“The 10,000 meters deep borewell is being dug in the Tarim Basin, northwest China’s Xinjiang province, which has remained in headlines for holding Uyghur Muslims.
By India Today Science Desk: China has initiated the digging of a 10-kilometer-deep hole in Earth’s crust as the country explores the interior of the planet.
Beijing is moving fast in its aspirations of exploring new frontiers as it initiates a mission to track the inner and the outer boundary of the planet in space as well.
The 10,000 meters deep borewell is being dug in the Tarim Basin, northwest China’s Xinjiang province, which has remained in headlines for holding Uyghur Muslims.
The team will dig deep into the Earth, penetrating more than 10 continental strata, which can be used to reconstruct the history of the Earth’s continents, including the evolution of landscapes, climate change, and the distribution of life. Continental strata are layers of rock, which are an important resource for understanding the history of the Earth.
They can be used to identify and date past events, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and climate change. They can also be used to identify and study ancient life forms.
“Drilling a borehole over 10,000 meters deep is a bold attempt to explore the unknown territory of the Earth and expand the boundaries of human understanding,” Wang Chunsheng, a technical expert who joined the operation, told China’s Xinhua news agency.
The borehole will penetrate a depth of 11,100 meters and is located in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert, the largest desert in China, which in itself is a challenging environment to work in.
While the digging has begun, China has not yet given a full explanation or the reason behind the dig.
The deepest man-made hole on Earth is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in the Kola Peninsula of Russia, which was drilled between 1970 and 1992. The hole touched a depth of 12,262 meters and was aimed at studying the Earth’s crust and mantle.
However, the team experience several challenges during the project including high temperatures of up to 180 degrees Celsius at the bottoms of the hole, the constant breaking and changing of the drill bit and the strength of the rocks at the depth.”