Scientists aim to reach the Earth's mantle

[space otter]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techandscience/scientists-aim-to-reach-the-earths-mantle-with-an-undersea-drill/ar-BBzCZIt

Scientists aim to reach the Earth's mantle with an undersea drill
 Engadget Engadget
Mariella Moon
4/10/2017

© JAMSTEC/CNN

We'd know a lot more about what's under the Earth's crust if Jules Verne's Icelandic volcano weren't but a figment of his imagination. Japan's Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology's (JAMSTEC) largest drilling ship called "Chikyu" is very real, though, and a group of international researchers plan to use it to drill into the Earth's mantle for the first time.

The JAMSTEC-led team will conduct a two-week preliminary study in the waters off Hawaii this September to determine if that's where their Chikyu should drill. If the location doesn't work, they'll look at their other choices in the waters off Costa Rica and off Mexico. All three are in the ocean, because the continental crust is twice as thick as the oceanic crust.

Chikyu's drill will have to go through 2.5 miles of water and 3.7 miles of crust to be able to reach the mantle, which makes up roughly 84 percent of our planet's volume. It's a silicate rocky shell that flows slowly and affects volcanic activity, as well as the motion of tectonic plates that causes earthquakes. The Japanese government is providing partial funding for the project in hopes that it will lead to better ways predict the surface phenomena. As you might know, the country was rocked by some particularly strong ones in recent years.

© Provided by Engadget

The researchers also want to investigate the boundary between the oceanic crust and the mantle to figure out how the crust formed. Plus, they want to see if microbial life exists that deep inside the planet. The scientists hope to begin drilling by 2030 at the latest. For now, they need to find the perfect location and figure out where to get the $542 million funding the project needs.

CNN, The Japan News

...............................

https://www.engadget.com/2017/04/09/japan-chikyu-drilling-ship-earth-mantle/



https://futurism.com/scientists-want-to-search-for-life-deep-below-the-earths-surface/


The Latest Technology of "CHIKYU", Deep Sea Drill Ship
https://www.mhi-global.com/company/technology/review/pdf/e431/e431022.pdf
"CHIKYU", a deep sea drill ship, was delivered to the. Japan Agency ... oped and adopted in the building of "CHIKYU". 2. ... world's largest, in contrast to that of most other similar oil drill ... called a core barrel is placed inside the drill pipe, a bit.

[Irene]

The Russkies already tried this. If I recall correctly, it didn't turn out too well.

And leave Hawaii alone.

[biggles]

Exactly, wouldn't try it.

[The Seeker]

Seems the Japanese need to refresh their memories about Deepwater Horizon 

not an intelligent move in my opinion

Seeker

[The Seeker]

The Russian attempt- from wiki-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole

The Kola Superdeep Borehole (Russian: Кольская сверхглубокая скважина, Kolskaya sverkhglubokaya skvazhina) 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 using the Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig. Boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, reached 12,262 metres (40,230 ft) in 1989 and still is the deepest artificial point on Earth.[1] The borehole is 9 inches (23 cm) in diameter.[2]

In terms of true depth, it is the deepest borehole in the world. For two decades it was also the world's longest borehole, in terms of measured depth along the well bore, until surpassed in 2008 by the 12,289-metre-long (40,318 ft) Al Shaheen oil well in Qatar, and in 2011 by 12,345-metre-long (40,502 ft) Sakhalin-I Odoptu OP-11 Well (offshore the Russian island Sakhalin).[3]

The main target depth was set at 15,000 m (49,000 ft). On 6 June 1979, the world depth record held by the Bertha Rogers hole in Wapoopa County, Oklahoma, United States, at 9,583 m (31,440 ft)[4] was broken. In 1983, the drill passed 12,000 m (39,000 ft), and drilling was stopped for about a year for numerous scientific and celebratory visits to the site.[5] This idle period may have contributed to a breakdown on 27 September 1984: after drilling to 12,066 m (39,587 ft), a 5,000 m (16,000 ft) section of the drill string twisted off and was left in the hole. Drilling was later restarted from 7,000 m (23,000 ft).[5]

The hole reached 12,262 m (40,230 ft) in 1989. In that year, the hole depth was expected to reach 13,500 m (44,300 ft) by the end of 1990 and 15,000 m (49,000 ft) by 1993.[6][7] However, because of higher-than-expected temperatures at this depth and location, 180 °C (356 °F) instead of expected 100 °C (212 °F), drilling deeper was deemed unfeasible and the drilling was stopped in 1992.[5] With the projected further increase in temperature with increasing depth, drilling to 15,000 m (49,000 ft) would have meant working at a temperature of 300 °C (570 °F), where the drill bit would no longer work.

The Kola borehole penetrated about a third of the way through the Baltic continental crust, estimated to be around 35 kilometres (22 mi) deep, reaching rocks of Archaean age (greater than 2.5 billion years old) at the bottom.[8] The project has been a site of extensive geophysical studies. The stated areas of study were the deep structure of the Baltic Shield; seismic discontinuities and the thermal regime in the Earth's crust; the physical and chemical composition of the deep crust and the transition from upper to lower crust; lithospheric geophysics; and to create and develop technologies for deep geophysical study.

To scientists, one of the more fascinating findings to emerge from this well is that no transition from granite to basalt was found at the depth of about 7 km (4.3 mi), where the velocity of seismic waves has a discontinuity. Instead the change in the seismic wave velocity is caused by a metamorphic transition in the granite rock. In addition, the rock at that depth had been thoroughly fractured and was saturated with water, which was surprising. This water, unlike surface water, must have come from deep-crust minerals and had been unable to reach the surface because of a layer of impermeable rock.[9]

Another unexpected discovery was a large quantity of hydrogen gas; the mud that flowed out of the hole was described as "boiling" with hydrogen.[10]

[biggles]

They have to fiddle with everything; cant they just leave things alone for crying out loud.  Thanks Seeker honey. xxoo

[ArMaP]

Like kids taking things apart to see how they work.

[biggles]

Like kids taking things apart to see how they work.

Yep, exactly, got a new toy now, gotta try it out.