Scientists want to drill into the Earth's mantle

[ElliotSmith]

I don't believe this has ever been done before.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/asia/japan-drill-mantle/index.html

 

[lekh2003]

There is some Russian borehole where they went deeper than this mission, but they didn't make it to the mantle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

 

[davenn]

There is some Russian borehole where they went deeper than this mission, but they didn't make it to the mantle:

yeah, because they were drilling through very thick continental crust rather than the much thinner oceanic crust planned for this new mission

 

[ElliotSmith]

What will they do after they break through to the mantle?

What is the purpose of this?

 

[lekh2003]

yeah, because they were drilling through very thick continental crust rather than the much thinner oceanic crust planned for this new mission

Yeah, I understand. It was their mission to reach really deep, not the mantle.

 

[lekh2003]

What will they do after they break through to the mantle?

What is the purpose of this?

Find the composition of the mantle with more accuracy.

 

[mfb]

But they're hopeful they can begin drilling by 2030

A lot can happen in 12 years.

Temperature is a big issue with boreholes this deep, especially if you want to reach the mantle. I wonder how they plan to deal with this.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I just posted a related video

Great Animation Shows How Deep Humans Dug Into The Earth

• Greg Bernhardt
• Dec 28, 2017

Courtesy of Tech Insider --- Extreme Journey to the center of the Earth - Scientific drilling...

 

[Arman777]

It reminded me a movie "The Core". They were using diamond hood to drill to the core.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It reminded me a movie "The Core".

Or my favorite Doctor Who, Inferno. (Third Doctor, the last episode with Caroline John)

 

[TeethWhitener]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle_(geology)#Exploration

There is a large area in the North Atlantic where the mantle is exposed. Exploration was supposed to take place there in 2007, but I guess funding got cut short.

 

[Ratman]

The purpose of this is to finally examine the largest part of the Earth in situ. We already have a numer of samples from the mantle: in ophiolites, where they form the deepest part of the floor of long-vanished oceans; in kimberlites which we mine to put a particular mantle mineral in engagement rings; finally in xenoliths, chunks of rocks torn from the depths by flowing magma. [Funny thing is that we actually know more of the uppermost mantle than the lowermost crust] The problem with our samples is that up here they are not what they were down there: they are devoid of natural gases and composed of hard-to-melt residue from original rocks. We don't know the precise mineral composition of parent rock or the original orientation of crystals. Better knowledge of these aspects is needed to e.g. better understand earthquakes.