In 1970, exactly to the 100th anniversary of Lenin, Soviet scientists began one of the most ambitious projects of our time. On the Kola Peninsula, ten kilometers from the village of Zapolyarny, drilling of a well began, which as a result turned out to be the deepest in the world and entered the Guinness Book of Records.
Grandiose science project went for more than twenty years. He brought a lot most interesting discoveries, went down in the history of science, and in the end was overgrown with so many legends, rumors and gossip that it would be enough for more than one horror film.
THE USSR. Kola Peninsula. October 1, 1980 Advanced well drillers reaching record depths of 10,500 meters
Entrance to hell
During its heyday, the drilling rig on the Kola Peninsula was a cyclopean structure 20-storey high. Up to three thousand people worked here per shift. The team was headed by the country's leading geologists. The drilling was built in the tundra ten kilometers from the village of Zapolyarny, and in the polar night it shone with lights like a spaceship.
When all this splendor suddenly closed and the lights went out, rumors immediately spread. By all standards, the drilling was remarkably successful. No one in the world has yet managed to reach such a depth - Soviet geologists lowered the drill by more than 12 kilometers.
The sudden completion of a successful project looked as ridiculous as the fact that the Americans closed the program of flights to the moon. Aliens were blamed for the collapse of the lunar project. In the problems of the Kola superdeep - devils and demons.
A popular legend says that from great depths, drills were taken out more than once melted. There were no physical reasons for this - the temperature underground did not exceed 200 degrees Celsius, and the drill was designed for a thousand degrees. Then the audio sensors allegedly began to pick up some groans, screams and sighs. Dispatchers who followed the readings of the instruments complained about the sensations panic fear and anxiety.
Legend has it that geologists had drilled to hell. The groans of sinners, extremely high temperatures, the atmosphere of horror at the drilling rig - all this explained why all work on the Kola Superdeep was suddenly stopped.
Many were skeptical about these rumors. However, in 1995, after the work was stopped, a powerful explosion thundered at the drilling rig. No one understood what could have exploded there, not even the head of the entire project, a prominent geologist David Guberman.
Today, excursions are led to the abandoned drilling rig and tourists are told a fascinating story about how scientists drilled a hole into the underworld of the dead. Wailing ghosts roam like an installation, and in the evening demons crawl out to the surface and strive to snatch into the abyss of a gaping extremal.
Underground moon
In fact, the whole story with the "well to hell" was invented by Finnish journalists by April 1. Their humorous article was reprinted in American newspapers, and the duck flew to the masses. Long-term drilling of the Kola Superdeep went on without any mysticism. But what happened there in reality was more interesting than any legends.
To begin with, ultra-deep drilling was, by definition, doomed to numerous accidents. Under the yoke of gigantic pressure (up to 1000 atmospheres) and high temperatures, the borax could not withstand, the well was clogged, the pipes with which the mouth were strengthened broke. Countless times, the narrow hole was bent so that new branches had to be drilled.
The worst accident happened shortly after the main triumph of geologists. In 1982, they were able to overcome the 12 km mark. These results were solemnly announced in Moscow at the International Geological Congress. Geologists from all over the world were brought to the Kola Peninsula, showed them the drilling rig and rock samples mined at a fantastic depth, to which mankind has never reached.
After the celebration, drilling continued. However, the break in work turned out to be fatal. In 1984, the worst accident happened on the drilling rig. As many as five kilometers of pipes broke off and hammered in a well. It was impossible to continue drilling. The results of five years of work were lost overnight.
They had to resume drilling from the 7-kilometer mark. Only in 1990 did geologists manage to cross 12 kilometers again. 12,262 meters - this is the final depth of the Kola well.
But in parallel with the terrible accidents, incredible discoveries also took place. Deep drilling is an analogue of a time machine. On the Kola Peninsula, the most ancient rocks, which are more than 3 billion years old, approach the surface. Going deeper and deeper, scientists got a clear idea of what happened on our planet during its youth.
First of all, it turned out that traditional scheme geological section, compiled by scientists, does not correspond to reality. “Up to 4 kilometers, everything went according to theory, and then the end of the world began,” Guberman later said.
According to calculations, having drilled a layer of granite, it was supposed to get to even harder, basalt rocks. But no basalt was found. After the granite, there were loose layered rocks that constantly crumbled and made it difficult to move inland.
But among the rocks that are 2.8 billion years old, fossilized microorganisms have been found. This made it possible to clarify the time of the origin of life on Earth. At even greater depths, huge deposits of methane were found. This cleared up the question of the emergence of hydrocarbons - oil and gas.
And at a depth of over 9 kilometers, scientists discovered a gold-bearing olivine layer, so vividly described by Alexei Tolstoy in "Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid."
But the most fantastic discovery came in the late 1970s, when the Soviet lunar station brought in samples of lunar soil. Geologists were amazed to see that its composition completely coincides with the composition of the rocks they mined at a depth of 3 kilometers. How was this possible?
The fact is that one of the hypotheses of the origin of the Moon suggests that several billion years ago the Earth collided with some kind of celestial body. As a result of the collision, a piece broke off from our planet and turned into a satellite. Perhaps this piece came off precisely in the area of the present Kola Peninsula.
The final
So why did they close the Kola Superdeep?
First, the main tasks of the scientific expedition were completed. It was created in extreme conditions unique equipment for drilling at great depths has been tested and significantly improved. The collected rock samples were examined and described in detail. The Kola well helped to understand the structure much better crust and the history of our planet.
Secondly, time itself was not conducive to such ambitious projects. In 1992, funding was cut off for a scientific expedition. The employees quit and went home. But even today the grandiose building of the drilling rig and the mysterious well are impressive in their scale.
Sometimes it seems that the Kola Superdeep has not yet exhausted its entire supply of wonders. The leader was also sure of this. famous project... "We have the deepest hole in the world - this is how we should use it!" - exclaimed David Guberman.
In 2008, the deepest well in the world was finally abandoned, and all lifting mechanisms and the structures were dismantled.
A couple of years later, the director of the Kola Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences issued a statement that the well is gradually self-destructing. Since that time, there is no more official information about her.
Well depth today
As of today, the Kola well is one of the largest drilling projects in the world. Its official depth reaches 12,262 m.
Hell sounds from the Kola well
Like any grandiose project created by human hands, the Kola Well is shrouded in legends and myths.
The Kola well was drilled intermittently from 1970 to 1991This can be seen both in the Mariana Trench, which we mentioned at the beginning of the article, and in.
They say that at the moment when the workers themselves deep well overcame the 12,000 m line, and eerie sounds began to be heard.
Initially, they were not paid any attention, but over time, the situation has changed dramatically. With the onset of complete silence, sounds of a different nature were heard from the well.
As a result, the scientists decided to tape everything that happened at the bottom of the well using heat-resistant microphones.
While listening to the recordings, we were able to hear human screams and screams.
A couple of hours after studying the film, scientists discovered traces of a strong explosion, the cause of which they could not explain.
Drilling of the Kola superdeep well was suspended for some time.
When the work resumed, everyone was still expecting to hear people groaning, but this time everything was quiet.
Suspecting something was wrong, the management began proceedings regarding the origin of the strange sounds. However, the frightened workers did not want to comment on the situation and in every possible way avoided any questioning.
Several years later, when the project was officially frozen, scientists have suggested that sounds were due to movement.
After some time, this explanation was rejected as untenable. No other explanation was offered.
Secrets and mysteries of the Kola well
In 1989, the Kola well began to be called the "road to the underworld", because of the sounds coming from it. There is an opinion that with each next drilled kilometer, on the way to the 13th kilometer, one or another cataclysm happened. As a result, Soviet Union broke up.
However, the relationship between the drilling of the Kola superdeep well and the collapse of the superpower may be of interest only to those who believe that others are supernatural "places of power."
It is believed that the workers managed to reach a depth of 14.5 km, and it was then that the equipment recorded some underground rooms. The temperature in these rooms exceeded 1000 ° C.
They also clearly heard and even recorded human screams. However, this whole story is not supported by the facts.
The dimensions of the deepest well
The depth of the world's deepest well on the Kola Peninsula is officially registered at 12,262 m.
The diameter of the upper part is 92 cm, the diameter of the lower part is 21.5 cm.
In this case, the maximum temperature did not exceed 220 ° C. Only sounds of unknown origin remain unexplained in this whole story.
Benefits of drilling the Kola well
- Thanks to this project, it was possible to achieve new drilling methods, as well as improve equipment.
- Geologists were able to discover new locations of valuable minerals.
- It was possible to debunk many different theories, for example, guesses about the basalt layer of our planet.
World superdeep wells
As of today, there are approximately 25 superdeep wells, most of which are located in the republics of the former USSR.
Others also have a number of superdeep wells. Here are the most famous ones.
- Sweden. Silyan Ring - 6800 m.
- Kazakhstan. Tasym South-East - 7050 m.
- USA. Bighorn - 7583 m.
- Austria. Zisterdorf - 8553 m.
- USA. University - 8686 m.
- Germany. KTB-Oberpfalz - 9101 m.
- USA. Beidat Unit - 9159 m.
- USA. Bertha Rogers - 9583 m.
World records for superdeep wells in the world
- In 2008, the Maersk oil well (Qatar) with a depth of 12,290 m became a new record holder in depth.
- In 2011, during the project called Sakhalin-1 (), it was possible to drill a well to a mark of 12,345 m.
- In 2013, the well of the Chayvinskoye field (Russia) installed new record at 12,700 m. However, it was not drilled vertically down, but at an angle to the surface.
Photos of the Kola well
Looking at the photo of the Kola well, it is difficult to imagine that once life was in full swing here, and many people worked for the good of the great country.
Now there is nothing but rubbish and remnants of the former greatness here. Reinforced concrete walls and empty, abandoned rooms with randomly scattered things act depressingly. Silence reigns all around.
Drilling rig of the first stage (depth 7600 m), 1974 
Electrical substation building 
2012 photo 
Wellhead with a metal plug. Someone scratched out the wrong depth. August 2012 
It is difficult to imagine that under this plug there is the deepest "hole" in the earth, going deeper than 12 km 
Soviet workers at the shift shift, late 1970s The stories associated with the Kola well do not subside to this day. At present, scientists have not given a final answer about the origin of mystical sounds.
In this regard, new theories appear that try to explain this phenomenon. Perhaps, in the near future, scientists will be able to find out the nature of "hellish sounds".
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The deepest well in the world is located on the Kola Peninsula near the town of Zapolyarny (Murmansk region); its depth will be 12 kilometers 262 meters, which is an absolute world record. In 1997, the Kola Superdeep was entered in the Guinness Book of Records, but by that time it itself was no longer working: drilling was stopped in 1992, the well was mothballed, and what remained of the drilling rig was abandoned to the mercy of fate and actually plundered.
However, over the years of drilling, Soviet scientists managed to make many discoveries that relate to the composition of the earth's crust and shed light on some scientific issues.
Preparatory work
The main task of drilling the well was to reach the Earth's mantle, which is supposed to consist of molten rocks. To do this, they decided to drill in the place of the Pecheneg trough of the Baltic shield in the north-west of the East European platform - one of the most ancient formations of the planet. The age of the rocks emerging here, according to scientists, was at least three billion years old. The main task of drilling was to identify the features of the shield and determine the boundaries between the layers of the earth's crust.
A unique team of Soviet scientists was created to create the well; up to 3,000 specialists and 16 research laboratories worked at the well at the same time. The head of the Kola Superdeep was the Soviet scientist David Mironovich Guberman, the head of the drilling rig was Alexei Batishchev, the chief engineer was Ivan Vasilchenko, the team of geologists included the famous geologists Yuri Kuznetsov, Yuri Smirnov and Vladimir Lanev.
Drilling
Throughout 1970, drilling was carried out with a conventional drilling rig, then the work had to be stopped, and wells were built on the spot. new installation Uralmash-15000 designed for deep drilling.
This drilling rig was a tower with a twenty-story building, sheathed on top with sheets of plywood - otherwise it was impossible to work in winter. Soviet scientists used turbine drilling - a method by which only a drill bit rotates inside the well under the pressure of the incoming fluid.
It took only about four hours a day to drill at great depths - the rest of the time was spent lifting pipes to the surface for coring. During this time, the drill managed to pass from seven to ten meters of the rock. It took the drillers four years to cover the first seven kilometers.
The twelve-kilometer mark was passed already in 1983, after which the work was suspended - the Moscow International Geological Congress was approaching, at which the discoveries made at the well were demonstrated.
Drilling continued in 1984, but it turned out that a deep well cannot be left unattended for a long time - changes are taking place in its structure. The accident, which threw the Soviet geologists to a mark of seven kilometers, occurred on the very first sinking on September 27, 1984: a 200-ton column was broken. Anything below seven kilometers was lost. For almost a year, geologists tried to get pipes, but then they found it impossible and began to drill a bypass bore. The main difficulty was that from a depth of nine kilometers, core extraction became difficult - the rock crumbled and only the strongest "plaques" remained inside the pipes.
The maximum depth was reached six years later - in 1990. The pressure at this depth was 1,000 atmospheres. After that, I had to admit that the capabilities of the equipment were limited and after several accidents the work was curtailed.
First, it was found that the temperature in the depths of the earth's crust is completely different from what scientists expected, who believed that it would be low to a depth of 15 kilometers. It turned out that at a depth of five kilometers it is 75 degrees Celsius, at seven - it reaches 120 degrees, and at a depth of 12 kilometers it reaches 220 degrees.
Secondly, Soviet science believed that older basalts should follow the younger granites. This theory has been refuted. The layer of grants turned out to be several times thicker than expected, and underneath it lay less strong fractured rocks - Archean gneisses (Archean - geological period which lasted from 4,000,000 years ago to 2,500,000 years ago).
At a depth of nine to 12 kilometers, they found deep aquifers that were not expected to be found at all.
At a depth of 1.5-2 kilometers, an ore horizon was discovered - rocks rich in rare earth metals.
The olivine belt of the planet was also found, the hypothesis of the existence of which was expressed at the beginning of the 20th century by the famous geologist Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev. They found him deeper than nine kilometers, it turned out. that it contains a gold concentration suitable for mining.
It was discovered that rock samples at a depth of three kilometers completely correspond to the lunar soil, which confirms the theory that the Moon at one time, under the influence of an asteroid impact, could break away from the Earth.
A little bit of hell
Superstitious people associate many legends with the Kola Superdeep. Some say that it was closed because Soviet scientists supposedly made it to hell, others that demons come out of it at night, and still others claim that the voices of people tormented in the underworld can be heard from it.
In fact, these are all echoes of the publication of a Finnish newspaper, which just joked, releasing an article about the well on April 1. However, as often happens, one of the American TV companies picked up the joke, perhaps mistaking it for the truth, or perhaps deciding to scare its listeners with "terrible Russians", after which rumors about the devilry happening at the well spread all over the world.
Of course, it was difficult to work on the Kola Superdeep, the high temperature at depth and enormous pressure created many emergency situations... However, scientists assure that there was no devilry. It was difficult, often routine work.
It is no easier to penetrate the secrets that are under our feet than to learn all the secrets of the Universe above our heads. And maybe even more difficult, because in order to look into the depths of the Earth, a very deep well is needed.
The goals of drilling are different (oil production, for example), but superdeep (more than 6 km) wells are primarily needed by scientists who want to know what is interesting inside our planet. Where are such "windows" to the center of the Earth and how the deepest drilled well is called, we will tell you in this article. First, just one explanation.
Drilling can be carried out both vertically downward and at an angle to the surface of the earth. In the second case, the length can be very large, but the depth, if we estimate it from the wellhead (the beginning of the well on the surface) to the deepest point in the depths, is less than that of those that run perpendicularly.
An example is one of the wells of the Chayvo field, the length of which reached 12,700 m, but in depth it is significantly inferior to the deepest wells.
This well, 7520 m deep, is located in the territory of modern Western Ukraine. However, work on it was carried out back in the USSR in 1975-1982.
The purpose of creating this one of the deepest wells in the USSR was the extraction of minerals (oil and gas), but the study of the bowels of the earth was also an important task.
9 En-Yakhinskaya well
Not far from the town of Novy Urengoy in the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug. The purpose of drilling the Earth was to determine the composition of the earth's crust at the drilling site and to determine the profitability of the development of great depths for the extraction of minerals.
As is usually the case with superdeep wells, the subsoil presented the researchers with many "surprises". For example, at a depth of about 4 km, the temperature reached +125 (higher than the calculated one), and after a little more 3 km the temperature was already +210 degrees. Nevertheless, the scientists completed their studies, and in 2006 the well was abandoned.
8 Saatlinskaya in Azerbaijan
In the USSR, on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, one of the deepest wells in the world - Saatlinskaya - was drilled. It was planned to bring its depth to 11 km and carry out various studies related to both the structure of the earth's crust and the development of oil at different depths.
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However, it was not possible to drill such a deep well, as it happens very, very often. During operation, machines often fail due to extremely high temperatures and pressures; the borehole is bent because the hardness of different rocks is not uniform; often a minor breakdown entails such problems that their solution requires more funds than creating a new one.
So in this case, despite the fact that the materials obtained as a result of drilling were very valuable, the work had to be stopped at an elevation of 8324 m.
7 Zisterdorf - the deepest in Austria
Another deep well was drilled in Austria, near the town of Zisterdorf. There were oil and gas fields nearby, and geologists expected that the superdeep well would make it possible to obtain super-profits in the field of mining.
Indeed, natural gas was discovered at a very significant depth - to the despair of specialists, it could not be extracted. Further drilling ended in an accident, the walls of the well collapsed.
There was no point in restoring, they decided to drill another next to it, but nothing interesting for industrialists could be found in it.
6 University in the USA
One of the deepest wells on Earth is the University of the United States. Its depth is 8686 m.The materials obtained as a result of drilling are of considerable interest, since they give new material about the structure of the planet on which we live.
Surprisingly, as a result, it turned out that it was not the scientists who were right, but the science fiction writers: there are layers of minerals in the depths, and life exists at great depths - however, we are talking about bacteria!
In the 90s, drilling of the Hauptborung superdeep well began in Germany. It was planned to bring its depth to 12 km, but, as is usually the case with super-deep mines, the plans were not given to be crowned with success. Already at the 7s mark small meters the problems associated with automatic machines began: drilling vertically downward became impossible, the mine began to deviate more and more to the side. Every meter was given with difficulty, and the temperature rose tremendously.
Finally, when the heat reached 270 degrees, and endless accidents and failures plagued everyone, it was decided to suspend the work. This happened at a depth of 9.1 km, making the Hauptborung well one of the deepest.
The scientific materials obtained from drilling have become the basis for thousands of studies, and the mine itself is currently used for tourism purposes.
4 Baiden Unit
In the United States, Lone Star attempted an ultra-deep well in 1970. The location near the city of Anadarko in Oklahoma was not chosen by chance: here wild nature and high scientific potential create a convenient opportunity both for drilling a well and for studying it.
The work was carried out for more than a year, and during this time they drilled to a depth of 9159 m, which makes it possible to include it among the deepest mines in the world.
Finally, here are the three deepest wells in the world. In third place is Bertha Rogers - the world's first super-deep well, which, however, did not remain the deepest for long. After only a short time, the deepest well in the USSR, the Kola, appeared.
Bertha Rogers was drilled by GHK, a mining company mainly natural gas... The aim of the work was to search for gas at great depths. Work began in 1970, when very little was known about the earth's interior.
The company had high hopes for a place in Washita County, because there are many minerals in Oklahoma, and at that time scientists thought that there were whole layers of oil and gas in the earth. However, 500 days of work and huge funds invested in the project turned out to be useless: the drill melted in a layer of liquid sulfur, and gas or oil could not be found.
In addition, during drilling, no Scientific research, since the well was only of commercial importance.
2 KTB-Oberpfalz
In second place in our rating is the German well Oberpfalz, which reached a depth of almost 10 km.
This mine holds the record for being the deepest vertical borehole, since without deviations to the side, it goes to a depth of 7500 m! This is an unprecedented figure, because mines at great depths inevitably bend, but the unique equipment used by scientists from Germany made it possible to move the drill vertically down for a very long time.
The difference in diameter is not so great either. Superdeep wells start at the surface of the earth with a hole rather large diameter(at Oberpfalz - 71 cm), and then gradually taper. At the bottom, the German borehole has a diameter of only about 16 cm.
The reason why the work had to be stopped is the same as in all other cases - equipment failure due to high temperatures.
1 Kola well is the deepest in the world
We owe a stupid legend to the "duck" launched in the Western press, where, with reference to the mythical "world-famous scientist" Azzakov, it was told about a "creature" that escaped from a mine, the temperature in which reached 1000 degrees, about the groans of millions of people who signed up for microphone down and so on.
At first glance, it is clear that the story is sewn with white thread (and it was published, by the way, on the "fool's day"): the temperature in the mine was not higher than 220 degrees, however, with it, as at 1000 degrees, no microphone could work ; the creatures did not break out, and the named scientist does not exist.
The Kola well is the deepest in the world. Its depth reaches 12262 m, which significantly exceeds the depth of other mines. But not the length! Now, at least three wells can be named - Qatar, Sakhalin-1 and one of the wells of the Chayvo field (Z-42) - which are longer, but not deeper.
Kolskaya gave scientists colossal material, which has not yet been fully processed and comprehended.
| A place | Name | Country | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kola | the USSR | 12262 |
| 2 | KTB-Oberpfalz | Germany | 9900 |
| 3 | USA | 9583 | |
| 4 | Beiden Unit | USA | 9159 |
| 5 | Germany | 9100 | |
| 6 | USA | 8686 | |
| 7 | Cisterdorf | Austria | 8553 |
| 8 | USSR (modern Azerbaijan) | 8324 | |
| 9 | Russia | 8250 | |
| 10 | Shevchenkivska | USSR (Ukraine) | 7520 |
The Kola Superdeep Well (SG-3) is the deepest borehole in the world. It is located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny, on the territory of the Baltic Shield.
Its depth is 12,262 meters. Unlike other superdeep wells, which were made for oil production or geological exploration, SG-3 was drilled exclusively for the study of the lithosphere in the place where the Mohorovichich boundary comes close to the Earth's surface.
The Kola superdeep well served as the source of the urban legend of the road to hell (English Well to Hell hoax). This urban legend has been around the Internet since at least 1997. For the first time in English, the legend was voiced in 1989 on the air of the American television company Trinity Broadcasting Network, which took the story from the reportage of a Finnish newspaper. According to this legend, in the very thick of the earth, at a depth of 12 thousand meters, scientists' microphones recorded screams and groans. The tabloid newspapers write that this is "a voice from the underworld." The Kola superdeep well began to be called "the road to hell" - each new kilometer drilled brought misfortune to the country. When the drillers were driving the thirteenth thousand meters, the USSR collapsed. Not long before that, at a terrible depth, which no one in the world had ever reached, there were sounds chilling the soul, similar to the groans and screams of hundreds of tormentors. And then - a powerful roar and an explosion in the depths. The drillers say that they felt horror - as if something terrible had jumped out of the mine, invisible to the eye, but that made it even more frightening. Their stories were published in Finnish and Swedish newspapers - they claimed that "the Russians released a demon from hell." Drilling work was stopped - they were explained by insufficient funding. They stopped, despite the fact that many international funds were ready to invest in a unique project. According to legend, one of the main reasons for the superdeep well being abandoned was that very fear.
Project manager Azzakov says:
“As a communist, I don't believe in Heaven or the Bible, but as a scientist, I now believe in hell. Needless to say, we were really shocked to make such a discovery.
We put a microphone down the hole to record the sound of movement lithospheric plates... But instead of moving the plates, we heard a screaming human voice in which pain sounded. At first we thought the sound was coming from our own drilling equipment.
Then the sound recording was made at night, when the drill was turned off and the equipment was re-adjusted, our worst suspicions were confirmed. The screams, screams were not the screams and screams of one person, they were the screams, screams and groans of millions of people. "