Kola Superdeep Borehole (12,262 m)
Pozo superprofundo de Kola (12 262 m)
- Date
- 1970-1992 · confidence high
- Place
- Zapolyarny, Murmansk Oblast, Russia
- Credited to
- USSR Ministry of Geology (Yuri Kozlovsky)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Well SG-3, drilled from 1970, reached 12,262 m in 1989, the greatest vertical depth achieved, and revealed a crust more fractured and richer in water than expected, with no expected granite-to-basalt change and temperatures higher than predicted at that depth. Drilling stopped in 1992 because of heat and cost.
The vertical depth remains a record; some horizontal wells are longer (Al Shaheen, 12,289 m measured length) but not as deep vertically. The claim that 'screams from hell' were heard is a hoax.
What it led to
- correction of seismic models of the continental crust
- data on water and gas at great depth
- study of fluid circulation in the deep crust