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China Is Digging a 10,000-Meter Hole Into the Earth—And Their True Motive Might Surprise You
Daily Galaxy ^ | August 06, 2025 | Arezki Amiri

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.


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: ccp; china; cretaceous; deephole; earthcrust; hole; holes; platetectonics; redchina; tarimbasin; xinjiang
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To: Sirius Lee

Heh, heh.


61 posted on 08/06/2025 9:44:04 AM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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To: Red Badger

In a twist, they’re digging a hole from China...


62 posted on 08/06/2025 9:45:09 AM PDT by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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To: Red Badger
“hit an unknown”

Well ..... the pressure from the three gorges dam forces the lava to blow out the hole as the water from the lake rushes down into the earth blowing torrents of steam into the atmosphere ....

Causing the wode governments to call Bruce Willis to cap the lava with his one of kind lava plug.
Mean while John Rambo kicks all the china engineers behinds.

...... roll credits .....
(I thought everyone knew that)

63 posted on 08/06/2025 9:51:07 AM PDT by 1of10 (be vigilant , be strong, be safe, be 1 of 10 .)
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To: Bobbyvotes
25 miles below sea level is molten lava. We are safe from Chinese entering through a hole.

With that amount of heat, it will be a hell of a wok to get to the other side.

64 posted on 08/06/2025 9:53:47 AM PDT by voicereason (When a bartender can join Congress and become a millionaire...there’s a problem.)
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To: montag813

how the hell was there a light source in the Genesis cave?)

a possible explanation:
Various lichens and other organisms are light emitting.


65 posted on 08/06/2025 10:00:00 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: voicereason

“wok”

hmmm .... ;-)


66 posted on 08/06/2025 10:00:18 AM PDT by 1of10 (be vigilant , be strong, be safe, be 1 of 10 .)
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To: _longranger81

Somebody better tell the Laginas!


67 posted on 08/06/2025 10:05:28 AM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1

Geological shift happens.
Your question is a good question.


68 posted on 08/06/2025 10:06:17 AM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find. )
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To: Red Badger

They are digging a hole, diggy diggy hole, diggy diggy hole!


69 posted on 08/06/2025 10:07:57 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
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To: Carl Vehse

Too easy.
Why are they doing it?
To get to the other side.


70 posted on 08/06/2025 10:11:13 AM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find. )
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To: montag813

From the radioactivity that powered Genesis. But after watching Spock and Bones reprise Steve Martin’s All of Me, that was hardly my biggest issue.


71 posted on 08/06/2025 10:15:03 AM PDT by dangus
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To: Red Badger
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............

Because he was bored.

A lot of folks buy working breeds because they look cool not realizing they need a job to do every day.

When not given a job, the dog will find a way to burn off the excess energy.

72 posted on 08/06/2025 10:20:08 AM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)
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To: Red Badger

“ I have no idea why he did it............”

It’s obvious, he wanted to go to China


73 posted on 08/06/2025 10:21:19 AM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (“I don’t really care, Margaret.”)
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To: SunkenCiv

Wow. I think I lost about 30 IQ points just reading that description.


74 posted on 08/06/2025 10:22:10 AM PDT by dangus
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To: dangus

It was good for some laughs. Science fiction is Fiction with some faux science trappings, but this one is really bad. Probably just a lame-assed anti-nuke script idea by some hack writer.


75 posted on 08/06/2025 10:30:09 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

He was just a mutt, a mixture of at least three different types of dog...............


76 posted on 08/06/2025 10:37:13 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: HereInTheHeartland

Could be, he was part Chow!................


77 posted on 08/06/2025 10:38:54 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

No, to learn what is there of course.

The deepest I have ever drilled is about 27,000 feet. All the way through the sediment and into the basement rock. Most wells were less than 20,000 feet in the Anadarko Basin. Across the world they were usually less deep than that.

I would go out to the shale shakers and pick samples and marvel that sometime in the past they were deposited as grains of something falling in an ancient ocean or washed from ancient rivers. In the Granite Wash formation they came from other ancient mountains that you could see in the distance on a clear day; so the pebble puppies told us.

In Utah we drilled a well that passed through nearly 18,000 feet of the same rock straight as an arrow until someone decided to run a dip meter and we learned it was the Ochre formation turned on its side. Less than 5 miles away another well was drilled and saw regular bedding. Imagine what took place to turn the world on its side at that time in the past? I can’t.

The subsalt basins are yet another fascination left when seas evaporated then the salt heated, rose and spread under the weight of additional sediments; so we are told. That is the simple version of it. Allochthonous salt is what it is called.

The oil found in the deep waters of the Gulf of America is an anomaly. At such formation depths it should be so hot that the mobile hydrocarbons should have cooked off leaving only tar at best but it is cooler there at depth than normal so they have not and they probably exist much deeper than we have drilled.

Fascinating and captivating business.


78 posted on 08/06/2025 10:41:01 AM PDT by Sequoyah101
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To: Sequoyah101

Continents move slowly, then all at once..................


79 posted on 08/06/2025 10:44:11 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

Gee, I was off a county. Roger Mills is about ten miles west.


80 posted on 08/06/2025 10:45:49 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
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