Chinese scientists have started drilling a borehole, going 10,000 meters deep, into the Earth’s crust. This project is China's deepest borehole so far, as the country explores new frontiers above and below the planet’s surface. The project began on Tuesday in China’s oil-rich Xinjiang region.
According to reports, the narrow shaft will penetrate more than 10 continental strata, reaching the cretaceous system in the Earth’s crust, which dates back approximately 145 million years. This project's construction difficulty can be compared to a big truck driving on two thin steel cables, said Sun Jinsheng, a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
In his 2021 speech addressing the nation's leading scientists, President Xi Jinping called for greater progress in deep Earth exploration. This initiative can identify mineral and energy resources and help assess the risks of environmental disasters such as earthquakes and volcano eruptions.
This project is not China's first attempt to go deeper into the Earth's crust. The country has been exploring deep Earth resources for some time. However, this new project is an indication of China's increasing investment in scientific research and development.
Currently, the deepest man-made borehole on Earth is the Russian Kola Superdeep Borehole, which drilled a depth of 12,262 meters in 1989, taking more than 20 years to complete.
This new Chinese project shows that there are still so many areas yet to be explored and discovered, and China is undoubtedly an ambitious participant in the global scientific race. Exploration of the Earth's deep resources could surely bring economic, scientific, and social benefits. It is only a matter of time before we discover the treasures that lie beneath the Earth's surface.