Based on the results of the two deepest holes drilled into the ground, scientists have combined with modern technical measures to be able to “hear” the sounds coming from the underground strata. . This is one of the discoveries that help people better understand the mystery of the planet where we live.
>>> Video: Underground Sound
In September 1990, a group of German scientists carrying out a project called the Continental Deep Drilling Program (also known as the KTB wormhole) placed a drill bit in southern Germany, creating a borehole up to 9 deep. ,6km to the ground to “look” at the strata below. This is where each of the two continental plates once merged to form the supercontinent Pangaea 300 million years ago. More than 120 scientists have drilled from the ground through seismic layers, liquid hydrogen and into strata with temperatures up to 315 degrees Celsius.
Image of Continental Deep Drilling Program project of German scientists (Source: Wiki)
The project has yielded surprising results about the structure of the Earth’s interior, including temperature maps of geological layers, new information on seismic pressure and impressive images of superimposed strata. on top of each other.
Besides, another project called “Kola Super Deep Hole ” implemented by the Soviet Union since 1970 has drilled to a depth of 12,262 m in the Kola peninsula in northeastern Finland, in the Arctic region. The Kola project drilled into the cold tundra (about 15,000 meters later) and reached a geological layer dating back up to 2.5 billion years. However, then the project lost funding and was officially stopped in 2008. Currently, the drill bit location has been covered by a metal plate.
For current scientists, the feats of KTB and Kola exploration boreholes are all that humans can know about the interior of the earth. In addition, with modern technology, scientists have also discovered what is the sound underground? An extensive geological research project led by the German Geosciences Research Center (currently managing the KTB borehole) in collaboration with artist Lotte Geeven has “heard” the sounds inside the earth based on the results of the study. results obtained from the KTB borehole.
Based on supplied documents combined with a seismograph, Geeven discovered intense sounds from underground. She describes them as deep echoes and creaks of geology. These are the sounds closest to the earth’s core that humans can hear.
Photo of Kola wormhole sealed in August 2012 (Source: Wiki)
Another artist, Doug Aitken, is also using his home in California to “hear” the sounds of the earth’s geology. Aitken lives in a house called Sonic House equipped with nine geologic microphones, each designed to capture the murmurs and creaks emitted by underground strata.
In addition, a program called “Sounds of Seimic” was set up to also record the sounds emitted by the strata. This is a program that directly records different geological sounds from many parts of the world and combines them into one complete sound.
The sounds emanating from the heart of the earth are perceived differently by each listener. Some called it a “melancholy howl” , while others described it as “a bell that beats in the making of history”. However, the important thing is that people have gradually discovered the deepest mysteries under their feet thanks to the results of scientific and technological progress.
The Soviet Union’s deep borehole was not the only “way to hell” . During the Cold War, the superpowers race to find their way down as deep as possible, trying to reach the mantle layer that lies 2,900 km deep.
This desire to reach out has not stopped; The Japanese are also trying to dig deep to see what exactly is at that depth.
“It was during the Iron Curtain that drilling began. Obviously there is competition among the research parties. The unwillingness of Russian scientists to share all the information they collect is one of the biggest motivations for us to take the project on our own,” said Uli Harms from the Continental Science Drilling Program. International, who also worked on the German drilling project to surpass the Kola borehole project, narrated.
“When the Russians began to be obedient, they claimed that they had found water – most contemporary scientists do not believe. At that time, Western scientists still believed that the Earth’s crust 5km deep was so dense that water could not penetrate it.
Drill bits used by the Russians.
Sean Toczko, project manager at Japan’s Marine-Earth Science Agency, said of the new project: “Our ultimate goal is to get a sample of the current mantle layer. In places like Oman, for example, you can see the mantle very close to the Earth’s surface, but those are mantle layers dating back several million years. It’s comparable to the differences between a living dinosaur and a dinosaur bone fossil.”
Like the efforts to space, the race to the underground, the search for the limit of an artificial borehole is also a display of the technical prowess of a nation. Scientists want to set foot (figuratively) to a place where there are no people; Samples of soil and rock taken from deep underground are as precious as any alien rock brought back by NASA.
But in this race, the US is not the leading country. But in fact, no country won the final victory.
America does not sit idly by and watch other countries surpass it. In the late 1950s, the American Mixed Community announced the idea of digging down the mantle. Driven by the most brilliant scientific minds in the United States, the Community initiated the Mohole project, named after the “Mohorovičić discontinuity” (Moho) – the limit between the Earth’s crust and the mantle, defined by Croatian geologist Andrija Mohorovičić.
They did not intend to drill a deep hole in some reasonable land, but decided to “take a shortcut”, finding the seabed off the island of Guadalupe, Mexico. Under the deep water, the Earth’s crust would be much thinner than on land; However, it is the deep water that is the big obstacle: where the Earth’s crust is thinnest, that will be the deepest point of the ocean .
One of the six buoys determines the dynamic position, allowing the ship to balance on the sea surface while drilling.
Most of these drilling projects have a happy ending: sometimes the beginning is never finished, sometimes there are too many obstacles in the implementation process, then the high temperatures in the deep ground, then high costs. related policies that make the dream of going underground forever just a dream. Two years before Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, the US Congress canceled the Mohole project when maintenance costs hit the roof; Drilling just a few more meters will cost up to 40 million USD (at current exchange rates).
The fate of the Kola Deep Borehole was not much better. Drilling had to stop in 1992, when the temperature at the drill bit reached 180 degrees Celsius, more than double what was expected and prevented the researchers from reaching deeper. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the project’s financial resources disappeared, and just three years later, the research area was closed indefinitely. Now, the ruins of this center are only frequented by curious tourists.
Ruins of a Soviet-era research site, where the Earth’s deepest borehole is located.
The German bore had a less bleak ending. The giant rig is still there, still a tourist attraction. This place becomes an observatory for scientists to look into the ground, as well as an art gallery for visitors to enjoy.
When Dutch artist Lotte Geevan lowered into the wormhole an insulated recording microphone, she heard rumblings that science couldn’t explain. The strange sound made Ms. Geevan “feel small” ; It was the first time in her life that she saw the giant sphere, the common roof of humanity, emitting sounds that showed it was alive, and those sounds were extremely haunting. Some people think it is the echo of hell, there are people who are more beautiful, calling it the breath of Mother Earth.
“The original intention was to try to drill deeper into the Russian research, but we haven’t reached the allowed limit, which is 10km, with the time we have,” Harms said. “Not to mention the depth we reached was hotter than the Russian record. Obviously, the deeper you go, the harder it will be to drill.”
Although this project only involves drilling a hole as deep as possible, scientists still call these expeditions. When it comes to the preparation and the work to be done, and then the unexplored reach, there is bound to be something down there that will surprise scientists.
“These missions are similar to planetary exploration. It’s all pure science and no one knows what the expedition will find.” That is the opinion of professor of geochemistry Damon Teagle, working at the University of Southampton and also a person directly related to the deep drilling project that the Japanese are implementing.
“At Hole 1256, we were the first to see intact oceanic crust. Incredibly interesting. There are always hidden surprises.”
Today, the “M2M” project – which stands for “from the MoHole hole to the Manti layer” is one of the most important projects carried out by the Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). Like the old Mohole project, scientists want to drill deep into the seabed, where the Earth’s crust is only 6km thick. The goal of the $ 1 billion mission: for the first time in human history, get a sample of mantle rock for research.
This project is important, for which the drilling ship named Chikyū began to be assembled 20 years ago. Chikyū uses a state-of-the-art GPS system and six computer-controlled jet engines that can adjust the ship’s position to the nearest centimeter.
The Chiky train.
Sean Toczko, project leader, said: “Our intention is for this ship to continue the work that the Mohole project started 50 years ago. Extremely deep boreholes tell us a lot about continental crust. There are three potential sites off the coast of Costa Rica, off Baha and off Hawaii.”
Each of these research areas needs to confront the depths of the sea, the distance from the drilling site to the shore, and a control center that has the potential to control the operation of the billion-dollar project at sea. “Any infrastructure can be built, it just takes a lot of time and money ,” said Toczko.
“Ultimately, the main issue is cost,” Professor Harms said. “These expeditions are incredibly expensive—so it’s hard to do a second attempt. They can cost millions of dollars, but only push the understanding of the geosciences to the top, the biggest breakthrough lies at the limit of mechanical technology. We need the voices of politicians to push the value of these expeditions even higher.”