Many scientific and industrial works are related to the drilling of underground wells. The total number of such objects in Russia alone is hardly quantifiable. But the legendary Kola superdeep since the 1990s remains unsurpassed, going into the Earth's thickness for more than 12 kilometers! It was drilled not for economic gain, but out of purely scientific interest - to find out what processes are taking place inside the planet.
Kola superdeep well. First stage drilling (depth 7600 m), 1974
50 candidates for a seat
The most amazing well in the world is located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny. Its depth is 12,262 meters, the diameter of the upper part is 92 centimeters, the diameter of the lower part is 21.5 centimeters.
The well was laid in 1970 in honor of the 100th anniversary of V. I. Lenin. The choice of the site was not accidental - it is here, on the territory of the Baltic Shield, that the most ancient rocks emerge, which are three billion years old.
Since the end of the 19th century, the theory has been known that our planet consists of a crust, mantle and core. But where exactly one layer ends and the next begins, scientists could only guess. According to the most common version, granites go down three kilometers, then basalts, and at a depth of 15-18 kilometers, the mantle begins. All this had to be tested in practice.
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The underground exploration of the 1960s was like a space race - the leading countries were trying to get ahead of each other. The opinion was expressed that the richest deposits of minerals, including gold, are located at great depths.
The Americans were the first to drill ultra-deep wells. In the early 1960s, their scientists discovered that the earth's crust is much thinner beneath the oceans. Therefore, an area near the island of Maui (one of the Hawaiian islands), where the earth's mantle is at a depth of about five kilometers (plus a 4-kilometer water column), was chosen as the most promising place for work. But both attempts by researchers from the United States ended in failure.
The Soviet Union needed to respond adequately. Our researchers proposed to create a well on the continent - despite the fact that it took longer to drill, the result promised to be successful.
The project has become one of the largest in the USSR. There were 16 research laboratories at the well. It was no less difficult to get a job here than to get into the cosmonaut corps. Ordinary employees received a triple salary and an apartment in Moscow or Leningrad. Not surprisingly, there was no staff turnover at all, and at least 50 candidates applied for each seat.
Cosmic sensation
Up to a depth of 7263 meters, the drilling was carried out using a conventional serial installation, which was used at that time in oil or gas production. This stage took four years. Then there was a year-long break for the construction of a new tower and the installation of a more powerful unit "Uralmash-15000", created in Sverdlovsk and named "Severyanka". In its work, the turbine principle was used - when not the entire string rotates, but only the drill head.
With each meter passed, it became more difficult to drill. Earlier it was believed that the temperature of the rock, even at a depth of 15 kilometers, will not be higher than 150 ° C. But it turned out that at a depth of eight kilometers it reached 169 ° С, and at a depth of 12 kilometers it was 220 ° С!
Equipment quickly broke down. But the work continued without stopping. The goal of being the first in the world to reach the 12-kilometer mark was politically important. It was solved in 1983 - just in time for the start of the International Geological Congress in Moscow.
The congress delegates were shown soil samples taken from a record depth of 12 kilometers, and a trip to the well was organized for them. Photos and articles about the Kola Superdeep have gone around all the world's leading newspapers and magazines, and postage stamps have been issued in her honor in several countries.
But the main thing is that a real sensation was prepared specially for the congress. It turned out that rock samples taken at a 3-kilometer depth of the Kola well are completely identical to the lunar soil (it was first brought to Earth by the Soviet automatic space station Luna-16 in 1970).
Scientists have long assumed that the Moon was once part of the Earth and broke away from it as a result of a cosmic catastrophe. Now it could be said that the breakaway part of our planet billions of years ago was in contact with the area of the present Kola Peninsula.
The superdeep well has become a real triumph for Soviet science. Researchers, designers, even ordinary workers were honored and awarded for almost a year.
Kola superdeep well, 2007
Gold deep
At this time, work on the Kola Superdeep was suspended. They were renewed only in September 1984. And the very first launch led to the largest accident. The employees seemed to have forgotten that changes are constantly taking place inside the underground passage. The well does not forgive the stoppage of work - and forces to start all over again.
As a result, the drill string broke off, leaving five kilometers of pipes deep. They tried to get them, but after a few months it became clear that this would not be possible.
Drilling work began again from the 7 km mark. They came to a depth of 12 kilometers for the second time only six years later. In 1990, the maximum was reached - 12,262 meters.
And then the work of the well was affected by both local failures and events taking place in the country. The capabilities of the available technology were exhausted, and government funding dropped sharply. After several serious accidents, drilling was stopped in 1992.
The scientific significance of the Kola Superdeep is difficult to overestimate. First of all, the work on it confirmed the conjecture about the rich deposits of minerals at great depths. Of course, no pure precious metals were found there. But at the nine kilometers mark, seams were found with a gold content of 78 grams per ton (active commercial production is carried out when such a content is 34 grams per ton).
In addition, the analysis of ancient deep rocks made it possible to clarify the age of the Earth - it turned out that it is one and a half billion years older than was commonly thought.
It was believed that there is no and cannot be organic life at super-depths, but 14 previously unknown species of fossilized microorganisms were found in samples of soil raised to the surface, which was three billion years old.
Voices from the underworld
Shortly before its closure, in 1989, the Kola Superdeep was again in the center of international attention. The director of the well, academician David Guberman, suddenly began to call and write from all over the world. Scientists, journalists, just curious citizens were interested in the question: is it true that a superdeep well has become a "well to hell"?
It turned out that representatives of the Finnish press talked with some workers of the Kola Superdeep. And they admitted: when the drill passed the 12-kilometer mark, strange noises began to be heard from the depths of the well. The workers lowered a heat-resistant microphone instead of a drill head - and with its help they recorded sounds that resemble human screams. Some of the employees put forward a version that these are the cries of sinners in hell.
How true are these stories? Technically, placing a microphone instead of a drill is difficult, but possible. However, the work on its descent can take several weeks. And it would hardly have been possible to carry out it at a secure facility instead of drilling. But, on the other hand, many well employees did hear strange sounds that were regularly heard from the depths. And what it could be, no one knew for certain.
At the suggestion of Finnish journalists, the world press has published a number of articles claiming that the Kola Superdeep is the "road to hell". Mystical significance was also attributed to the fact that the USSR collapsed when the drillers were driving the “unlucky” thirteenth thousand meters.
In 1995, when the station was already mothballed, an incomprehensible explosion occurred in the depths of the mine, if only for the reason that there was nothing to explode there. Foreign newspapers reported that a demon flew from the bowels of the earth to the surface through the passage made by people (the publications were full of headlines like "Satan escaped from hell").
Well director David Guberman honestly admitted in his interview: he does not believe in hell and demons, but an incomprehensible explosion did take place, as well as strange noises resembling voices. Moreover, the survey carried out after the explosion showed that all the equipment was in perfect order.
Kola superdeep well, 2012
The well itself (welded), August 2012
Museum for 100 million
For a long time, the well was considered mothballed; about 20 employees worked on it (in the 1980s, their number exceeded 500). In 2008, the facility was completely closed and part of the equipment was dismantled. The ground part of the well is a building the size of a 12-storey building, now it is abandoned and is gradually being destroyed. Sometimes tourists come here, attracted by the legends of the voices from hell.
According to the employees of the Geological Institute of the Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which previously controlled the well, its restoration would have cost 100 million rubles.
But we are no longer talking about scientific work at depth: on the basis of this object, one can only open an institute or other enterprise to train specialists in offshore drilling. Or create a museum - after all, the Kola well continues to be the deepest in the world.
Anastasia BABANOVSKAYA, magazine "Secrets of the XX century" №5 2017