The deepest well in the world is located on the Kola Peninsula near the town of Zapolyarny (Murmansk region); its depth will be 12 kilometers 262 meters, which is an absolute world record. In 1997, the Kola Superdeep was entered in the Guinness Book of Records, but by that time it itself was no longer working: drilling was stopped in 1992, the well was mothballed, and what remained of the drilling rig was abandoned to the mercy of fate and actually plundered.
However, over the years of drilling, Soviet scientists managed to make many discoveries that related to the composition crust and shed light on some scientific issues.
Preparatory work
The main task drilling the well was to reach the Earth's mantle, which is supposed to be composed of molten rocks. To do this, they decided to drill in the place of the Pecheneg trough of the Baltic shield in the north-west of the East European platform - one of the most ancient formations of the planet. The age of the rocks emerging here, according to scientists, was at least three billion years old. The main task of drilling was to identify the features of the shield and determine the boundaries between the layers of the earth's crust.
A unique team of Soviet scientists was created to create the well; up to 3,000 specialists and 16 research laboratories worked at the well at the same time. The head of the Kola Superdeep was the Soviet scientist David Mironovich Guberman, the head of the drilling rig was Alexei Batishchev, the chief engineer was Ivan Vasilchenko, the team of geologists included the famous geologists Yuri Kuznetsov, Yuri Smirnov and Vladimir Lanev.
Drilling
Throughout 1970, drilling was carried out with a conventional drilling rig, then the work had to be stopped, and wells were built on the spot. new installation Uralmash-15000 designed for deep drilling.
This drilling rig was a tower with a twenty-story building, sheathed on top with sheets of plywood - otherwise it was impossible to work in winter. Soviet scientists used turbine drilling - a method by which only a drill bit rotates inside the well under the pressure of the incoming fluid.
Every day for the drilling itself great depth it took only about four hours - the rest of the time was spent lifting the pipes to the surface for coring. During this time, the drill managed to pass from seven to ten meters of the rock. It took the drillers four years to cover the first seven kilometers.
The twelve-kilometer mark was passed already in 1983, after which the work was suspended - the Moscow International Geological Congress was approaching, at which the discoveries made at the well were demonstrated.
Drilling continued in 1984, but it turned out that a deep well cannot be left unattended for a long time - changes are taking place in its structure. The accident, which threw the Soviet geologists to a mark of seven kilometers, occurred on the very first sinking on September 27, 1984: a 200-ton column was broken. Anything below seven kilometers was lost. For almost a year, geologists tried to get pipes, but then they found it impossible and began to drill a bypass bore. The main difficulty was that from a depth of nine kilometers, core extraction became difficult - the rock crumbled and only the strongest "plaques" remained inside the pipes.
The maximum depth was reached six years later - in 1990. The pressure at this depth was 1,000 atmospheres. After that, I had to admit that the capabilities of the equipment were limited and after several accidents the work was curtailed.
First, it was found that the temperature in the depths of the earth's crust is completely different from what scientists expected, who believed that it would be low to a depth of 15 kilometers. It turned out that at a depth of five kilometers it is 75 degrees Celsius, at seven - it reaches 120 degrees, and at a depth of 12 kilometers it reaches 220 degrees.
Secondly, Soviet science believed that older basalts should follow the younger granites. This theory has been refuted. The layer of grants turned out to be several times thicker than expected, and under it lay less strong fractured rocks - Archean gneisses (Archean - a geological period that lasted from 4,000,000 years ago to 2,500,000 years ago).
At a depth of nine to 12 kilometers, they found deep aquifers that were not expected to be found at all.
At a depth of 1.5-2 kilometers, an ore horizon was discovered - rocks rich in rare earth metals.
The olivine belt of the planet was also found, the hypothesis of the existence of which was expressed at the beginning of the 20th century by the famous geologist Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev. They found him deeper than nine kilometers, it turned out. that it contains a gold concentration suitable for mining.
It was discovered that rock samples at a depth of three kilometers completely correspond to the lunar soil, which confirms the theory that the Moon at one time, under the influence of an asteroid impact, could break away from the Earth.
A little bit of hell
Superstitious people associate many legends with the Kola Superdeep. Some say that it was closed because Soviet scientists supposedly made it to hell, others that demons come out of it at night, and still others claim that the voices of people tormented in the underworld can be heard from it.
In fact, these are all echoes of the publication of a Finnish newspaper, which just joked, releasing an article about the well on April 1. However, as often happens, one of the American TV companies picked up the joke, perhaps mistaking it for the truth, or perhaps deciding to scare its listeners with "terrible Russians", after which rumors about the devilry happening at the well spread all over the world.
Of course, it was difficult to work on the Kola Superdeep, the high temperature at depth and enormous pressure created many emergency situations... However, scientists assure that there was no devilry. It was difficult, often routine work.
The largest Mine in the World on the remote Kola Peninsula, in northern Russia. The deepest hole in the world gapes amid the rusting ruins of an abandoned research station.
Now closed and sealed with a welded metal plate, the Kola Superdeep Borehole is a remnant largely forgotten. gambling of the human race, directed not towards the stars, but into the depths of the Earth.
Rumors went that a deep well had drilled into hell: from the abyss, cries and groans of people were heard - as if this was the reason for the closure of the station and the well. In fact, the reason was different.
Mirny is famous for its largest mine in the world: a deep well on the Kola Peninsula - the world's largest man-made hole. 1722 m - deep, so deep that all flights over it were prohibited, as too many helicopters crashed due to suction into the hole.
The deepest hole drilled in the name of science - evidence of Precambrian life has been found here. Human race knows about distant galaxies, but knows little about what lies under its very feet. Of course, the project produced great amount geological data, most of which showed how little we know about our planet.
The United States and the Soviet Union fought for spatial exploration supremacy in the space race, another competition was between the two countries' greatest drillers: the American "Mohole Project" on the Pacific coast of Mexico was interrupted in 1966 due to lack of funding; Councils, a project of the Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Study of the Earth's Interior and super deep drilling, from 1970 to 1994 on the Kola Peninsula. Earth exploration is limited to ground-based observations and seismic surveys, but Kola well gave a direct look at the structure of the earth's crust.
Kola Super Deep Well Drilled To Hell
The drill on Kola never encountered a basalt layer. Instead, the granite found itself beyond the twelfth kilometer. Surprisingly enough, the rocks for many kilometers are saturated with water. Previously, it was believed that free water should not exist at such great depths.
But the most intriguing discovery is the discovery biological activity in rocks over two billion years old. The most striking evidence of life was microscopic fossils: the preserved remains of twenty-four species of unicellular marine plants, otherwise known as plankton.
Usually fossils can be found in limestone and silica deposits, but these microfossils were enclosed in organic compounds which have remained surprisingly intact despite the extreme pressures and temperatures.
Kola drilling was forced to cease due to unexpectedly high temperatures encountered. While the temperature gradient in the bowels of the earth. At roughly 10,000 feet, temperatures increased at a high rate - reaching 180 ° C (or 356 ° F) at the bottom of the hole, as opposed to the expected 100 ° C (212 ° F). The decrease in rock density was also unexpected.
Behind this point, the rocks had greater porosity and permeability: in combination with high temperatures, they began to behave like plastic. This is why drilling has become virtually impossible.
A repository of core samples can be found in the nickel mining town of Zapolyarny, about ten kilometers south of the hole. With its ambitious mission and contributions to geology and biology, the Kola Super Deep Borehole remains the most important relic of Soviet science.
Kola superdeep well SG-3. Myths and Reality.
From myself: do you remember the nonsense that at a depth of 13 km Soviet scientists found a void, lowered a microphone there and as if they heard screams and screams there? In fact, this is a fiction of Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian newspapers. Judge for yourself - the scientists wanted to dig up to the mantle, but they never got it, and even more so, there was no emptiness. Then - a microphone at a depth of 12-13 km and at high temperatures ... Yes, there are simply no such microphones that are resistant to such temperatures ... more than a cheap fake.
I want to tell you about the famous Kola superdeep well. Hardly many people knew (like me, until my father told me) that the Kola SG-3 well is the deepest drilled well in the world (until 2008). While still studying at the institute, teachers carried from corner to corner the legend of the Kolskaya well, although many of our teachers had nothing to do with drilling, etc.
General review:
The Kola Superdeep Well (SG-3) is the deepest borehole in the world. It is located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny, on the territory of the geological Baltic shield. Its depth is 12,262 meters. Unlike other superdeep wells, which were made for oil production or geological exploration, SG-3 was drilled exclusively for the study of the lithosphere in the place where the Mohorovichich boundary comes close to the Earth's surface.
It was also the deepest well until 2008, when it was bypassed by the drilled acute angle The Maersk Oil BD-04A oil well, which is 12,290 meters long (located in the Al-Shahin oil basin, Qatar), was then bypassed in January 2011 by the oil well of the Odoptu-sea field of the Sakhalin-1 project, also drilled at an acute angle to the surface of the earth, 12 345 meters long.
Well from a scientific point of view:
When at the end of the last century, drilling of the famous Kola super deep well, The media wrote that in the very thick of the earth, the microphones of scientists recorded screams and groans ... Is there really Hell there? Whether it is true or not, what the researchers saw radically changed the traditional ideas about the structure of the upper layer of the Earth.
For a long time, people have tried to understand how the bowels of our planet are arranged. but long time it was not possible to drill the earth's firmament more than a few hundred meters - it was not necessary equipment... Therefore, all ideas about internal structure Earths are based mainly on theoretical calculations, which have not yet been confirmed by experimental data.
According to the generally accepted point of view, the Earth consists of three large layers: the core, the mantle and the earth's crust. In the center is the core, divided into an inner solid region (with a radius of about 1300 km) and a liquid outer core with a radius of about 2200 km, between which a transition zone is sometimes distinguished. It is believed that this area of the planet is composed of an iron-nickel alloy.
Next is the mantle - a layer consisting of silicates of magnesium, iron, calcium and other metals. It extends from depths of 5-70 kilometers below the border with the earth's crust, to the border with the core at a depth of 2900 km. It is believed that it is quite hot in the mantle and in some of its layers the matter is in a molten state.
The upper layers of the mantle are in contact with the earth's crust - the very layer on which we, in fact, live. The thickness of this outer shell varies from several kilometers (in oceanic regions) to several tens of kilometers (in mountainous regions of the continents). The sphere of the earth's crust is very small, accounting for only about 0.5% of the total mass of the planet. The main composition of the bark is oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron and alkali metals.
It is believed that the most ancient rocks of the Earth, whose age is estimated at more than 3 billion years, are found in the composition of the continental crust, containing the upper (granite) and lower (basalt) layers under the sedimentary layer. The oceanic crust is younger and thinner - under the accumulation of sediments (their age does not exceed 100-150 million years) there is only one layer, similar in composition to basalt.
It turns out that for all the time of their existence, people really could not explore even the earth's crust, and for many years none of the scientists even dared to "touch" the mantle or the core. However, in the middle of the twentieth century, the equipment necessary for such research was finally developed, and the dream began to turn into reality.
Projects of travel deep into the Earth appeared in the early 60s of the last century in several countries at once. They tried to drill wells in those places where the earth's crust was supposed to be thinner, since the purpose of such drilling was to reach the mantle, which, in fact, they were going to investigate in detail.
For example, the Americans drilled in the area of the island of Maui, in Hawaii, where, according to seismic studies, ancient rocks come out under the ocean floor and the mantle is located about five kilometers (under a four-kilometer water column). However, not a single offshore drilling rig deeper than 3 kilometers was able to break through.
In general, almost all projects of superdeep wells mysteriously ended at a depth of three kilometers. It was at this moment that something strange began to happen to the Boers: either they fell into unexpected areas with high temperatures, or they seemed to be bitten off by some mysterious underground demon. So in most cases it was not even possible to study the composition of the deep layers of the earth's crust, not to mention the mantle, the study of which, in fact, was the real goal of such studies.
Drilling start:
Kola drilling. Residential town and auxiliary workshops
And so, in 1970, drilling of the famous Kola well began on the Kola Peninsula. The drilling point was chosen in this place of the peninsula for a reason - the peninsula is located on the so-called Baltic shield, which is composed of the most ancient known to mankind rocks. Work on this object was carried out from 1970 to 1992, during which time it was possible to "pierce" the earth's crust by 12,262 meters.
It is interesting that when the International Geological Congress was held in Moscow in 1984, at which the first results of the well survey were presented, many scientists jokingly suggested that it be buried immediately, since it destroys all ideas about the structure of the earth's crust. Indeed, the oddities began in the early stages of penetration. For example, even before drilling began, theorists promised that the temperature of the Baltic Shield would remain relatively low to a depth of at least, 15 kilometers. Accordingly, the well can be dug up to almost 20 kilometers, just to the mantle.
However, already at a five-kilometer depth, the ambient temperature exceeded 700C, at seven - over 1200C, and at a depth of 12 kilometers, the sensors recorded as much as 2200C - 1000C higher than predicted. Scientists have not yet found an explanation for this phenomenon.
The well also did not confirm the idea of the structure of the earth's crust in the likeness of a puff cake - first sedimentary rocks, then granites, and below basalts. However, according to the data of the drillers, the granites turned out to be 3 kilometers lower than the scientists expected. And the basalt layer was completely absent - the last 6 kilometers made their way exclusively through granite. Scientists believe that the Kola drillers, without realizing it, made a discovery that is extremely important for all mankind.
The Kola superdeep borehole presented researchers with another surprise: life on planet Earth appeared, it turns out, 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that there is no organic matter, 14 species of fossilized microorganisms were found, and the age of these deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. But, most surprisingly, at even greater depths, where there are no longer any sedimentary rocks, natural gas methane in huge concentrations. This completely and completely destroyed the theory of the biological origin of hydrocarbons such as oil and gas.
Not only scientific sensations, but also mysterious legends were also associated with the Kola well. most of of which it turned out when checked by the fiction of journalists. According to one of them (born by the authors of the reports of a Finnish newspaper), in the very thick of the earth, at a depth of over 12 thousand meters, the microphones of scientists recorded screams and groans.
Myths or reality:
Journalists, without even thinking that it is simply not possible to push a microphone to such a depth (what recording device can operate at temperatures above two hundred degrees?) Wrote that the drillers heard "a voice from the underworld." After these publications, the Kola superdeep well began to be called the "road to hell", claiming that each new kilometer drilled brought misfortune to the country.
They said that when the drillers were driving the thirteenth thousand meters, the USSR collapsed. Well, when the well was drilled to a depth of 14.5 km (which actually did not happen), they suddenly stumbled upon unusual voids. Intrigued by this unexpected discovery, the drillers lowered a microphone there, capable of working at extremely high temperatures, and other sensors. The temperature inside allegedly reached 1,100 ° C - there was the heat of the chambers of fire, in which, allegedly, one could hear human screams.
This legend still wanders across the vast expanses of the Internet, having survived the very culprit of these gossip - the Kola Well. Work on it was stopped back in 1992 due to lack of funding. Until 2008, it was in a mothballed state. And two years ago, the final decision was made to abandon the continuation of research and dismantle the entire research complex, and "bury" the well. The final abandonment of the well took place this summer.
So, as you can see, this time the scientists failed to get to the mantle and examine it. However, this does not mean that the Kola well gave nothing to science - on the contrary, it turned all their ideas about the structure of the earth's crust upside down. Perhaps, the researchers of the currently operating Maersk Oil oil well (12,290 meters deep - which is 28 meters deeper than the Kola), which is located in the Al-Shahin oil basin, in Qatar, will be able to get even deeper.
In the USSR, they loved the scale, but more, and this extended to literally everything. So one well was dug in the Union, which even today bears the title of the deepest on earth. It is noteworthy that the well was drilled not for oil production or geological exploration, but purely for scientific research.
The tips with which the well was drilled.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole, or SG-3, is the deepest man-made borehole in the earth. Located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers from the city of Zapolyarny, in westward... The depth of the hole is 12,262 meters. Its diameter at the top is 92 centimeters. At the bottom - 21.5 centimeters. An important feature SG-3 is that, unlike any other wells for oil production or geological work, this one was drilled exclusively for scientific purposes.
The well was laid in 1970, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin. The site chosen is notable for the fact that the well was drilled in over 3 billion years old volcanic rocks that surface. By the way, the age of the Earth is about 4.5 billion years. In the extraction of minerals, wells are rarely drilled deeper than two thousand meters.
The work went on day and night.
Drilling began on May 24, 1970. Up to 7 thousand meters, drilling was easy and calm, but after hitting the head in less dense rocks, problems began. The process has slowed down significantly. Only 6 June 1979 was delivered new record- 9583 meters. It was previously installed in the United States by oil producers. The mark of 12,066 meters was passed in 1983. The result was achieved by the International Geological Congress, which was held in Moscow. Subsequently, two accidents occurred at the complex.
Now the complex looks like this.
In 1997, the media circulated several legends at once that the Kola superdeep well is real road in hell. In one of these legends, it was said that when the team lowered the microphone to a depth of several thousand meters, human screams, groans and screams were heard there.
Of course, there was nothing of the kind. If only because special equipment is used to record sound in the borehole at such a depth, but it did not record anything either. There were indeed several accidents at the complex, including an underground explosion during drilling, but the geologists did not disturb any underground "demons" for sure.
The well itself has been mothballed.
What is really important is that 16 research laboratories operated on SG-3. During the Soviet era, Russian geologists were able to make many valuable discoveries and better understand how our planet works. The work on the site has significantly improved the drilling technology. Scientists were also able to understand the local geological processes, received comprehensive data on thermal regime bowels, underground gases and deep waters.
Unfortunately, today the Kola superdeep well is closed. The building of the complex has been dilapidated since the last laboratory was closed here in 2008 and all equipment has been dismantled. The reason is simple - lack of funding. In 2010, the well was already suspended. Now it is slowly but surely collapsing under the influence of natural processes.
In 2008, the deepest well in the world was finally abandoned, and all lifting mechanisms and the structures were dismantled.
A couple of years later, the director of the Kola Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences issued a statement that the well is gradually self-destructing. Since then, no official information there is no more about her.
Well depth today
As of today, the Kola well is one of the largest drilling projects in the world. Its official depth reaches 12,262 m.
Hell sounds from the Kola well
Like any grandiose project created by human hands, the Kola Well is shrouded in legends and myths.
The Kola well was drilled intermittently from 1970 to 1991This can be seen both in the Mariana Trench, which we mentioned at the beginning of the article, and in.
They say that at the moment when the workers of the deepest well overcame the 12,000 m line, they began to hear eerie sounds.
Initially, they were not paid any attention, but over time, the situation has changed dramatically. With the onset of complete silence, sounds of a different nature were heard from the well.
As a result, the scientists decided to tape everything that happened at the bottom of the well using heat-resistant microphones.
While listening to the recordings, we were able to hear human screams and screams.
A couple of hours after studying the film, scientists discovered traces of a strong explosion, the cause of which they could not explain.
Drilling of the Kola superdeep well was suspended for some time.
When the work resumed, everyone was still expecting to hear people groaning, but this time everything was quiet.
On suspicion that something was wrong, the management began proceedings in relation to the origin strange sounds... However, the frightened workers did not want to comment on the situation and in every possible way avoided any questioning.
Several years later, when the project was officially frozen, scientists have suggested that sounds were due to movement.
After some time, this explanation was rejected as untenable. No other explanation was offered.
Secrets and mysteries of the Kola well
In 1989, the Kola well began to be called the "road to the underworld", because of the sounds coming from it. There is an opinion that with each next drilled kilometer, on the way to the 13th kilometer, one or another cataclysm happened. As a result, Soviet Union broke up.
However, the relationship between the drilling of the Kola superdeep well and the collapse of the superpower may be of interest only to those who believe that others are supernatural "places of power."
It is believed that the workers managed to reach a depth of 14.5 km, and it was then that the equipment recorded some underground rooms. The temperature in these rooms exceeded 1000 ° C.
They also clearly heard and even recorded human screams. However, this whole story is not supported by the facts.
The dimensions of the deepest well
The depth of the world's deepest well on the Kola Peninsula is officially registered at 12,262 m.
The diameter of the upper part is 92 cm, the diameter of the lower part is 21.5 cm.
Wherein Maximum temperature did not exceed 220 ° C. Only sounds of unknown origin remain unexplained in this whole story.
Benefits of drilling the Kola well
- Thanks to this project, it was possible to achieve new drilling methods, as well as improve equipment.
- Geologists were able to discover new locations of valuable minerals.
- Managed to debunk many different theories, for example, guesswork about the basalt layer of our planet.
World superdeep wells
As of today, there are approximately 25 superdeep wells, most of which are located in the republics of the former USSR.
Others also have a number of superdeep wells. Here are the most famous ones.
- Sweden. Silyan Ring - 6800 m.
- Kazakhstan. Tasym South-East - 7050 m.
- USA. Bighorn - 7583 m.
- Austria. Zisterdorf - 8553 m.
- USA. University - 8686 m.
- Germany. KTB-Oberpfalz - 9101 m.
- USA. Beidat Unit - 9159 m.
- USA. Bertha Rogers - 9583 m.
World records for superdeep wells in the world
- In 2008, the Maersk oil well (Qatar) with a depth of 12,290 m became a new record holder in depth.
- In 2011, during the project called Sakhalin-1 (), it was possible to drill a well to a mark of 12,345 m.
- In 2013, the well of the Chayvinskoye field (Russia) set a new record of 12,700 m. However, it was drilled not vertically down, but at an angle to the surface.
Photos of the Kola well
Looking at the photo of the Kola well, it is difficult to imagine that once life was in full swing here, and many people worked for the good of the great country.
Now there is nothing but rubbish and remnants of the former greatness here. Reinforced concrete walls and empty, abandoned rooms with randomly scattered things act depressingly. Silence reigns all around.
Drilling rig of the first stage (depth 7600 m), 1974 
Electrical substation building 
2012 photo 
Wellhead with a metal plug. Someone scratched out the wrong depth. August 2012 
It is difficult to imagine that under this plug there is the deepest "hole" in the earth, going deeper than 12 km 
Soviet workers at the shift shift, late 1970s The stories associated with the Kola well do not subside to this day. At present, scientists have not given a final answer about the origin of mystical sounds.
In this regard, new theories appear that try to explain this phenomenon. Perhaps, in the near future, scientists will be able to find out the nature of "hellish sounds".
Now you know what makes the Kola well interesting. If you liked this article - share it with your friends. If you like it at all - subscribe to the site. InteresnyeFakty.org in any convenient way. It's always interesting with us!
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