Scientists Dug Toward Earth’s Core… Then They Found Something Completely Unexpected

Despite having lived on Earth for many years, us humans probably know more about the other planets that reside within our solar system than we do our own. Beneath the dirt we tread on lies plenty of mysteries that have yet to be solved. And one of the biggest ones is what waits at the center of the Earth. Do you know the saying, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to? [music] Personally, I’m fine with not knowing every little thing about our planet.

But I guess these Soviet scientists didn’t have the same mindset as me, and they ended up discovering that made them shut down operations for good. With telescopes being so advanced nowadays, we can use them to literally look into the past and obtain information from miles away. Think about that. Just how long would it take to receive information from over a billion miles? On August 25th, 2012, NASA’s Voyager 1 probe finally exited the solar system after traveling about 10 2 billion miles from Earth. [music] In that time,

researchers were able to go just 7 mi into Earth’s crust. The question still remains, however, what lies underneath us? But before we start, smash the like button and make sure to subscribe if you haven’t, and hit that notification bell so that you won’t miss any new stories. During the 1950s, [music] the United States and the USSR were engaged in what was known as the space race.

The two nations wanted to be the first to reach outer space and they both struggled to find a way to do just that. But there was another fight going on behind the scenes. While everyone else was focused on space exploration, there were a few who were more concerned about discoveries made on Earth, or rather within Earth, the US and the Soviet Union’s greatest geologists were busy making plans to drill as far as they could into the Earth’s crust.

Seriously, what was so fascinating about a bunch of dirt and rocks? Of course, anyone would think dirt and rocks aren’t as interesting as discovering new things in the deepest reaches of space. But between the late 1950s and60s, the US and the USSR, both had the goal of making bore holes through the outer layer of the Earth.

Both countries were curious as to what rested below the planet. Bore holes aren’t usually made for scientific purposes, you know. They’re mainly created when looking for things like oil and water. Even so, the holes made by the US and the Soviet Union [music] did lead them to some fascinating secrets within the planet’s crust.

The rocky shell that makes up Earth’s outer layer is called the crust. [music] 20 out of the 4,000mi distance inward to the Earth’s core is composed from the outer layer. But what is beyond the crust? The mantle, which is under the Earth’s crust, is the widest section of the planet, and it is composed of silicut rock.

To this day, no one has managed to reach the mantle by drilling because of how thick it is. This is a problem since scientists won’t get to the center of the Earth without first getting through the mantle. Success isn’t all that special when you take so many shortcuts in life. But it seems that scientists did find [music] one in order to get closer to the Earth’s core, and that was to drill through the ocean.

Earth’s crust is made up of two types, continental and oceanic crusts. The continental crusts are much older and thicker, [music] so it’s difficult to drill through. The oceanic sections, however, are only 4 to 6 m thick, so they are much easier to get past. In the early 1960s, the United States was the first to lead a mission to drill into the ocean.

Their goal was to drill far enough into the Pacific Ocean [music] to reach the border between the crust and the upper section of the mantle. The project known as the Mohurovich discontinuity or Moho was given the funny nickname project Mohole. The Americans [music] wanted so badly to beat the Soviets attempts to solve the mystery of the mantle.

Unfortunately, the US has not been successful in reaching the mantle despite all their efforts. 5 years of drilling went by and not much progress was made with project mohole. To make matters worse, the project was becoming expensive and it was soon abandoned. The mission was defunded in 1966 [music] due to the few hundred ft of digging costing around $40 million in today’s money.

By the time the project ended, the US only drilled as far as 601 ft [music] into the Earth’s crust. Since they never reached the mantle, the USSR was able to take the lead in the underground battle to get to the center of the Earth. The Soviets were just as eager to reach the Earth’s core as the Americans, especially after Project Moho’s abandonment.

They began their mission in the spring of 1970 and the Soviets [music] proceeded to drill into the continental crust of the Arctic Circle. Researchers started drilling below the Pichensky district of Merman, Russia, straight into the Cola Peninsula. The USSR’s goal was very simple, to drill as far as they could into the Earth and to progress further than the Americans did.

Of course, seems easier said than done. Like with project Mohole, the USSR had their own name for their drilling mission, the Cola Super Deep Bore Hole. Maybe not as creative of a name, but what mattered was the project itself. However, before they could begin drilling, the Soviets were in need of some very special tools for their expedition.

Before they started drilling, the Soviets created several 9-in holes, which would split from one central hole in the ground. But 2 years into drilling, they had to adjust their tools again so they could make more progress with them being 23,000 ft in at the time. Hey, my mom was born in 1974. To think that she was around when the Soviets were installing their new drilling equipment.

Not only that, but they were determined to reach a depth within the Earth that no one had ever reached before, 49,000 ft. Indeed, the USSR was making some progress in their mission, but that didn’t mean their rivals weren’t hot on their tail. The Americans definitely hadn’t given up, and they were about to make their own record in the underground war.

In the same year, the Lonear Producing Company started drilling for oil in Oklahoma. They were able to create a well that is 6 mi deep, which the company called the Bertha Rogers hole within a year and a half. The well became the deepest hole on the planet for a time. Discovering a serious problem with the well, Lonear was forced to shut down their project.

Turns out they had struck a sulfur deposit. And considering how dangerous sulfur is, hitting that was definitely not a good thing. But for the US to keep the record of making the deepest hole on Earth for 5 years is still an accomplishment. Too bad the record mentioned before was beaten by the Soviets on June 6th, [music] 1979.

This is thanks to the bore hole they had created in the Cola Peninsula, which was dubbed SG3. SG3, which was only 9 in wide, reached over 38,000 ft underground. Another branch was drilled the following year, which connected to the primary bore hole. Unfortunately for the researchers, the moment they managed to get to 39,000 ft, they had to suspend the project for some reason.

Even though they were 10,000 ft away from their goal, the Soviets decided to stop operations temporarily. They wanted people to visit the site of the borehole without any problems and to celebrate their success. In 1983, the Cola Super Deep Bore Hole was included in a geological exhibition. Of course, once all the celebrating was over, the digging started up again.

But by pure coincidence, when they began working, a whole bunch of problems arose that made them pause operations once again. Soon after drilling about 39,687 ft into the earth, the drill suddenly broke down. A large part of the tool broke off, and it took 2 years to repair. Instead of giving up, the Soviets abandoned that bore hole and started another at 23,000 ft.

3 years later, they reached 40,230 ft [music] into the planet’s crust. The workers expected to reach 44,000 ft by 1990 and 49,000 ft by 1993. However, after producing a third and fourth bore hole, they faced more equipment problems. Progress became incredibly slow, but the team continued drilling. Not much was known about what existed deep below the Earth’s crust.

The Soviets had already been surprised by how smoothly the first 10,000 ft had gone. But as they went deeper, the temperature became much higher than expected. [music] Researchers had predicted that at 40,000 ft, the rock would be around 212° F. Instead, the temperature reached 356° F.

[music] The extreme heat created another major problem. The deeper they drilled, the more the rock changed. Because of the intense heat and pressure, its texture and density [music] became so different that it behaved almost like plastic. Combined with the high temperature, this made drilling nearly impossible. The team realized their equipment could not handle these conditions [music] and they were forced to stop.

By 1992, the Cola Super Deep Bore Hole project was completely abandoned. For 22 years, the Cola team had drilled, stopped, and resumed operations multiple times. The project allowed geologists to test their theories and gain a rare look into the [music] planet beneath the surface. The deepest point of the Cola Borehole reached 7.5 mi into the Earth’s crust.

[music] However, the Soviets had hoped to reach the mantle, which they believed was at least 22 mi below the surface. Their project reached only about a third of that distance, but it still became the deepest hole ever drilled. The bore hole was only 9 in wide. Yet, researchers made several remarkable discoveries.

One of the most fascinating was evidence of biological activity deep underground, showing that life had existed beneath Earth’s surface billions of years ago. Almost halfway down, researchers discovered a cavern containing tiny fossils of single cell plankton. The fossils were found nearly 4 m below the surface and more than 24 species were identified.

Because the surrounding rock was believed to be over 2 billion years old, their discovery was particularly surprising. Another major discovery challenged existing ideas about the Earth’s crust. Scientists had previously believed that granite changed into basalt about 4 mi below the surface. Instead, the Soviets discovered that most of the crust was made of granite.

Perhaps the most remarkable discovery was flowing water deep within the crust. Scientists had not expected to find water at such depths. Researchers explained that extreme pressure forced oxygen and hydrogen out of crystals within the rock, creating water that became trapped underground. Despite these discoveries, the project could not continue.

The closure happened around the same time the Soviet Union collapsed, causing funding for the bore hole to disappear. A welded metal plate was [music] used to close the hole off. The site just looks like a ruined building today.