Posted on 04/07/2005 2:06:11 PM PDT by beezdotcom
Seeking the elusive 'Moho'
Scientist said this week they had drilled into the lower section of Earth's crust for the first time and were poised to break through to the mantle in coming years.
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) seeks the elusive "Moho," a boundary formally known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity. It marks the division between Earth's brittle outer crust and the hotter, softer mantle.
The depth of the Moho varies. This latest effort, which drilled 4,644 feet (1,416 meters) below the ocean seafloor, appears to have been 1,000 feet off to the side of where it needed to be to pierce the Moho, according to one reading of seismic data used to map the crust's varying thickness.
The new hole, which took nearly eight weeks to drill, is the third deepest ever made. The rock collection brought back to the surface is providing new information about the planet's composition.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
cc: 'Gotta disagree. First this would afford a direct mantle sample, which has never been obtained, but rather only encountered tectonically raised, or at the surface. Always better to experience these things directly.
Second, it might tell us something considering non-biological hydrocarbon deposits, which, if they exist (which I doubt) could prove a new economic boom as such technology becomes more realistic and hence more affordable with the experience.
Best to you....
Maybe the crust is there for a reason and maybe we should not be punching holes in it.
Is this in preparation for the future burial of Clinton, when the sad day finally comes?
And if so will it get even hotter way down there?
Hey! No fair! I was trying my best to avoid this thread.
Poing.
This could result in a thermal heating system, much like they have in Iceland. Or, it could result in a volcanic eruption if done improperly. Thank God the sci-fi writers had already considered the dangers of this. I wondered if a scientist would thumb his nose at them. FReegards....
I question the timing of this.
Amusing thread. But it's gone on too long. We shoulda got in at the beginning. It coulda been a contender.
Ooooooooh, pretty creepy.....
Did they drill in Pinellas County Florida? Lots of evil in that neck of the woods.
" Do you remeber the movie "Crack in the World""
"Great movie, couldn't find a poster or trailer to link to. It has become obscure."
I taped it off of TV some years ago.
For those who never saw it, it's about a project to drill past the mantle to tap the earth's core for producing geo-thermal energy. They can't drill past the last layer, so they send a nuke down the hole to blast past it in spite of warnings from one scientist.
The warnings were correct however and the blast starts a crack spreading around the world that will destory the planet when it gets all the way around. They try to stop it by sending another nuke down a volcano in the crack's path but it just changes the direction so the crack just makes a loop instead of going all the way around the earth.
When that happens the part of the crust inside the loop is ejected into space, the tilt of the earth is altered, massive devastation and death, but humanity survives.
My thoughts also, I kind of wonder what kind of pressures they have down there.
Mine was to launch it into space. Then Gulf I broke out and I lobbied to bomb the Iraqis with it.
OOOO - I like that idea too.
Or could we just take it all to Saudi Arabia? Its one big sandpit anyways ...
Mopho at the Mustang ranch would more likely be what you say when she is so doggone good that you order a second helping.
MOHO, that is.
Hey, not only do I remember it fondly, but I actually got to talk to the guy who wrote the screenplay!
And I have to admit that when I saw this story, "Crack in the World" is the first thing that came to mind. Classic, fun SF movie.
bttt
Yes, but you wouldn't need to drill a hole to make use of the thermal temperature difference. You can simply take the wire and drop it in the ocean, so that the top is near the surface and the wire end down below. It's a heck of a lot easier to grab a boat and sail it a few hundred miles than it is to drill a hole a mile deep. Or you could just cycle the water itself to do the same thing. (And it is doable. The University of Hawaii built a 10kw plant a while ago, but they didn't go beyond the prototype stage.)
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