The earth is below us. Kola super-deep well (50 photos) The deepest well dug by man

The deepest well in the world is located on the Kola Peninsula near the city of Zapolyarny (Murmansk region); its length will be 12 kilometers 262 meters, which is an absolute world record. In 1997, the Kola Superdeep was listed in the Guinness Book of Records, but by that time she herself was no longer working: drilling was stopped in 1992, the well was mothballed, and what was left 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 of the earth's crust and shed light on some scientific issues.

Preparatory work

The main task of drilling the well was to reach the Earth's mantle, which supposedly should consist 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 on the planet. According to scientists, the age of the rocks emerging here on the surface was at least three billion years. 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 simultaneously at the well. The Soviet scientist David Mironovich Guberman became the head of the Kola superdeep field, Aleksey Batishchev became the head of the drilling rig, Ivan Vasilchenko became the chief engineer, the team of geologists included famous geologists Yuri Kuznetsov, Yuri Smirnov and Vladimir Lanev.

Drilling

Throughout 1970, drilling was carried out with a conventional drilling rig, then work had to be stopped, and a new Uralmash-15000 rig, designed for deep drilling, was built at the site of the well.

This drilling rig was a tower the size of a twenty-story building, sheathed with plywood sheets on top - otherwise it was impossible to work in winter. Soviet scientists used turbine drilling, a method in which only the drill bit rotates inside the well under the pressure of the incoming fluid.

It took only about four hours a day to drill at great depths - the rest of the time was spent lifting pipes to the surface to extract cores. During this time, the drill managed to pass from seven to ten meters of rock. It took the drillers four years to cover the first seven kilometers.

The twelve-kilometer mark was already passed 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 was 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 that threw Soviet geologists to the mark of seven kilometers occurred on the very first sinking on September 27, 1984: a 200-ton column broke. Everything below seven kilometers was lost. For almost a year, geologists tried to get the pipes, but then they recognized this as impossible and began to drill a bypass shaft. The main difficulty was that from a depth of nine kilometers, core extraction became difficult - the rock crumbled and only the most durable “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 are limited and, after several accidents, the work was curtailed.

First, it turned out 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 younger granites. This theory has been debunked. The grant layer turned out to be several times thicker than expected, and under it lay less durable fractured rocks - Archean gneisses (Archean is a geological period that lasted from 4,000,0000 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 existence of which was hypothesized at the beginning of the 20th century by the famous geologist Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev. It was found deeper than nine kilometers, it turned out. that it contains a concentration of gold suitable for mining.

It was discovered that rock samples at a depth of three kilometers fully 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 devilry

Superstitious people associate many legends with the Kola Superdeep. Some say that it was closed because Soviet scientists allegedly got to hell, others say that demons come out of it at night, others claim that voices of people tormented in the underworld can be heard from it.

In fact, all these are echoes of the publication of one Finnish newspaper, which was just joking by releasing an article about the well on April 1st. However, as often happens, one of the American television companies picked up the joke, perhaps taking it for the truth, or perhaps deciding to scare their listeners with “terrible Russians”, after which rumors about the devilry going on in the well scattered around the world.

Of course, it was hard to work on the Kola Superdeep, the high temperature at depth and the enormous pressure created many emergencies. However, scientists assure that there was no devilry. It was difficult, often routine work.

It occupies the first positions in the list of "Super-deep wells of the world". It was drilled to study the structure of deep earth rocks. Unlike other available wells on the planet, this one was drilled exclusively from a research point of view and was not used for the purpose of extracting useful resources.

Location of the Kola ultradeep station

Where is the Kola Superdeep Well located? O on is located in the Murmansk region, near the city of Zapolyarny (about 10 kilometers from it). The location of the well is truly unique. It was laid on the territory in the area of ​​the Kola Peninsula. It is where the earth daily pushes various ancient rocks to the surface.

Near the well is the Pechenga-Imandra-Varzuga rift trough, which was formed as a result of a fault.

Kola superdeep well: history of appearance

In honor of the centennial anniversary on the occasion of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in the first half of 1970, the drilling of a well was started.

On May 24, 1970, after the location of the well was approved by the geological expedition, work began. Up to a depth of about 7,000 meters, everything went easily and smoothly. After crossing the seven thousand milestone, the work became more difficult and constant collapses began to occur.

As a result of constant breakage of lifting mechanisms and breakage of drilling heads, as well as regular collapses, the walls of the well were subject to the cementing process. However, due to constant malfunctions, work continued for several years and went extremely slowly.

On June 6, 1979, the depth of the well crossed the line of 9583 meters, thereby breaking the world record for oil production in the United States of America by Bert Rogers, located in Oklahoma. At that time, about sixteen scientific laboratories were continuously working in the Kola well, and the drilling process was personally controlled by the Minister of Geology of the Soviet Union Evgeny Kozlovsky.

In 1983, when the depth of the Kola super-deep well reached 12,066 meters, work was temporarily frozen in connection with preparations for the 1984 International Geological Congress. Upon its completion, work was resumed.

The resumption of work fell on September 27, 1984. But during the first descent, the drill string was cut off, and once again the well collapsed. Work resumed from a depth of about 7 thousand meters.

In 1990, the depth of the drill well reached a record 12,262 meters. After the break of the next column, an order was received to stop drilling the well and complete the work.

The current state of the Kola well

In early 2008, the ultra-deep well on the Kola Peninsula was considered abandoned, the equipment was being dismantled, and a demolition project for existing buildings and laboratories had already begun.

In early 2010, the director of the Kola Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced that the well had now undergone a conservation process and was being destroyed on its own. Since then, the issue has not been raised.

Well depth to date

Currently, the Kola superdeep well, the photo of which is presented to the reader in the article, is considered one of the largest drilling projects on the planet. Its official depth is 12,263 meters.

Sounds in the Kola well

When the drilling rigs crossed the line of 12 thousand meters, the workers began to hear strange sounds coming from the depths. At first they did not attach any importance to this. However, when all the drilling equipment stopped, and deathly silence hung in the well, unusual sounds were heard, which the workers themselves called “the cries of sinners in hell.” Since the sounds of the ultra-deep well were considered rather unusual, it was decided to record them using heat-resistant microphones. When the recordings were listened to, everyone was amazed - they looked like the screams and squeals of people.

A few hours after listening to the recordings, the workers found traces of a powerful explosion of a previously unknown origin. Work was temporarily stopped until the circumstances were clarified. However, they resumed after a few days. Having again descended into the well, everyone with bated breath expected to hear human cries, but there was truly deathly silence.

When the investigation into the origin of sounds began, questions began to be asked about who heard what. The amazed and frightened workers tried to avoid answering these questions and only dismissed the phrase: “I heard something strange ...” Only after a long time and after the project was closed, a version was put forward that the sounds of unknown origin are the sound of the movement of tectonic plates. This version was refuted over time.

The secrets that shrouded the well

In 1989, the Kola super-deep well, the sounds from which excite the human imagination, was called "the road to hell." The legend originated on the air of an American television company, which took an April Fool's article in a Finnish newspaper about the Kola well for reality. The article said that each drilled kilometer on the way to the 13th brought continuous misfortunes to the country. According to the legend, at a depth of 12,000 meters, workers began to imagine human cries for help, which were recorded on ultra-sensitive microphones.

With each new kilometer on the way to the 13th, cataclysms occurred in the country, so the USSR collapsed on the above path.

It was also noted that, having drilled a well up to 14.5 thousand meters, the workers stumbled upon hollow "rooms", the temperature in which reached 1100 degrees Celsius. Having lowered one of the heat-resistant microphones into one of these holes, they recorded groans, gnashes and screams. These sounds were called "the voice of the underworld", and the well itself began to be referred to only as "the road to hell."

However, the research team itself soon disproved this legend. Scientists reported that the depth of the well at that time was only 12,263 meters, and the maximum recorded temperature was 220 degrees Celsius. Only one fact remained unrefuted, thanks to which the Kola super-deep well has such dubious fame - sounds.

Interview with one of the workers of the Kola Superdeep Well

In one of the interviews dedicated to the refutation of the legend of the Kola well, David Mironovich Huberman said: “When they ask me about the veracity of this legend and about the existence of the demon we found there, I answer that this is complete nonsense. But to be honest, I can't deny the fact that we've encountered something supernatural. At first, sounds of unknown origin began to disturb us, then there was an explosion. When we looked into the well, at the same depth, a few days later, everything was absolutely normal ... "

What was the benefit of drilling the Kola super-deep well?

Of course, one of the main advantages of the appearance of this well can be called a significant progress in the field of drilling. New methods and types of drilling have been developed. Also, drilling and scientific equipment was created personally for the Kola superdeep well, which is still used today.

Another plus was the discovery of a new location of valuable natural resources, including gold.

The main scientific goal of the project to study the deep layers of the earth was achieved. Many existing theories were refuted (including those about the basalt layer of the earth).

Number of ultra-deep wells in the world

In total, there are about 25 ultra-deep wells on the planet.

Most of them are located on the territory of the former USSR, but about 8 are located around the world.

Superdeep wells located on the territory of the former USSR

A huge number of super-deep wells were present on the territory of the Soviet Union, but the following should be especially highlighted:

1. Muruntau well. In depth, the well reaches only 3 thousand meters. It is located in the Republic of Uzbekistan, in the small village of Muruntau. The drilling of the well began in 1984 and has not yet been completed.
2. Krivoy Rog well. In depth it reaches only 5383 meters out of 12 thousand conceived. Drilling began in 1984 and ended in 1993. The location of the well is considered to be Ukraine, the vicinity of the city of Krivoy Rog.
3. Dnieper-Donetsk well. She is a fellow countrywoman of the previous one and is also located in Ukraine, near the Donetsk Republic. The depth of the well today is 5691 meters. Drilling began in 1983 and continues to this day.
4. Ural well. It has a depth of 6100 meters. It is located in the Sverdlovsk region, near the town of Verkhnyaya Tura. Work on the software lasted for 20 years, starting in 1985 and ending in 2005.
5. Biikzhal well. Its depth reaches 6700 meters. The well was drilled from 1962 to 1971. It is located on the Caspian lowland.
6. Aralsol well. Its depth is one hundred meters more than Biikzhalskaya and is only 6800 meters. The drilling year and location of the well are completely identical to the Biizhalskaya well.
7. Timan-Pechora well. Its depth reaches 6904 meters. Located in the Komi Republic. To be more precise, in the Vuktyl region. Work on the software lasted about 10 years, from 1984 to 1993.
8. Tyumen well. The depth reaches 7502 meters out of 8000 planned. The well is located near the town and village of Korotchaevo. Drilling took place from 1987 to 1996.
9. Shevchenko well. It was drilled during one year in 1982 with the aim of extracting oil in Western Ukraine. The depth of the well is 7520 meters. Located in the Carpathian region.
10. En-Yakhinskaya well. It has a depth of about 8250 meters. The only well that exceeded the drilling plan (6000 was originally planned). It is located on the territory of Western Siberia, near the city of Novy Urengoy. Drilling lasted from 2000 to 2006. It was currently the last operating ultra-deep well in Russia.
11. Saatlinskaya well. Its depth is 8324 meters. Drilling was carried out between 1977 and 1982. It is located in Azerbaijan, 10 kilometers from the city of Saatly, within the Kursk Bulge.

Worldwide ultra-deep wells

On the territory of other countries there are also a number of super-deep wells that cannot be ignored:

1. Sweden. Silyan Ring with a depth of 6800 meters.
2. Kazakhstan. Tasym South-Eastern with a depth of 7050 meters.
3. USA. The Bighorn is 7583 meters deep.
4. Austria. Zisterdorf with a depth of 8553 meters.
5. USA. University with a depth of 8686 meters.
6. Germany. KTB-Oberpfalz with a depth of 9101 meters.
7. USA. Beydat-Unit with a depth of 9159 meters.
8. USA. Bertha Rogers at a depth of 9583 meters.

World records for ultra-deep wells in the world

In 2008, the world record of the Kola well was broken by the Maersk oil well. Its depth is 12,290 meters.

After that, several more world records for ultra-deep wells were recorded:

1. In early January 2011, the record was broken by the Sakhalin-1 oil well, which reaches a depth of 12,345 meters.
2. In June 2013, the record was broken by the well of the Chayvinskoye field, the depth of which was 12,700 meters.

However, the riddles and mysteries of the Kola super-deep well have not been revealed or explained to this day. Regarding the sounds present during its drilling, new theories have arisen to this day. Who knows, maybe this is really the fruit of a violent human fantasy? Well, then why so many eyewitnesses? Maybe soon there will be a person who will give a scientific explanation of what is happening, and perhaps the well will remain a legend that will be retold for many more centuries...

At a depth of 410-660 kilometers below the surface of the Earth, the ocean of the Archean period. Such discoveries would not have been possible without the ultra-deep drilling methods developed and used in the Soviet Union. One of the artifacts of those times is the Kola super-deep well (SG-3), which, even 24 years after the cessation of drilling, remains the deepest in the world. Why it was drilled and what discoveries it helped to make, says Lenta.ru.

The pioneers of ultra-deep drilling were the Americans. True, in the vastness of the ocean: in a pilot project, they involved the ship Glomar Challenger, designed just for this purpose. In the meantime, the corresponding theoretical base was being actively developed in the Soviet Union.

In May 1970, in the north of the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers from the city of Zapolyarny, drilling began on the Kola superdeep well. As expected, this was timed to coincide with the centenary of the birth of Lenin. Unlike other ultra-deep wells, SG-3 was drilled exclusively for scientific purposes and even organized a special exploration expedition.

The drilling site was unique: it is on the Baltic Shield in the Kola Peninsula region that ancient rocks come to the surface. Many of them are three billion years old (our planet itself is 4.5 billion years old). In addition, here the Pechenga-Imandra-Varzug rift trough is a cup-like structure pressed into ancient rocks, the origin of which is explained by a deep fault.

It took scientists four years to drill a well to a depth of 7263 meters. So far, nothing unusual has been done: the same installation was used as in the extraction of oil and gas. Then the well stood idle for a whole year: the installation was modified for turbine drilling. After the upgrade, it was possible to drill about 60 meters per month.

A depth of seven kilometers brought surprises: the alternation of hard and not very dense rocks. Accidents have become more frequent, and many caverns have appeared in the wellbore. Drilling continued until 1983, when the depth of SG-3 reached 12 kilometers. After that, the scientists gathered a large conference and talked about their successes.

However, due to careless handling of the drill, a five-kilometer section remained in the mine. For several months they tried to get it, but did not succeed. It was decided to start drilling again from a depth of seven kilometers. Due to the complexity of the operation, not only the main shaft was drilled, but also four additional ones. It took six years to restore the lost meters: in 1990, the well reached a depth of 12,262 meters, becoming the deepest in the world.

Two years later, drilling was stopped, subsequently the well was mothballed, but in fact it was abandoned.

Nevertheless, many discoveries were made at the Kola superdeep well. Engineers have created a whole system of ultra-deep drilling. The difficulty was not only in depth, but also in high temperatures (up to 200 degrees Celsius) due to the intensity of the work of the drills.

Scientists not only moved deep into the Earth, but also raised rock samples and cores for analysis. By the way, it was they who studied the lunar soil and found out that in composition it almost completely corresponds to the rocks extracted from the Kola well from a depth of about three kilometers.

At a depth of more than nine kilometers, they found deposits of minerals, including gold: in the olivine layer it is as much as 78 grams per ton. And this is not so little - gold mining is considered possible at 34 grams per ton. A pleasant surprise for scientists, as well as for the nearby plant, was the discovery of a new ore horizon of copper-nickel ores.

Among other things, the researchers learned that granites do not pass into a super-strong basalt layer: in fact, Archean gneisses, which are traditionally classified as fractured rocks, were located behind it. This made a kind of revolution in geological and geophysical science and completely changed the traditional ideas about the bowels of the Earth.

Another pleasant surprise is the discovery at a depth of 9-12 kilometers of highly porous fractured rocks saturated with highly mineralized waters. According to the assumption of scientists, it is they who are responsible for the formation of ores, but before it was believed that this occurs only at much shallower depths.

Among other things, it turned out that the temperature of the bowels is slightly higher than expected: at a depth of six kilometers, a temperature gradient of 20 degrees Celsius per kilometer was obtained instead of 16 expected. The radiogenic origin of the heat flux was established, which also did not agree with previous hypotheses.

In the deep layers more than 2.8 billion years old, scientists have found 14 types of petrified microorganisms. This made it possible to shift the time of the origin of life on the planet by one and a half billion years ago. The researchers also found that there are no sedimentary rocks at the depths and there is methane, forever burying the theory of the biological origin of hydrocarbons.

Penetrating into those secrets that are under our feet is no easier than learning all the secrets of the Universe above our heads. And perhaps even more difficult, because in order to look into the depths of the Earth, a very deep well is needed.

The goals of drilling are different (oil production, for example), but ultra-deep (more than 6 km) wells are primarily needed by scientists who want to know what is interesting inside our planet. Where are such "windows" to the center of the Earth and what is the name of the deepest drilled well, we will tell you in this article. First, just one explanation.

Drilling can be done both vertically downwards and at an angle to the earth's surface. In the second case, the extent can be very large, but the depth, if measured from the mouth (the beginning of the well on the surface) to the deepest point in the bowels, is less than those that run perpendicular.

An example is one of the wells of the Chayvinskoye field, the length of which has reached 12,700 m, but in depth it is significantly inferior to the deepest wells.

This well with a depth of 7520 m is located on the territory of modern Western Ukraine. However, work on it was carried out back in the USSR in 1975-1982.

The purpose of creating this one of the deepest wells in the USSR was the extraction of minerals (oil and gas), but the study of the bowels of the earth was also an important task.

9 En-Yakhinskaya well

Not far from the city of Novy Urengoy in the Yamalo-Nenets district. The purpose of drilling the Earth was to determine the composition of the earth's crust at the drilling site and to determine the profitability of developing large depths for mining.

As is usually the case with ultra-deep wells, the subsoil presented the researchers with many "surprises". For example, at a depth of about 4 km, the temperature reached +125 (higher than the calculated one), and after another 3 km, the temperature was already +210 degrees. Nevertheless, scientists completed their research, and in 2006 the well was liquidated.

8 Saatli in Azerbaijan

In the USSR, one of the deepest wells in the world, Saatli, was drilled on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It was planned to bring its depth to 11 km and conduct various studies related to both the structure of the earth's crust and the development of oil at different depths.

However, it was not possible to drill such a deep well, as it happens very, very often. During operation, machines often fail due to extremely high temperatures and pressures; the well is curved, since the hardness of different rocks is not uniform; often a minor breakdown entails such problems that their solution requires more funds than the creation of a new one.

So in this case, despite the fact that the materials obtained as a result of drilling were very valuable, the work had to be stopped at around 8324 m.

7 Zisterdorf - the deepest in Austria

Another deep well was drilled in Austria, near the town of Zisterdorf. There were gas and oil fields nearby, and geologists hoped that the ultra-deep well would make super-profits in the field of mining.

Indeed, natural gas was discovered at a very considerable depth - to the despair of specialists, it was impossible to extract it. Further drilling ended in an accident, the walls of the well collapsed.
It did not make sense to restore, they decided to drill another nearby, but nothing interesting for the industrialists could be found in it.

6 Universities in the USA

One of the deepest wells on Earth is the University in the USA. Its depth is 8686 m. The materials obtained as a result of drilling are of considerable interest, as they provide new material about the structure of the planet on which we live.

Surprisingly, as a result, it turned out that it was not scientists who were right, but science fiction writers: there are layers of minerals in the bowels, and life exists at great depths - however, we are talking about bacteria!

In the 1990s, drilling of the ultra-deep well Hauptborung began in Germany. It was planned to bring its depth to 12 km, but, as is usually the case with ultra-deep mines, the plans were not given success. Already at around 7 meters, problems began with the machines: drilling vertically down became impossible, the mine began to deviate more and more to the side. Each meter was given with difficulty, and the temperature grew extremely.

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Finally, when the heat reached 270 degrees, and endless accidents and failures exhausted everyone, it was decided to suspend work. This happened at a depth of 9.1 km, which makes the Hauptborung well one of the deepest.

The scientific material obtained from the drilling has become the basis for thousands of studies, and the mine itself is currently used for tourism purposes.

4 Baden Unit

In the US, Lone Star attempted to drill an ultra-deep well in 1970. The location near the city of Anadarko in Oklahoma was not chosen by chance: here, wildlife and high scientific potential create a convenient opportunity for both drilling a well and studying it.

The work was carried out for more than a year, and during this time they drilled to a depth of 9159 m, which makes it possible to include it among the deepest mines in the world.

And finally, we present the three deepest wells in the world. In third place is Bertha Rogers - the world's first ultra-deep well, which, however, did not remain the deepest for long. After only a short time, the deepest well in the USSR, the Kola, appeared.

Bert Rogers was drilled by GHK, a mining company, mainly natural gas. The aim of the work was to search for gas at great depths. Work began in 1970, when very little was known about the earth's interior.

The company had high hopes for a place in Washita County, because there are many minerals in Oklahoma, and at that time scientists thought that there were entire layers of oil and gas in the thickness of the earth. However, 500 days of work and huge funds invested in the project turned out to be useless: the drill melted in a layer of liquid sulfur, and gas or oil could not be found.

In addition, scientific research was not carried out during the drilling, since the well was only of commercial importance.

2 KTB-Oberpfalz

In second place in our ranking is the German well Oberpfalz, which has reached a depth of almost 10 km.

This mine holds the record as the deepest vertical well, since it goes to a depth of 7500 m without deviation to the side! This is an unprecedented figure, because the mines at great depths inevitably bend, but the unique equipment used by scientists from Germany made it possible to move the drill vertically down for a very long time.

Not so big and the difference in diameter. Ultra-deep wells begin on the surface of the earth with a hole of a rather large diameter (at Oberpfalz - 71 cm), and then gradually narrow. At the bottom, the German well has a diameter of only about 16 cm.

The reason why the work had to be stopped is the same as in all other cases - equipment failure due to high temperatures.

1 Kola well - the deepest in the world

We owe a stupid legend to the “duck” launched in the Western press, where, with reference to the mythical “scientist of world renown” Azzakov, it was told about a “creature” that escaped from a mine, the temperature in which reached 1000 degrees, about the groans of millions of people who signed up for microphone down and so on.

At first glance, it is clear that the story is sewn with white thread (and it was published, by the way, on April Fool's Day): the temperature in the mine was no higher than 220 degrees, however, with it, as well as at 1000 degrees, no microphone can work ; creatures did not break out, and the named scientist does not exist.

The Kola well is the deepest in the world. Its depth reaches 12262 m, which significantly exceeds the depth of other mines. But not length! At least three wells can now be named - Qatar, Sakhalin-1 and one of the wells of the Chayvo field (Z-42) - which are longer, but not deeper.
Kolskaya gave scientists colossal material, which has not yet been fully processed and comprehended.

The deepest well in the world is located on the Kola Peninsula near the city of Zapolyarny (Murmansk region); its depth will be 12 kilometers 262 meters, which is an absolute world record. In 1997, the Kola Superdeep was listed in the Guinness Book of Records, but by that time she herself was no longer working: drilling was stopped in 1992, the well was mothballed, and what was left of the drilling rig was abandoned to the mercy of fate and actually looted.

However, over the years of drilling, Soviet scientists managed to make many discoveries that related to the composition of the earth's crust and shed light on some scientific issues.

Preparatory work

The main task of drilling the well was to reach the Earth's mantle, which supposedly should consist 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 on the planet. According to scientists, the age of the rocks emerging here on the surface was at least three billion years. 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 simultaneously at the well. The Soviet scientist David Mironovich Guberman became the head of the Kola Superdeep, the head of the drilling rig was Alexei Batishchev, the chief engineer was Ivan Vasilchenko, the team of geologists included famous geologists Yuri Kuznetsov, Yuri Smirnov and Vladimir Lanev.

Drilling

Throughout 1970, drilling was carried out with a conventional drilling rig, then work had to be stopped, and a new Uralmash-15000 rig, designed for deep drilling, was built at the site of the well.

This drilling rig was a tower with a twenty-story building, sheathed with plywood sheets on top - otherwise it was impossible to work in winter. Soviet scientists used turbine drilling, a method in which only the drill bit rotates inside the well under the pressure of the incoming fluid.

It took only about four hours a day to drill at great depths - the rest of the time was spent lifting pipes to the surface to extract cores. During this time, the drill managed to pass from seven to ten meters of rock. It took the drillers four years to cover the first seven kilometers.

The twelve-kilometer mark was already passed 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 was 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 that threw Soviet geologists to the mark of seven kilometers occurred on the very first sinking on September 27, 1984: a 200-ton column broke. Everything below seven kilometers was lost. For almost a year, geologists tried to get the pipes, but then they recognized this as impossible and began to drill a bypass shaft. The main difficulty was that from a depth of nine kilometers, core extraction became difficult - the rock crumbled and only the most durable “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 are limited and, after several accidents, the work was curtailed.

First, it turned out 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 younger granites. This theory has been debunked. The layer of grants turned out to be several times thicker than expected, and under it lay less durable fractured rocks - Archean gneisses (Archean - a geological period that lasted from 4,000,0000 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 existence of which was hypothesized at the beginning of the 20th century by the famous geologist Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev. It was found deeper than nine kilometers, it turned out. that it contains a concentration of gold suitable for mining.

It was discovered that rock samples at a depth of three kilometers fully 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 devilry

Superstitious people associate many legends with the Kola Superdeep. Some say that it was closed because Soviet scientists allegedly got to hell, others say that demons come out of it at night, others claim that voices of people tormented in the underworld can be heard from it.

In fact, all these are echoes of the publication of one Finnish newspaper, which was just joking by releasing an article about the well on April 1st. However, as often happens, one of the American television companies picked up the joke, perhaps taking it for the truth, or perhaps deciding to scare their listeners with “terrible Russians”, after which rumors about the devilry going on in the well scattered around the world.

Of course, it was hard to work on the Kola Superdeep, the high temperature at depth and the enormous pressure created many emergencies. However, scientists assure that there was no devilry. It was difficult, often routine work.