China Kicks off Drilling into Earth Crust Project

China Kicks off Drilling into Earth Crust Project

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Known as "Telescope into the Earth", with drilling started at Maobeizhen, Donghai County, Jiangsu Province on August 4, the project is the first of like major geological scientific endeavor ever carried out in China.

Drilling exploration into the earth is an important geological scientific task, it can help people get a better understanding of crust component, structure, and its evolution, and it is also significant to enhance China's theory in earth scientific study and improve earth drilling technology level. A 5,000-meter-deep hole will be drilled into the earth to form the first scientific hole in China.

Maobeizhen, drilling site of the hole, lies on the world's largest high-pressure metamorphism belt- Dabie-Sulu mountain belt, which is considered a natural lab for studying crust structure and global geological movement.

So far, about 100 holes have been drilled in 13 countries across the world. A major scientific engineering project set for the 9th-five Year Plan period, approved as an international continent scientific drilling project in 1998, the drilling project is to be undertaken at an estimated cost of 150 million yuan. The Zhongyuan Petroleum Prospecting Bureau has been put in charge of the drilling work as successful winner of the bid under the Ministry of Land and Resources.





By PD Online Staff Li Yan