We have been taught in school that beneath the Earth’s surface is the mantle and the core. But, some people are not convinced and want to see for themselves what lies at the centre of the Earth. To this effect, Russian and America were in a race against each other to drill to the centre several decades ago and Russia drilled a hole that goes so deep that nobody knows when it ends and it is known as the Kola Superdeep Bore.
The Americans were the first to start the race and the whole world watched in awe to what they might find.
They called it Project Mohole and started digging off of the Pacific coast of Mexico in 1961.
They submerged six massive buoys 200 feet underwater in a circular pattern to ensure the success of the project.
The Russians joined in a decade later and started drilling in the Kola Peninsula on May 24, 1970.
From 1970 to 1994, the Russians managed to drill the deepest hole man has ever drilled and it goes a third of the way through the Baltic Continent Crust and is known as the Kola Superdeep Bore.
Here is a picture for perspective on how deep the Kola Superdeep Bore actually goes.
The country even introduced stamps in 1987 commemorating the effort of the drill team.
The end goal of the drilling project was to reach a depth of 49,000 feet into the Earth’s crust. There were several holes dug that branched off of the main hole, and the deepest branch, called SG-3, reached a depth of an impressive 40,230 feet in 1989.
The drilling was stopped in 1992 when the temperatures became higher than expected and made drilling impossible to continue.
The drilling stopped but the project was officially brought to an end in 2005 when the facility was shut down.
If you visit the ruins you might not even realise where the hole is. All that is left is a steel cap that is dubbed the hole yo hell.
Even though the scientists did not reach the centre, it did allow them to understand the structure of the Earth better.
Let us know what you think about the Kola Superdeep Bore in the comments.