China Is Digging a 10,000-Meter Hole Into the Earth—And Their True Motive Might Surprise You

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 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Bertha Rogers Roger Mills

The Bertha Rogers well is located in Washita County, Oklahoma, not Roger Mills County.

It was an ultra-deep oil well drilled in Washita County between 1973 and 1974, reaching a depth of 9,583 meters (approximately 31,440 feet), making it the deepest borehole in the world at the time until it was surpassed by the Soviet Union’s Kola Superdeep Borehole in 1979.

The drilling was conducted by the Lone Star Producing Company using the Loffland Bros. Rig 32, the largest land-based drilling rig in the world at that time.

The well was abandoned after drilling was halted on April 13, 1974, following the drill bit being melted by a pocket of molten sulfur encountered at depth, after 504 days of drilling.

The well produced natural gas until July 1997 before being permanently plugged and abandoned.

The precise location is near Clinton Sherman Airport and Burns Flat, with coordinates estimated around 35.31°N 99.19°W.

AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.

"Project Mohole," Part Deux...

In 1957, Project Mohole aimed to drill through the Earth's oceanic crust to reach the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho), the boundary between the crust and the mantle (commonly called the "Moho"). The intended depth of the hole was approximately 6 to 10 kilometers (3.7 to 6.2 miles) below the ocean floor, as the oceanic crust is typically 5–10 km thick (compared to 20–60 km on continents).
The exact target depth varied depending on the drilling site, with the goal of penetrating the crust to sample the upper mantle. In the initial test phase off Guadalupe, Mexico, in 1961, the project drilled about 200 meters into the ocean floor, but the full project was intended to reach the Moho, estimated to be around 7 km deep at that location. The goals was to obtain samples of the Earth's mantle. The project was proposed by the American Miscellaneous Society (AMSOC), a group of scientists including Walter Munk and Harry Hess, and was funded by the National Science Foundation. It was seen as an Earth science counterpart to the Space Race, spurred by competition with the Soviet Union after the launch of Sputnik in 1957.
Objective: To drill through the ocean floor to reach the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho), named after Croatian seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić, who discovered it in 1909 by noting changes in seismic wave speeds. The Moho marks the transition from the Earth's crust to the denser mantle.
Why the Ocean?: The Earth's crust is significantly thinner under the ocean, making it a more feasible location for drilling to the mantle.
Timeline and Execution:
1957: The idea was proposed by Walter Munk and developed by AMSOC.
1961: Phase 1 involved test drilling off the coast of Guadalupe, Mexico, using the drillship CUSS I. The team drilled about 200 meters into the ocean floor, recovering Miocene sediments and a few meters of basalt, proving deep-sea drilling was possible.
Challenges: The project faced significant technical difficulties, including stabilizing the drillship in deep water, dealing with fractured rocks, and managing high costs (estimated at $57–122 million).
1966: The U.S. House of Representatives defunded the project due to cost overruns, mismanagement, and political opposition, ending Project Mohole.
Outcomes:
Although it failed to reach the Moho, Project Mohole pioneered deep-sea drilling technologies, such as dynamic positioning systems and re-entry cones, which benefited the petroleum industry and later oceanographic research like the Deep Sea Drilling Project.
It highlighted the challenges of drilling in deep ocean environments and contributed to the understanding of oceanic crust composition.
The scientific rationale for Project Mohole was to drill through the Earth's oceanic crust to reach the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho) and obtain samples of the Earth's mantle for the first time. The primary reasons were:
Understanding Earth's Composition: The mantle, which lies beneath the crust and constitutes about 84% of Earth's volume, was poorly understood in the 1950s. Sampling it directly would reveal its mineralogical and chemical composition, providing insights into Earth's formation, structure, and evolution.
Advancing Plate Tectonics: In the late 1950s, the theory of plate tectonics was still emerging. Drilling to the Moho would help confirm the nature of the crust-mantle boundary and provide data on the oceanic crust's structure, supporting or refining early tectonic models.
Geophysical Insights: The Moho was identified in 1909 by changes in seismic wave speeds, but its exact nature (e.g., a sharp boundary or a transition zone) was unknown. Direct samples would clarify its properties and improve models of Earth's interior dynamics.
Scientific Prestige: Inspired by the Space Race, Project Mohole aimed to achieve a landmark in Earth sciences, akin to landing on the Moon, by accessing the mantle, a feat considered technically challenging and symbolically significant.
Technological Innovation: The project drove advancements in deep-sea drilling technology, which scientists anticipated would benefit oceanography, geology, and resource exploration.
By drilling to the Moho, scientists hoped to unlock fundamental knowledge about Earth's internal processes, composition, and history, much like how lunar samples later revolutionized planetary science.

I remember my Dad being really intrigued by the project when I was a 10 years old. They wanted to go to 10,000 meters, but only got to 200! Fail. But it led to successful offshore oil drilling, so it was a huge success.

It's curious that the Chinese are attempting this on land, not at sea.

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.

A likely story.

Te goal is insidious.

Since they were caught sending spy balloons over America's air, they've changed their method for spying, and now...

they're going to be spying through the ground, digging deep enough to spy on the U.S. through holes deep enough to reach the other side of the world. Eventually, they'll be on American ground and spying from underneath us and building cave systems large enough to cover the entire U.S.

We are on the way to being conquered from within. ;)

Eric Swalwell will have easy everyday access to his China girl, right under his feet.

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