"Dr. Huberman, what the hell did you dig down there?" - a remark from the audience interrupted the report of the Russian scientist at the UNESCO meeting in Australia. A couple of weeks earlier, in April 1995, a wave of reports swept the world about a mysterious accident at the Kola superdeep well.
Allegedly, on the approach to the 13th kilometer, the instruments recorded a strange noise coming from the bowels of the planet - the yellow newspapers unanimously assured that only the cries of sinners from the underworld could sound like this. A few seconds after the appearance of a terrible sound, an explosion thundered ...
Space under your feet
In the late 70s and early 80s, getting a job at the Kola Superdeep, as the inhabitants of the village of Zapolyarny in the Murmansk region call the well familiarly, was more difficult than getting into the cosmonaut corps. From hundreds of applicants, one or two were chosen. Together with the order for employment, the lucky ones received a separate apartment and a salary equal to double or triple the salary of Moscow professors. There were 16 research laboratories working at the well at the same time, each the size of an average plant. Only the Germans dug the earth with such persistence, but, as the Guinness Book of Records testifies, the deepest German well is almost half as long as ours.
Distant galaxies have been studied by mankind much better than what is under the earth's crust a few kilometers from us. The Kola Superdeep is a kind of telescope into the mysterious inner world of the planet.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been believed that the Earth consists of a crust, a mantle, and a core. At the same time, no one really could tell where one layer ends and the next one begins. Scientists did not even know what, in fact, these layers consist of. Some 40 years ago, they were sure that the layer of granites starts at a depth of 50 meters and continues up to 3 kilometers, and then basalts come. It was expected to meet the mantle at a depth of 15–18 kilometers. In reality, everything turned out to be completely different. And although school textbooks still write that the Earth consists of three layers, scientists from the Kola Superdeep proved that this is not so.
Baltic Shield
Projects for traveling deep into the Earth appeared in the early 60s in several countries at once. They tried to drill wells in those places where the crust should have been thinner - the goal was to reach the mantle. For example, the Americans drilled in the area of the island of Maui, Hawaii, where, according to seismic studies, ancient rocks go under the ocean floor and the mantle is located at a depth of about 5 kilometers under a four-kilometer water column. Alas, not a single ocean drilling rig has penetrated deeper than 3 kilometers.
In general, almost all ultra-deep well projects 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 super-hot areas, or they seemed to be bitten off by some unprecedented monster. Deeper than 3 kilometers, only 5 wells broke through, 4 of them were Soviet. And only the Kola Superdeep was destined to overcome the mark of 7 kilometers.
Initial domestic projects also involved underwater drilling - in the Caspian Sea or on Baikal. But in 1963, drilling scientist Nikolai Timofeev convinced the State Committee for Science and Technology of the USSR that a well should be created on the continent. Although drilling would take incomparably longer, he believed, the well would be much more valuable from a scientific point of view, because it was in the thickness of the continental plates in prehistoric times that the most significant movements of terrestrial rocks took place. The drilling point was chosen on the Kola Peninsula not by chance. The peninsula is located on the so-called Baltic Shield, which is composed of the most ancient rocks known to mankind.
A multi-kilometer section of the Baltic Shield layers is a clear history of the planet over the past 3 billion years.
Conqueror of the Deep
The appearance of the Kola drilling rig is capable of disappointing the layman. The well does not look like a mine that our imagination draws for us. There are no descents underground, only a drill with a diameter of a little more than 20 centimeters goes into the thickness. An imaginary section of the Kola super-deep well looks like a thin needle that has pierced the earth's thickness. A drill with numerous sensors, located at the end of the needle, is raised and lowered over several days. Faster is impossible: the strongest composite cable can break under its own weight.
What happens in the depths is not known for certain. Ambient temperature, noise and other parameters are transmitted upward with a minute delay. However, drillers say that even such contact with the dungeon can be seriously frightening. The sounds coming from below are indeed like screams and howls. To this we can add a long list of accidents that haunted the Kola superdeep when it reached a depth of 10 kilometers. Twice the drill was taken out melted, although the temperatures from which it can melt are comparable to the temperature of the surface of the Sun. Once the cable seemed to be pulled from below - and cut off. Subsequently, when drilling in the same place, no remnants of the cable were found. What caused these and many other accidents is still a mystery. However, they were not at all the reason for stopping the drilling of the bowels of the Baltic Shield.
12,226 meters of discoveries and some hell
“We have the deepest hole in the world - this is how you should use it!” - bitterly exclaims the permanent director of the research and production center "Kola Superdeep" David Huberman. In the first 30 years of the existence of the Kola Superdeep, Soviet and then Russian scientists broke through to a depth of 12,226 meters. But since 1995, drilling has been stopped: there was no one to finance the project. What is allocated within the framework of UNESCO's scientific programs is only enough to maintain the drilling station in working order and study previously extracted rock samples.
Huberman recalls with regret how many scientific discoveries took place at the Kola Superdeep. Literally every meter was a revelation. The well showed that almost all of our previous knowledge about the structure of the earth's crust is incorrect. It turned out that the Earth is not at all like a layer cake. “Up to 4 kilometers, everything went according to theory, and then the doomsday began,” says Guberman. Theorists have promised that the temperature of the Baltic Shield will remain relatively low to a depth of at least 15 kilometers.
Accordingly, it will be possible to dig a well up to almost 20 kilometers, just up to the mantle. But already at 5 kilometers, the ambient temperature exceeded 70 ºC, at seven - over 120 ºC, and at a depth of 12 it was roasting more than 220 ºC - 100 ºC higher than predicted. The Kola drillers questioned the theory of the layered structure of the earth's crust - at least in the range up to 12,262 meters.
We were taught at school: there are young rocks, granites, basalts, a mantle and a core. But the granites turned out to be 3 kilometers lower than expected. Next were the basalts. They weren't found at all. All drilling took place in the granite layer. This is an extremely important discovery, because all our ideas about the origin and distribution of minerals are connected with the theory of the layered structure of the Earth.
Another surprise: life on planet Earth arose, it turns out, 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that there was no organic matter, 14 types of fossilized microorganisms were found - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. At even greater depths, where there are no longer sedimentary rocks, methane appeared in huge concentrations. This completely and completely destroyed the theory of the biological origin of hydrocarbons such as oil and gas.
Demons
There were also almost fantastic sensations. When in the late 70s the Soviet automatic space station brought 124 grams of lunar soil to Earth, the researchers of the Kola Science Center found that it was like two drops of water similar to samples from a depth of 3 kilometers. And a hypothesis arose: the moon broke away from the Kola Peninsula. Now they are looking for exactly where.
In the history of the Kola Superdeep, it was not without mysticism. Officially, as already mentioned, the well stopped due to lack of funds. Coincidence or not - but it was in that 1995 that a powerful explosion of an unknown nature was heard in the depths of the mine. The journalists of a Finnish newspaper broke through to the inhabitants of Zapolyarny - and the world was shocked by the story of a demon flying out of the bowels of the planet.
“When I was asked about this mysterious story at UNESCO, I did not know what to answer. On the one hand, it's bullshit. On the other hand, I, as an honest scientist, could not say that I know what exactly happened here. A very strange noise was recorded, then there was an explosion ... A few days later, nothing of the kind was found at the same depth, ”recalls Academician David Huberman.
Quite unexpectedly for everyone, the predictions of Alexei Tolstoy from the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" were confirmed. At a depth of over 9.5 kilometers, they discovered a real storehouse of all kinds of minerals, in particular gold. A real olivine belt, brilliantly predicted by the writer. Gold in it is 78 grams per ton. By the way, industrial production is possible at a concentration of 34 grams per ton. Perhaps in the near future humanity will be able to take advantage of this wealth.
In 1970, just in time for Lenin's 100th birthday, Soviet scientists launched one of the most ambitious projects of our time. On the Kola Peninsula, ten kilometers from the village of Zapolyarny, drilling of a well began, which as a result turned out to be the deepest in the world and entered the Guinness Book of Records.
The grandiose scientific project has been going on for more than twenty years. He brought a lot of interesting discoveries, went down in the history of science, and in the end was overgrown with so many legends, rumors and gossip that would be enough for more than one horror movie.
USSR. Kola Peninsula. October 1, 1980. Leading well drillers reaching a record depth of 10,500 meters
entrance to hell
During its heyday, the drilling rig on the Kola Peninsula was a cyclopean structure 20-story high. Up to three thousand people worked here per shift. The team was led by leading geologists of the country. The drilling rig was built in the tundra ten kilometers from the village of Zapolyarny, and in the polar night it shone with lights like a spaceship.
When all this splendor suddenly closed and the lights went out, rumors immediately spread. By all measures, the drilling was remarkably successful. No one in the world has yet managed to reach such a depth - Soviet geologists lowered the drill more than 12 kilometers.
The sudden end of a successful project looked as ridiculous as the fact that the Americans closed the program of flights to the moon. Aliens were blamed for the collapse of the lunar project. In the problems of the Kola Superdeep - devils and demons.
A popular legend says that from great depths, the drill was repeatedly taken out melted. There were no physical reasons for this - the temperature underground did not exceed 200 degrees Celsius, and the drill was designed for a thousand degrees. Then the audio sensors allegedly began to pick up some moans, screams and sighs. Dispatchers who monitored the instrument readings complained of feelings of panic fear and anxiety.
According to legend, it turned out that geologists had drilled to hell. The groans of sinners, extremely high temperatures, the atmosphere of horror at the drilling rig - all this explained why all work on the Kola Superdeep was suddenly curtailed.
Many were skeptical about these rumors. However, in 1995, after the work was stopped, a powerful explosion occurred at the drilling rig. Nobody understood what could explode there, even the head of the entire project, a prominent geologist David Guberman.
Today, excursions are led to an abandoned drilling rig and they tell tourists a fascinating story about how scientists drilled a hole into the underworld of the dead. As moaning ghosts roam the installation, and in the evening demons crawl out to the surface and strive to sneak into the abyss of a gaping extreme seeker.
underground moon
In fact, the whole story with the “well to hell” was invented by Finnish journalists by April 1st. Their comic article was reprinted by American newspapers, and the duck flew to the masses. Long-term drilling of the Kola superdeep proceeded without any mysticism. But what happened there in reality was more interesting than any legends.
To begin with, ultra-deep drilling by definition was doomed to numerous accidents. Under the yoke of gigantic pressure (up to 1000 atmospheres) and high temperatures, the drills could not withstand, the well was clogged, the pipes that strengthened the vent were broken. Countless times the narrow well was bent so that new branches had to be drilled.
The worst accident occurred shortly after the main triumph of geologists. In 1982, they were able to overcome the mark of 12 kilometers. These results were solemnly announced in Moscow at the International Geological Congress. Geologists from all over the world were brought to the Kola Peninsula, they were shown a drilling rig and rock samples mined at a fantastic depth that mankind had never reached before.
After the celebration, drilling continued. However, the break in work proved fatal. In 1984, the most terrible accident occurred at the drilling rig. As many as five kilometers of pipes came off and hammered the well. It was impossible to continue drilling. The results of five years of work were lost overnight.
I had to resume drilling from the 7-kilometer mark. Only in 1990, geologists again managed to cross over 12 kilometers. 12,262 meters - this is the final depth of the Kola well.
But in parallel with the terrible accidents, incredible discoveries also followed. Deep drilling is an analogue of a time machine. On the Kola Peninsula, the oldest rocks, whose age exceeds 3 billion years, come to the surface. Climbing deeper and deeper, scientists have gained a clear idea of what happened on our planet during its youth.
First of all, it turned out that the traditional scheme of the geological section, compiled by scientists, does not correspond to reality. “Up to 4 kilometers, everything went according to theory, and then the doomsday began,” Huberman later said.
According to calculations, having drilled a layer of granite, it was supposed to get to even harder, basalt rocks. But there was no basalt. After the granite came loose layered rocks, which constantly crumbled and made it difficult to move inland.
But among the rocks 2.8 billion years old, fossilized microorganisms were found. This made it possible to clarify the time of the origin of life on Earth. Huge deposits of methane have been found at even greater depths. This clarified the question of the origin of hydrocarbons - oil and gas.
And at a depth of more than 9 kilometers, scientists discovered a gold-bearing olivine layer, so vividly described by Alexei Tolstoy in the Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin.
But the most fantastic discovery occurred in the late 1970s, when the Soviet lunar station brought back samples of lunar soil. Geologists were amazed to see that its composition completely coincides with the composition of the rocks they mined at a depth of 3 kilometers. How was it possible?
The fact is that one of the hypotheses of the origin of the Moon suggests that several billion years ago the Earth collided with some kind of celestial body. As a result of the collision, a piece broke off from our planet and turned into a satellite. It is possible that this piece came off in the area of the current Kola Peninsula.
The final
So why did they close the Kola Superdeep?
Firstly, the main tasks of the scientific expedition were completed. Unique equipment for drilling at great depths was created, tested under extreme conditions and noticeably improved. The collected rock samples were studied and described in detail. The Kola well helped to better understand the structure of the earth's crust and the history of our planet.
Secondly, time itself was not conducive to such ambitious projects. In 1992, the scientific expedition was closed funding. Employees quit and went home. But even today, the grandiose building of the drilling rig and the mysterious well impress with their scale.
Sometimes it seems that the Kola Superdeep has not yet exhausted the entire supply of its miracles. The head of the famous project was also sure of this. “We have the deepest hole in the world - this is how you should use it!” exclaimed David Huberman.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Biikzhal well. Its depth reaches 6700 meters. The well was drilled from 1962 to 1971. It is located on the Caspian lowland.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- Sweden. Silyan Ring with a depth of 6800 meters.
- Kazakhstan. Tasym South-Eastern with a depth of 7050 meters.
- USA. The Bighorn is 7583 meters deep.
- Austria. Zisterdorf with a depth of 8553 meters.
- USA. University with a depth of 8686 meters.
- Germany. KTB-Oberpfalz with a depth of 9101 meters.
- USA. Beydat-Unit with a depth of 9159 meters.
- 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:
- In early January 2011, the record was broken by the Sakhalin-1 oil well, which reaches a depth of 12,345 meters.
- 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, or perhaps the well will remain a legend that will be retold for many more centuries...
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.
Interested in
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. Nearby were gas and oil fields, and geologists hoped that an ultra-deep well would make it possible to 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.
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.
| Place | Name | Country | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kola | USSR | 12262 |
| 2 | KTB-Oberpfalz | Germany | 9900 |
| 3 | USA | 9583 | |
| 4 | baden unit | USA | 9159 |
| 5 | Germany | 9100 | |
| 6 | USA | 8686 | |
| 7 | Zisterdorf | Austria | 8553 |
| 8 | USSR (modern Azerbaijan) | 8324 | |
| 9 | Russia | 8250 | |
| 10 | Shevchenkovskaya | USSR (Ukraine) | 7520 |
In 2008, the deepest well in the world was finally abandoned, and all lifting mechanisms and 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 was gradually self-destructing. Since that time, there is no official information about her anymore.
Well depth to date
As of today, the Kola well is one of the largest drilling projects in the world. Its official depth reaches 12,262 m.
Sounds of Hell 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 talked about at the beginning of the article, and in.
They say that at the moment when the workers of the deepest well crossed the line of 12,000 m, they began to hear terrible sounds.
Initially, they did not pay any attention, but over time the situation 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 record everything that happened at the bottom of the well on film using heat-resistant microphones.
While listening to the recordings, it was possible to hear human cries and screams.
A couple of hours after studying the film, scientists found traces of a strong explosion, the cause of which they could not explain.
Drilling of the Kola super-deep well was suspended for some time.
When the work resumed, everyone still expected to hear people's wailing, but this time everything was quiet.
Suspecting something was wrong, the management began proceedings regarding the origin of strange sounds. However, the frightened workers did not want to comment on the current situation and in every possible way avoided any questions.
A few years later, when the project was officially put on hold, scientists suggested that the sounds were due to movement.
Some time later, 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 hell", because of the sounds coming from it. There is an opinion that with each next drilled kilometer, on the way to the 13th, one or another cataclysm happened. As a result, the Soviet Union collapsed.
However, the relationship between the drilling of the Kola super-deep well and the collapse of a superpower may be of interest only to those who believe that and others are supernatural "places of power."
There is an opinion 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 audible and even recorded human cries. However, this whole story is not supported by facts.
Dimensions of the deepest well
The depth of the world's deepest well on the Kola Peninsula is officially registered at around 12,262 m.
The diameter of the upper part is 92 cm, the diameter of the lower part is 21.5 cm.
The maximum temperature did not exceed 220°C. Inexplicable in this whole story are only sounds of unknown origin.
Benefits of drilling the Kola well
- Thanks to this project, new drilling methods were achieved, as well as improved equipment.
- Geologists have been able to discover new locations of valuable minerals.
- It was possible to debunk many different theories, for example, conjectures regarding the basalt layer of our planet.
Worldwide ultra-deep wells
As of today, there are approximately 25 ultra-deep wells, most of which are located in the republics of the former USSR.
Others also have a number of ultra-deep wells. We present the most famous among them.
- 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 ultra-deep wells in the world
- In 2008, the Maersk oil well (Qatar) with a depth of 12,290 m became the new depth record holder.
- In 2011, during a project called "Sakhalin-1" (), it was possible to drill a well up 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 not drilled vertically down, but at an angle to the surface.
Photo of the Kola well
Looking at the photo of the Kola well, it is hard to imagine that once life was in full swing here, and many people worked for the good of a great country.
Now there is nothing here but garbage and remnants of its former greatness. 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 
Photo 2012 
The wellhead with a metal plug. Someone scratched the wrong depth. August 2012 
Soviet workers on shift change, late 1970s The stories associated with the Kola well have not subsided so far. At present, scientists have not given a final answer about the origin of mystical sounds.
In this regard, there are more and more new theories trying to explain this phenomenon. Perhaps in the near future, scientists will be able to find out the nature of the "hellish sounds".
Now you know why the Kola well is interesting. If you liked this article, please share it with your friends. If you like it at all - subscribe to the site IinterestingFakty.org in any convenient way. It's always interesting with us!
Liked the post? Press any button.
Loading...
