Just as it seeks to increase space travel, China also wants to explore the interior of the Earth. For the latter, the country drills a well 11 kilometers deep, penetrating more than 10 continental strata.
What is China’s goal? Reaching the Cretaceous system in the Earth’s crust, a 145-million-year-old series of layered rocks, to obtain data for geoscientific research.
The project, located in the desert of the Tarim Basin (Xinjiang, northwestern China), it would be completed in 457 days.
“Drilling a well more than 10,000 meters deep is a bold attempt to explore the unknown territory of the Earth and expand the limits of human understanding.” said Wang Chunsheng, a technical expert who joined the work, quoted by the Xinhua News Agency.
And contrary to what many may think, it is not the deepest well in the world created by a human being: this record is held by the Kola well, in northwestern Russia.with 12.2 kilometers.
Difficulties in digging China’s well
In charge of drilling is the China National Petroleum Corporation, Asia’s leading oil and gas producer.
sun jinsheng, scientist from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, explained the ins and outs of the national challenge.
“The difficulty of construction of the drilling project It can be compared to driving a big truck on two thin steel cables.” the engineer stated.
The oil corporation installed a team of more than 2 thousand tons, built to withstand underground temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius and atmospheric pressure 1,300 times greater.
“In addition to the extreme conditions deep below the surface, the harsh soil environment of the Tarim Basin, home to the hottest and driest desert in China, joins the challenge,” says The Guardian.