Preface
The structure of the Earth is like an egg, consisting of three layers from the outside to the inside: a thin crust, a thick mantle, and then a core buried deep in the deepest part. The formation, age, space, structure, and magnetic field of the earth are some long-term research topics in geophysics.
Although there is a lot of information about the Earth, little is known about the Earth's interior, and scientists have always wanted to know what the Earth's interior is like.
Humans have been delusional about the Earth's interior since the mid-19th century, and why not make it a reality?
1. Man's delusions
In the mid-19th century, when geophysics was just beginning to become a separate scientific discipline, delusions about the Earth, especially the mantle, were on the rise. Some geologists and physicists have asked the question, "Can you drill into the mantle?"
The question seemed innocent and cute at the time, because even the earth's crust was not something easy to drill into. Naturally, people don't have much interest in this kind of problem. However, this issue aroused the interest of many people, and even published a related report in the New York Times of the United States at that time. This question has not been confirmed by its publication, and in fact, it is still to this day and has not been thoroughly proven.
The town of Pechenga on the Kola Peninsula
In 1970, the Soviet Union decided to conduct a drilling program called the "Kola Ultra-Deep Well" in the town of Pechenga on the Kola Peninsula, which was seen as an attempt to explore the mysteries of the Earth's interior. Finally, on December 10, 1994, the wellhead reached a depth of 12,262 meters.
But even at this depth, we are only beginning to explore the surface of the mantle, just as in the early twentieth century, when airplanes were just beginning to fly, and we still need a lot of time and effort to explore the depths of the mantle. But even so, for the sake of the exploration of the earth, this Kola drilling can be regarded as a great and ambitious attempt.
2. Scientific experiments
The deepest "trap" on Earth is the Mariana Trench, while the deepest borehole on the surface is the Kola Wellhead, but the "deepest" borehole does not mean that it has reached the deepest part of the Earth, as this is only in the more superficial mantle structure. The depth of the Earth's mantle is about 3,000 km, while the depth of the core in the center is about 6,378 km. The depth reached by the Kola wellhead is only 12 km.
In addition to scientists' curiosity about the Earth's interior, the Soviet Union's discussion was also motivated by military considerations, as the Cold War was taking place in order to be able to drill deeper trenches and make the means of nuclear weapons more accurate.
So what is the final result of this "impossible" successful scientific experiment?
Scientists certainly know that the Earth is not something that can be drilled through casually. Rather, it is a "trap" full of all kinds of deadly dangers.
Its high temperatures, high pressures, and high geostresses are beyond the reach of the planet's top engineers, and scientists have no choice but to accept failure when faced with these problems.
3. Failure
Core at 12,260 m below ground, obtained from hole SG-3
Ambitious scientists have only put a foot in the surface of the mantle, just as in the early twentieth century, when airplanes were just beginning to fly, and we still need a lot of time and effort to explore the depths of the mantle.
The deepest "trap" on Earth is the Mariana Trench, and the deepest borehole on the surface is the Kola Wellhead, but the "deepest" borehole does not mean that it has reached the deepest part of the Earth. Eventually, the Soviet Union reluctantly abandoned the drilling program, and drilling was halted in 1992, and it was not until 2008 that the Kola ultra-deep hole was abandoned.
The author thinks
Although scientists have not been able to achieve ultimate success in their explorations on the ground, scientists have achieved some fruitful results in the process. Before this experiment, people did not know about the interior of the earth, but now scientists have obtained some data through this scientific program, which will provide a basis for future human exploration of the earth's interior. And in the process, scientists have also set some world records, and while that doesn't change the fact that we can't reach the center of the earth, it's a memorable moment.