Kola Superdeep Borehole:The Deepest Borehole In The World

There is a place in Russia which is called as the way to hell. It is the deepest borehole in the world. It is known as the Kola Superdeep Borehole.  It is the result of a scientific drilling project of the Soviet Union in the Pechengsky District, on the Kola Peninsula. The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust. Drilling began on 24 May 1970. After 19 years of digging, the scientists had reached upto 12km depth but then something unusual happened they stopped there.

According to the research, as Scientists were continuing digging in the depth of the ground, the temperature of machines started increasing rapidly. When they reached the depth of 12262 meters (40,230 feet) machines stopped working. At that time the ground temperature was 180 degrees Celsius. The working conditions were not favorable and by noticing so, the scientists called off the work and named this hole as the Door to Hell.

Digging a hole of depth 12 km on the Earth is actually no less than a wonder. But you would be surprised to know that it is not even 0.2 percent of the depth from the surface to earth’s core. According to Scientist, the earth is 6400 kilometers deep. You can’t even think of reaching there!

More interestingly, suction above the hole resulted in several helicopter crashes. Therefore, all the flights now above the hole are prohibited.

World’s most unique drilling machine Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig were used to accomplish this amazing work. The project was closed down in late 2006. All the drilling and research equipment was scrapped. The site has been abandoned since 2008.