Jun 3, 2023
Hours after China sent its first civilian astronaut into space on Tuesday, began the world’s second largest economy’s quest to dig its deepest ever borehole.
Credit: Xinhua
Chinese scientists are drilling a hole 10,000 metres (32,808 feet) into the Earth’s crust in the oil-rich Xinjiang, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
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For comparison, the deepest manmade hole ever dug is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia. A scientific drilling project undertaken by the erstwhile Soviet Union, the exploration reached an astonishing depth of 12,262 metres (40,230 feet) before being abandoned in 1989.
Credit: Twitter
Unlike the Russian borehole, which was aimed at geological exploration, the hole China is digging in Tarim Basin is part of an effort to identify mineral and energy resources.
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According to a Xinhua News Agency report, the narrow shaft will penetrate 10 layers of rock, also known continental strata, to reach the cretaceous system. At the other end of the hole are rocks dating back some 145 million years, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth.
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China is betting on the ambitious deep Earth exploration project to reduce its reliance on imports of oil, gas, minerals and metals.
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Sinopec, the petroleum refiner drilling the borehole, dubbed ‘Project Deep Earth 1-Yuejin 3-3XC Well’, said the plan is to dig to maximum depth in 457 days.
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The company claims to have drilled 49 wells deeper than 8,000 metres in the Tarim Basin, which contains the largest and deepest oil fields of China.
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The risk associated with drilling such a huge hole is comparable to a ‘big truck driving on two thin steel cables,’ Sun Jinsheng, of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told Xinhua.
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