than 12 kilometers into the Earth – no one in the world had ever been able to overcome this depth.
Work on the Kola Super-Deep Well near Zapolyarnyi in the Murmansk region continued until 2008. During this time, Soviet scientists made many discoveries, obtained useful results and even encountered an “unknown”. Sputnik Polska asked Sergei Pevzner, head of the Geophysics and Ecology Laboratory, Chief Geophysicist at the Kolod Super-Deep Research and Production Center, to talk about his work on the Kolod super-deep well.
“First of all, I would like to draw attention to the fact that I first got to the Wheel Super Deep Well in October 1992 and started working on this unique building in early July 1993. Therefore, I only know about what happened before from publications and fund sources, and also from the narratives of the people who were at the beginning of this project and participated in the realization of all its phases. I was lucky enough to meet them and even cooperate with them, ”says Sergey Pevzněr.
Races underground and in space
A source of Sputnik Poland explains that by launching work on the Kola Super Deep Well, the Soviet Union pursued several goals. Representatives of basic Earth sciences wanted to study the oldest rocks of our planet and the processes that take place there.
Moreover, the state had a natural desire to obtain useful results that could positively affect its economic and industrial development – for example, to discover new deposits of copper and nickel ores
“In my opinion, the second reason was more substantial.” In the early 1960s, large-scale projects began to emerge in the USSR and other countries to search for new mineral resources – humanity began exploring the shelves of the seas and the bottom of the world ocean. “In 1961, the United States launched the Mohole Project. An unsuccessful attempt was made to reach the seismic Mohorovic border (Moho) by drilling through the sea, the maximum depth of one of the boreholes was 183 meters (at a depth of 3500 meters) The project confirmed that deep-water drilling could essentially start a new deep-water drilling program DSDP, which was launchedthe world-famous science-research ship Glomar Challenger. Soviet scientists were actively involved in its expeditions, ”said Sputnik Poland.
The Soviet Union also did not stay behind. In 1962 work on the territory of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan (KazSSR) began work on two super-deep boreholes – Aralsorski (SH-1) and Biikalski (SH-2), which were completed in 1971 at a drilling depth of 6806 meters and 6700 meters.
In 1965, a comprehensive scientific and technical program was developed to study the deep structure of the Earth’s crust. “The same year, in the United States, Oklahoma, the Baden Unit drilling, which reached 9159 meters in 545 days, was the deepest well in the world until 1974, when the United States completed the implementation of a new record drill Berta Rogers with a depth of 9,583 meters (1973-1974). This record was broken on June 6, 1979, when the Super Deep Deep Well reached 9,584 meters. In 2019, the 40th anniversary of the triumph of national thought and technology is celebrated! ”Says Sergey Pevzněr.
Did they want to drill the earth through and through?
Drilling and exploration of the Kola Super-Deep Well allowed experts to work with the new data obtained.
“The studies carried out with the help of the Kola Super-Deep Well made it possible to obtain direct data on the structure and composition of the deep zones of the old continental earth crust and to create its supporting geological, geochemical and geophysical cross-sections. The obtained factual materials significantly changed the previous models of the stratified structure of the continental earth crust, proved the presence of ore mineralization and fluids in it up to the maximum depth and changed the traditional understanding of the nature of geophysical boundaries, ”explains Sergey Pevzněr.
Colly super deep well is unprecedented
To date, a sufficient number of super-deep boreholes deeper than 8,000 meters has been drilled in the world. Three of them are in the United States – Berta Rogers (9583 meters), Baden Unit (9159 meters), University (9159 meters). Two wells are located in Germany – KTB-Oberpfalz (9901 meters) and KTB Hauptborung (9100 meters). In Austria it is a Cysterdorf well with a depth of 8553 meters. On the territory of the former USSR, it is the Saatlin well (8324 meters), which is located in present Azerbaijan, and the Yen-Yachin well (8250 meters), which was already established in the Russian Federation. However, as the source of Sputnik Poland points out, there is no equivalent in the world of the Kola Super-Deep Well, nor can it exist: each Super-Deep Well is a unique object both in its geological location and in its construction. Source: snews.com
