Posted on 08/06/2025 8:45:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
China is drilling one of the deepest holes ever attempted—down to 10,000 meters—through layers of Earth’s crust untouched for millions of years.
In one of the world’s most ambitious geoscience projects to date, Chinese engineers have begun drilling a 10,000-meter vertical borehole into the Earth’s crust. The operation, launched in May 2024, is located in the Tarim Basin, a desert region in northwest China’s Xinjiang province, known for its rich oil deposits and extreme climate.
The goal isn’t just depth for depth’s sake. According to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, the team is aiming to pass through more than 10 layers of continental rock and reach the Cretaceous geological system, dating back 145 million years. That’s not just a time capsule—they’re hoping to uncover fossil fuel resources, better understand seismic activity, and deepen the world’s knowledge of Earth’s geological history.
The project is led by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and is expected to take roughly 450 to 457 days to complete. The final depth will reach 11,100 meters, just shy of the record set by the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which topped out at 12,262 meters in the early 1990s.
Why China Wants to Dig Into the Cretaceous
What makes this effort particularly notable is the depth China is targeting. By reaching the Cretaceous layer, scientists hope to gain access to ancient sedimentary records—natural archives that can offer insight into climate shifts, tectonic plate movement, and the formation of oil and gas deposits.
11,000 Metre Drilling Project - Chinese state media has described the 11,000-metre drilling project as a ‘landmark in China’s deep-Earth exploration’. Photograph: Xinhua/Li Xiang/EPA
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Wang Chunsheng, a technical expert cited by Chinese media, described the operation as a “bold attempt to explore the unknown territory of the Earth.” He and others involved in the drilling believe the borehole could provide high-resolution data on the Earth’s crust and improve models used in earthquake prediction and resource management.
The Tarim Basin is already known for being rich in oil and gas, with Sinopec, China’s largest refiner, recently reporting flows from 8,500 meters below the surface. Drilling even deeper could uncover more untapped reserves, making this both a scientific and economic venture.
Extreme Engineering for Extreme Conditions
Drilling this far down isn’t just a matter of time—it’s a test of materials and machinery. Temperatures inside the borehole are expected to reach up to 200°C (392°F), and the pressure is estimated at 1,300 times that of Earth’s surface. The machinery—over 2,000 tonnes of equipment—must endure constant mechanical stress, rock instability, and rising heat as it bores deeper.
Sun Jinsheng, a geoscientist at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, offered a striking comparison: “The construction difficulty of the drilling project can be compared to a big truck driving on two thin steel cables.”
GLOBALink | China starts drilling superdeep borehole in landmark deep-Earth exploration
VIDEO AT LINK......................
This level of challenge isn’t new. The Kola Superdeep Borehole, once the deepest on Earth, faced repeated mechanical failures and unexpected findings. In that project, scientists discovered water in rock layers once thought dry and even found microscopic plankton fossils at 6,000 meters. These surprises highlight just how much remains unknown under our feet—and why China’s project could lead to equally significant discoveries.
A Global Race to Go Deeper, Learn More
While this project is the deepest ever attempted in China, it’s part of a broader global trend of using deep-earth exploration to understand both our planet’s past and future. From oil exploration to climate science, deep drilling offers unique insights unavailable through surface studies or seismic imaging alone.
At the same time, it aligns with a larger policy goal outlined by President Xi Jinping, who in 2021 called for breakthroughs in frontier technologies, including deep-Earth science and space exploration. With recent Chinese missions targeting the Moon, Mars, and asteroid samples, this new drill underscores China’s dual push to explore both outward and inward—toward the cosmos and the Earth’s core.
The outcome of the drill—expected sometime in late 2025—may help clarify long-standing debates in geology. But even if the project doesn’t hit every target, it will almost certainly produce high-value data and push the limits of what’s technically possible in extreme drilling environments.
Project Mohole was highly successful in developing the technology for deep drilling from untethered floating platforms. The present-day offshore oil industry owes its existence to Project Mohole.
As for actually drilling to the Mohorovic Discontinuity? Congress and Big Media, as usual, had their heads firmly stuck in the usual dark, damp, stinky place and torpedoed the project.
LOL! That has never occurred to me before. Great point!
I loved that movie.
(magma)
I’m thinking a movie gif will show up
Big deal. The deepest well in America is the Bertha Rogers #1 in Roger Mills, County, Oklahoma. It went to 31,441’ back in 1974. They will find nothing and be happy with it. It will be just another one of millions of dry holes in the world.
“Why China Wants to Dig Into the Cretaceous”
They are hoping to link up with the hole my dog started here.
That would give a tunnel all the way through the earth
31,441 ft = 9583.2 m
I had a dog once that dug a hole one night that was at least five feet deep. I have no idea why he did it............
A big flashlight?
Well then it will become a known magma chamber.
We use feet here in ‘Merica, not them meters.
That’s a hole six mile deep. Russia has an oil well that is more than 7.5 miles deep.
Well, at least it accomplished that before falling apart...
Looking for the creamed carrots I buried, Mom always said: “Clean your plate - there is starving Chinese man who’d like that food!”
First thing mentioned after “Why...” heading is climate shift. Scientists’ whole world view resolve around climate shifts. My prediction is they will discover some information seven miles deep that will allow them to formulate some theories that produce the conclusion they we need more government control.
Project Mohole (1966) was part of the Int’l Geophysical Year, which began in the 1950s, but continued much longer. The drilling was done from a ship, because parts of the ocean floor lack the layer of crust like the one we all live on.
I read a pretty short book about it (geared to kids, which I was at the time) in school; I must have Found it in the Jr High library during one of our elementary class afternoons there, probably 3rd grade.
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/aapg/aapgbull/article-abstract/50/3/651/552542/Project-Mohole
https://stanfordpress.typepad.com/blog/2023/07/the-legacy-of-project-mohole.html
https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/22276597/project-mohole-deep-ocean-drilling-unexplainable-podcast
They finally found a way around the flood tunnels at Oak Island. They’re after the Ark of the Covenant and Shakespeare’s unpublished works!
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