Why was the world's deepest well drilled on the Kola Peninsula, and what forces did not allow reaching the fatal mark "13 km"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For a long time, people all over the world have made attempts to penetrate into the depths of the Earth - both for scientific purposes and for practical purposes - in search of minerals. The greatest success in this was achieved at the end of the last century by domestic scientists - when in the 1990s, on the Kola Peninsula, they managed to drill a well more than 12 kilometers deep. Alas, the work was suddenly stopped. Since then, no one in the world has managed to break the depth record.

Large-scale and ambitious project

In the 13th century, China was able to drill a well 1200 meters deep. And in the last century, when mankind gained more knowledge in this area, even greater successes were achieved - in 1930 a three-kilometer well was drilled in Europe, and in the USA in the second half of the last century they reached a depth of more than nine kilometers. The rivalry between Soviet scientists and American colleagues in superdeep drilling was no less gambling than in the nuclear and military industries. And in terms of complexity and financial cost, such work can be compared almost with space exploration. Scientists were primarily interested in the deep structure of the earth's crust, its temperature and other parameters, as well as a number of other issues.

It is most convenient to carry out such large-scale drilling operations in those areas of the Earth where sedimentary rocks are minimal or nonexistent. From this point of view, the Kola Peninsula was ideal. And by the way, the rocks here are very ancient: they are about three billion years old.

The start of work was timed to coincide with the centenary of the birth of the leader of the world proletariat: the Kola superdeep well was laid in 1970.

At first everything went well, and then …

The start was excellent, the drill passed the first seven kilometers easily, because on its way there were solid homogeneous granites. But then everything went much more complicated: solid layered rocks went deeper than 7 thousand meters, the walls of the well began to crumble. The rig was jammed. Part of the drill string had to be cemented. Boer deviated.

Despite the fact that accidents happened more and more often, the well continued to be drilled for several years. True, in the end it turned out to be not even, but had branches. Finally, the Soviet drillers managed to break the record of their American colleagues from Oklahoma, where there was an oil well 9583 meters deep.

Several research laboratories worked at the Kola well (at one time their number reached 16), the work was carried out under the constant supervision of the Minister of Geology of the USSR.

Failures hit the well after 1983. At that time, they managed to get to a depth of more than 12 kilometers. Experts have suspended work - one of the main reasons was the preparation for the International Geological Congress, which was expected next year in Moscow. In the fall of 1984, drilling continued, but on the very first run, the drill string collapsed. The drill and several pipes came off and remained in the well. I had to return to a seven-kilometer depth and start all over again. The drillers again reached a depth of more than 12 thousand meters, and then there was another cliff. It was the beginning of the 1990s - a difficult time for Russian science …

In 1994, drilling of the superdeep well was stopped. They stopped funding the work. The well was mothballed.

So far the deepest in the world

The depth record set by the Soviet Union (or rather, already by Russia) has never been broken. It is believed that this was facilitated by a special technology of sinking, which was used by our engineers (Uralmashplant in Sverdlovsk created a special advanced installation for this). Efficient rock cutting tools and heat-resistant pipes were used.

In other countries, and in Russia as well, it was possible to break the record of the Kola well only in length. Yes, in Qatar, 12 years ago, a well was drilled with a length of 12,290 meters, in Sakhalin in 2011 it was possible to advance 12,345 meters, and the well of the Chayvo field in 2013 reached 12,700 meters in length. But all these were wells of gas and oil fields, which were drilled not strictly deep into the earth, but at an angle. It is interesting that in Germany they really wanted to break the record of Soviet scientists, but at some point German colleagues suffered the same fate as domestic engineers. - drillers: work was stopped for technical reasons.

The Kola well in 1997 - after the cessation of drilling operations - was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the deepest in the world.

Before the implementation of their idea, Soviet scientists did not have enough: it was planned to stop at around 13 thousand meters. When the borehole reached this depth, the researchers would create a unique natural laboratory. For example, it would allow studying the processes occurring in the earth's crust, observing the temperature regime, and also (which was very important) the possibility of burying industrial waste at great depths could be considered.

There were many rumors in the 1990s about the reasons that prevented the researchers from reaching a depth of 13 kilometers. The most exotic version is that the devil did not allow the engineers to advance further - they say, then the underworld begins, and supposedly at the end of the work being carried out from the well, groans of sinners even began to be heard.

It was also said that the drilling of the Kola well had upset a certain energy balance in our country, and it was because of these deep works that the Soviet Union collapsed.

What's next?

The drilling site is now abandoned. The research center, which was engaged in this global work, was subsequently liquidated by the Federal Property Management Agency in the Murmansk region, since it was considered unprofitable. The equipment was dismantled. The well began to collapse gradually. To date, to restore it, it will take about 100 million rubles.

Theoretically, one could try to resume work, or at least begin to conduct scientific research on the material that is available. You can open a research center or an institute to train young professionals. Or you can arrange a museum here, and this idea is currently considered the most promising and quite feasible. But all these projects require large financial investments.

Alas, although as a result of the work carried out, a lot of interesting and important geological and geophysical data were obtained, it was not possible to draw final conclusions about the nature of the earth's mantle on their basis - this required further research. It is known that at a depth of 5 km the ambient temperature exceeded 70 C, when the drill sank 7 km - already 120 C, and at a depth of 12 km the sensors showed 220 C.

Read also: How does the Aral live today - a sea that was sacrificed to cotton.