In the spring of 2020, the authorities of the Murmansk region, where geographically the Kola superdeep borehole, has announced plans to turn this monument of science into a full-fledged tourist site. Easy to say, but difficult to do – the building has been destroyed and looted, and the mine is like an iron disk, bolted thick bolts seem directly to the earth. This protective cover mine, which it is better not to remove – will have to fall VERY deep.
The Kola superdeep mine officially is the deepest point on our Earth – it is even deeper legendary Mariana trench. And this is the deepest hole in the planet man-made nature. It was conceived, the entire project was of a purely scientific nature, began in the 1970s, lasted for 24 years and has brought an incredible amount of useful experience. Including the confidence in the ability to do the impossible.
What discovery was made during drilling? For example, the presence of water in the soil throughout the depth of boring scientists and could not imagine the presence of fluid 12 km under your feet! Milestone 7 km brought fossils unknown to science unicellular organisms, which indirectly indicates how strong were the changes of terrain, if we assume that these creatures once lived in the sea or on land, and not just in the depths of the earth.
A stumbling block (literally) of steel rock age of 2.7 billion years. Not only ancient, but also very durable, and most importantly – heated to 180℃, which was an unpleasant surprise. Scientists knew that the soil will heat up as you move down but the calculations were wrong on an impressive 80 ℃. Equipment for such conditions was not ready, and the ability to produce new included the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and financing was nowhere to wait.
Source — ScienceAlert