A well to hell: why the drilling of the deepest well was stopped. "Well to Hell": how the deepest well in the world was drilled in the Soviet Union

Kola ultradeep well- the deepest borehole in the world (from 1979 to 2008) Located in Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny, on the territory of the geological Baltic Shield. Its depth is 12,262 meters. Unlike other ultra-deep wells that were made for oil production or exploration, SG-3 was drilled exclusively for the study of the lithosphere in the place where the Mohorovichic boundary is. (abbreviated Moho border) - the lower border earth's crust, on which there is an abrupt increase in the velocities of longitudinal seismic waves.

The Kola superdeep well was laid in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin, in 1970. thick sedimentary rocks by that time were well studied in oil production. It was more interesting to drill where volcanic rocks about 3 billion years old (for comparison: the age of the Earth is estimated at 4.5 billion years) come to the surface. For mining, such rocks are rarely drilled deeper than 1–2 km. It was assumed that already at a depth of 5 km, the granite layer would be replaced by basalt. On June 6, 1979, the well broke the record of 9583 meters, previously owned by the Bert-Rogers well (oil well in Oklahoma). AT best years 16 research laboratories, they were personally supervised by the Minister of Geology of the USSR.

Although it was expected that a pronounced boundary between granites and basalts would be found, only granites were found in the core throughout the depth. However, due to high pressure pressed granites greatly changed their physical and acoustic properties. As a rule, the raised core crumbled from active gas release into sludge, as it could not withstand a sharp change in pressure. It was possible to extract a solid piece of core only with a very slow rise of the drill string, when the “excess” gas, while still in a state of high pressure, had time to leave the rock. The density of cracks at great depths, contrary to expectations, increased. At depth, water was also present, filling the cracks.

Interestingly, when the International Geological Congress was held in Moscow in 1984, at which the first results of the well research were presented, many scientists jokingly suggested that it be immediately buried, since it destroys all ideas about the structure of the earth's crust. Indeed, oddities began even at the first stages of penetration. So, for example, theorists even before the start of drilling promised that the temperature of the Baltic Shield would remain relatively low to a depth of at least 5 kilometers, the ambient temperature exceeded 70 degrees Celsius, at seven - over 120 degrees, and at a depth of 12 it was frying stronger than 220 degrees - 100 degrees higher than predicted. The Kola drillers questioned the theory of the layered structure of the earth's crust - at least in the range up to 12,262 meters.

“We have the deepest hole in the world - this is how you should use it!” - bitterly exclaims the permanent director of the research and production center "Kola Superdeep" David Huberman. In the first 30 years of the existence of the Kola Superdeep, Soviet and then Russian scientists broke through to a depth of 12,262 meters. But since 1995, drilling has been stopped: there was no one to finance the project. What stands out within scientific programs UNESCO, is only enough to maintain the drilling station in working condition and study previously extracted rock samples.

Huberman recalls with regret how much scientific discoveries took place at the Kola Superdeep. Literally every meter was a revelation. The well showed that almost all of our previous knowledge about the structure of the earth's crust is incorrect. It turned out that the Earth is not at all like a layer cake.

Another surprise: life on planet Earth arose, it turns out, 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that there was no organic matter, 14 types of fossilized microorganisms were found - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. At even greater depths, where there are no longer sedimentary rocks, methane appeared in huge concentrations. This completely and utterly destroyed the theory biological origin hydrocarbons such as oil and gas. There were also almost fantastic sensations. When in the late 70s the Soviet automatic space station brought to Earth 124 grams lunar soil, researchers of the Kola scientific center found that it is like two drops of water similar to samples from a depth of 3 kilometers. And a hypothesis arose: the moon broke away from the Kola Peninsula. Now they are looking for exactly where. By the way, the Americans, who brought half a ton of soil from the moon, did nothing sensible with it. Placed in sealed containers and left for research to future generations.

Quite unexpectedly for everyone, the predictions of Alexei Tolstoy from the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" were confirmed. At a depth of more than 9.5 kilometers, they discovered a real storehouse of all kinds of minerals, in particular gold. A real olivine layer, brilliantly predicted by the writer. Gold in it is 78 grams per ton. By the way, industrial production possible at a concentration of 34 grams per ton But, most surprisingly, at even greater depths, where there are no sedimentary rocks, it was found natural gas methane in high concentrations. This completely and completely destroyed the theory of the biological origin of hydrocarbons such as oil and gas.

Not only scientific sensations were also associated with the Kola well, but also mysterious legends, most of of which, when tested, turned out to be a fiction of journalists. According to one of them, the original source of information (1989) was the American television company Trinity Broadcasting Network, which, in turn, took the story from a Finnish newspaper report. Allegedly, while drilling a well, at a depth of 12 thousand meters, the microphones of scientists recorded screams and groans.). Journalists, without even thinking that it was simply impossible to stick a microphone to such a depth (what sound recording device can work at temperatures above two hundred degrees?) wrote about the fact that the drillers heard a "voice from the underworld."

After these publications, the Kola super-deep well began to be called the "road to hell", arguing that each new kilometer drilled brought misfortune to the country. They said that when the drillers were drilling the thirteenth thousand meters, the USSR collapsed. Well, when the well was drilled to a depth of 14.5 km (which actually did not happen), they suddenly stumbled upon unusual voids. Intrigued by this unexpected discovery, the drillers lowered a microphone capable of operating at extremely high temperatures and other sensors into it. The temperature inside allegedly reached 1,100 ° C - there was the heat of the fiery chambers, in which, allegedly, human screams could be heard.

This legend still roams the vast expanses of the Internet, having survived the very culprit of these gossip - the Kola well. Work on it was stopped back in 1992 due to lack of funding. Until 2008, it was in a mothballed state. And a year later it was accepted final decision refuse to continue research and dismantle the entire research complex, and "bury" the well. Final liquidation wells occurred in the summer of 2011.
So, as you can see, this time the scientists were not able to get to the mantle and explore it. However, this does not mean that Kola well gave nothing to science - on the contrary, it turned all their ideas about the structure of the earth's crust upside down.

RESULTS

The tasks set in the ultra-deep drilling project have been fulfilled. Special equipment and technology for ultra-deep drilling, as well as for the study of wells drilled to a great depth, have been developed and created. We received information, one might say, "first-hand" about the physical condition, properties and composition rocks in their natural occurrence and according to the core to a depth of 12,262 m. The well gave an excellent gift to the motherland at a shallow depth - in the range of 1.6-1.8 km. Industrial copper-nickel ores were discovered there - a new ore horizon was discovered. And very handy, because the local nickel plant is already running out of ore.

As noted above, the geological forecast of the well section did not come true. The picture that was expected during the first 5 km in the well stretched for 7 km, and then completely unexpected rocks appeared. The basalts predicted at a depth of 7 km were not found, even when they dropped to 12 km. It was expected that the boundary that gives the most reflection in seismic sounding is the level where the granites pass into a more durable basalt layer. In reality, it turned out that less durable and less dense fractured rocks - Archean gneisses - are located there. This was not expected at all. And this is a fundamentally new geological and geophysical information that allows you to interpret the data of deep geophysical surveys in a different way.

The data on the process of ore formation in the deep layers of the earth's crust also turned out to be unexpected and fundamentally new. So, at depths of 9-12 km, highly porous fractured rocks saturated with underground highly mineralized waters were encountered. These waters are one of the sources of ore formation. Previously, it was believed that this was possible only at much shallower depths. It was in this interval that an increased gold content was found in the core - up to 1 g per 1 ton of rock (a concentration that is considered suitable for industrial development). But will it ever be profitable to mine gold from such a depth?

Changed ideas about thermal mode earth's interior, on the deep distribution of temperatures in the areas of basalt shields. At a depth of more than 6 km, a temperature gradient of 20°C per 1 km was obtained instead of the expected (as in the upper part) 16°C per 1 km. It was found that half heat flow is of radiogenic origin.

The bowels of the earth contain as many mysteries as the vast expanses of the universe. This is exactly what some scientists think, and they are partly right, because people still do not know exactly what exactly is under our feet deep underground. For the entire time of the existence of earthly civilization, we have been able to go deep into the planet a little more than 10 kilometers. This record was set back in 1990 and lasted until 2008, after which it was updated several times. In 2008, a deviated oil well, Maersk Oil BD-04A, with a length of 12,290 meters, was drilled (Al-Shaheen oil basin in Qatar). In January 2011, an inclined oil well was drilled at the Odoptu-more field (Sakhalin-1 project) with a depth of 12,345 meters. Drilling depth record for this moment belongs to the well Z-42 of the Chayvinskoye field, the depth of which is 12,700 meters.

The largest mine in the world on the remote Kola Peninsula in northern Russia. Against the backdrop of the rusting ruins of an abandoned research station, the deepest hole in the world gapes.

Now closed and sealed with a welded metal plate, the Kola superdeep well is a remnant of a largely forgotten, gambling of the human race, directed not to the stars, but to the depths of the Earth.
Rumors circulated that a deep well had reached hell: screams and groans of people could be heard from the abyss - as if this was the reason for closing the station and the well. In fact, the reason was different.

The city of Mirny is known for its largest mine in the world: a deep well on the Kola Peninsula is the world's largest man-made hole. 1722 m - deep, so deep that all flights over it were forbidden, because too many helicopters crashed due to suction into the hole.

The deepest hole drilled in the name of science - evidence of the Precambrian period of life was found here. human race knows about distant galaxies, but little knows what lies under her very feet. Of course, the project produced great amount geological data, most of which showed how little we know about our planet.

The USA and the USSR fought for spatial and intelligence superiority in space race, another competition was between the two countries' greatest drillers: the US "Mohole Project" on the Pacific coast of Mexico—was aborted in 1966 due to lack of funding; Councils, a project of the Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Study of the Earth's Interior and ultra-deep drilling, from 1970 to 1994 on the Kola Peninsula. The study of the Earth is limited to ground observations and seismic studies, but the Kola borehole gave a direct look at the structure of the earth's crust.

Kola Super Deep Well Drilled to Hell

The drill at Kola has never encountered a layer of basalt. Instead, the granite rock was beyond the twelfth kilometer. Surprisingly enough, the rocks of many kilometers are saturated with water. Previously, it was believed that free water should not exist at such great depths.

But the most intriguing discovery is the discovery of biological activity in rocks that are more than two billion years old. The most striking evidence of life comes from microscopic fossils: the preserved remains of twenty-four species of single-celled marine plants, otherwise known as plankton.

Normally, fossils can be found in limestone rocks and silica deposits, but these "microfossils" were enclosed in organic compounds, which have remained remarkably intact despite extreme ambient pressures and temperatures.

The Kola drilling was forced to stop due to unexpectedly high temperatures encountered. While the temperature gradient in the bowels of the earth. At a depth of approximately 10,000 feet, the temperature increased at a rapid rate - reaching 180°C (or 356°F) at the bottom of the hole, as opposed to the expected 100°C (212°F). Also unexpected was the decrease in rock density.
Beyond this point, the rocks had greater porosity and permeability: in combination with high temperatures began to behave like plastic. This is why drilling has become practically impossible.

A repository of core samples can be found in the nickel-mining town of Zapolyarny, about ten kilometers south of the hole. With its ambitious mission and contribution to geology and biology, the Kola super-deep well remains the most important relic of Soviet science.

The party said: "We must!". Komsomol answered: “Yes!”. The slogan from the poster from the times of the USSR still did not leave my thoughts while I was going on a business trip to. The only pleasant moment was a meeting with a friend whom I had not seen for almost 10 years. Masha promised me an excursion to the “road to hell”

180 km from Murmansk is located Kola ultra-deep well (12262 m). Drilling began in 1970. It is with her that the legend is connected that Soviet scientists released demons, drilling a path to the underworld. After overcoming a depth of 12,000 m, the employees of the drilling station began to hear strange voices from the mine, similar to human screams. Some of them suggested that people hear the cries of sinners who have fallen into hell. The current depth was reached in 1990. Work was suspended in 1992, and in 2008 the project was completely closed and most of the equipment was dismantled.

From Murmansk we went by car to Zapolyarny. Almost 160 km, slowly, drove in 3 hours. Around the tundra, somewhat strange and dull, the vegetation is scorched in places, in the lowlands there is a small, crooked, sparse forest and snow that has not had time to melt.

What is left of the devil's well lies 8 km from Zapolyarny, but you can skip the turn from the highway without knowing the terrain. Turning off the road, we drove into the region of mountains from industrial waste. These are dumps, huge hills of black stone left after the mining of nickel and copper.

A few tips for those wishing to see the legendary well:

• July is the warmest time of the year;
• sneakers for light trekking are suitable as shoes;
• warm clothes, sudden changes in temperature are possible;
• it is easy to get lost among quarries and dumps;
• in the ruins you can stumble upon puddles of technical fluid, mercury thermometers, metal pins, glass, walk more carefully, it is advisable to have a first aid kit with you.

All that remains of the Kola super-deep are dull ruins under the scorching sun, reminiscent of greatest discoveries taken while drilling.

Saturday, 29 Dec. 2012

One of the most grandiose projects Soviet era became the Kola super-deep well with a depth of 12,262 meters. This record remains unsurpassed to this day.

Year of issue: 2012

The country: Russia (TV Center)

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 00:25:21

Director: Vladimir Batrakov

Description: The authors of the report will talk about the history and goals of this bold scientific experiment, talk with its direct participants, explain the results obtained in a popular form. Viewers will be able to see what condition the rig is in at the moment.

Drilling began in 1970, and the work was completely classified until the mid-1980s.

In 1992, drilling was stopped due to lack of funding - the well was never brought to the planned depth of 15 kilometers. But even at the existing depth, unique scientific data were obtained.

In addition, the legend about the sounds of terrible human screams allegedly recorded at great depths is connected with the Kola superdeep well, which caused the most incredible assumptions in the press...

Additional Information:

Dig to Beelzebub: In the 1970s, a team of Soviet explorers drilled on the Kola Peninsula, resulting in the deepest borehole in the world. A large-scale project was conceived with research goals, but unexpectedly led to almost hysteria around the world. According to rumors, Soviet scientists stumbled on the "road to hell", writes SPIEGEL ONLINE.

“A chilling picture: in the middle of the deserted expanses of the Kola Peninsula, 150 km north of Murmansk, an abandoned drilling rig rises. Barracks for employees, rooms with laboratories crowd around. the author continues.

On May 24, 1970, when the USSR and the USA were racing to explore space, a project was launched in the Soviet Union on the border with Finland and Norway to drill over deep well at the location of the geological Baltic Shield. For several decades, the Kola superdeep well has "swallowed" millions, allowing scientists to make some rather serious scientific discoveries. However, the most high-profile find at a depth of more than 10 km turned the research project into an event with a deeply religious background, in which conjecture, truth and lies mixed together, creating sensational reports in all the world's media.

Shortly after the start of drilling, the Kola Superdeep became the Soviet exemplary project, a few years later the SG-3 broke the record of 9583 m, previously held by the Burt-Rogers well in Oklahoma. But Soviet leadership this was not enough - scientists had to reach a depth of 15 km.

"On the way to the bowels of the earth, scientists made unexpected discoveries: for example, they managed to predict earthquakes based on unusual sounds from a well. At a depth of 3 thousand meters, a substance was found in the layers of the lithosphere, almost identical to material from the surface of the Moon. After 6 thousand meters it was gold was discovered. However, scientists became increasingly concerned that the deeper they penetrated, the higher the temperatures became, which made it difficult to work," the article says. Unlike preliminary calculations, the temperature was not 100 degrees Celsius, but 180.

Around the same time, rumors spread that at a depth of 14 km the drill unexpectedly moved from side to side - a sign that it had landed in a giant cavity. Temperatures in the passage area went off scale over a thousand degrees, and after a heat-resistant microphone was lowered into the mine to record the sound of movement lithospheric plates, drillers heard chilling sounds. At first they mistook them for the sounds of malfunctioning machinery, but then, after the equipment was adjusted, their worst suspicions were confirmed. The sounds were reminiscent of the cries and groans of thousands of martyrs, the article says.

"Where exactly this legend originates from is still unknown," the author continues. For the first time in English, it was voiced in 1989 on the air of the American television company Trinity Broadcasting Network, which took the story from a Finnish newspaper report. The Kola super-deep well began to be called the "road to hell." The stories of the frightened drillers were published by Finnish and Swedish newspapers - they claimed that "the Russians let the demon out of hell."

Drilling work was stopped - they were explained by insufficient funding. On instructions from above, the drilling rig was to be dumped - but there was not enough money for that either.

27.04.2011

Kola Superdeep Well(SG-3) - recognized as the deepest borehole in the world. The mine is located on the territory of the geological Baltic Shield in the Murmansk region, 10 km west of the city of Zapolyarny. Its total depth is 12,262 meters.

Its main difference from other ultra-deep wells that were drilled for gas, oil or geological exploration, Kola super-deep was built exclusively for scientific research lithosphere in the place where the Mohorovichic boundary comes closest to the Earth's surface.

SG-3 record well

The first stage of drilling of the SG-3 well, the Kola super-deep well, was completed. It was launched in May 1970 and by the beginning of 1975 had sunk 7263 meters into the bowels.

A lot of it? Or is drilling to such a depth no longer surprising? In Ukraine, a well "Shevchenkovskaya-1" was drilled with a depth of more than 7,500 meters.

Ten wells in different locations Soviet Union exceeded 6 thousand meters. The deepest well in the world was drilled in the USA - 9583 meters. In such an environment, the Kola Superdeep seems ordinary, one of many superdeep.

• Firstly, because this well is so far the deepest in the world of those drilled in the crystalline rocks of the Precambrian.
• Secondly, the Kola superdeep well is a new word in drilling technology. For the first time in world practice, a significant part of the well was drilled "open hole", that is, without casing.

Every meter of the well along its entire length was carefully studied, each column of the extracted rock was examined.

The thickness of the earth's crust is not the same. Under the ocean, in some places it thins out to 5 kilometers.

On the continents in areas of ancient folding, this is 20-30, and under mountain ranges up to 75 kilometers. The earth's crust is called the skin of the planet.

Sometimes, in order to more figuratively show the deep structure of the Earth, a comparison is made with an egg. In this case, the bark plays the role of the shell.

Despite such a seemingly insignificant thickness, the "shell" of the Earth has so far remained inaccessible to direct research.

The main information about it was obtained indirectly - by geophysical methods. For example, it has been established from reflected seismic waves that the earth's crust has a layered structure.

The continental crust consists of sedimentary, granite and basalt layers, in oceanic crust no granite layer.

Below the earth's crust, seismic observations have identified the mantle (if we continue the comparison with the egg - protein), and in the center of the Earth, the core - the yolk.

For research earthly depths gravimetric, magnetometric, nuclear, geothermal methods are also used. They make it possible to determine the density of rocks at great depths, to establish gravity anomalies, magnetic field, temperature and dozens of other parameters.

Yet many basic questions of geology remain unanswered. Only direct penetration into the bowels will finally help to remove these question marks geology.

Kola Superdeep

The Kola Superdeep is laid on the Baltic Crystalline Shield. This is ancient education the earth's crust, which on the territory of the Scandinavian and Kola Peninsula, Karelia, Baltic Sea and in parts Leningrad region close to the earth's surface.

It can be assumed that the basalt layer here lies at a depth of slightly more than 7 kilometers. The shield is composed of ancient, highly altered rocks: Archean gneisses, crystalline schists, intrusive rocks up to 3.5 billion years old or more.

Scientists will have access to deep matter, will be able to study it in detail, conduct observations along the entire wellbore, build a real, and not supposed, continental-type section of the earth's crust, determine the composition and the physical state substances.

About half of the way to the design 15-kilometer mark has been covered. And even this seemingly modest intermediate result turned out to be very interesting for a number of important indicators.

For the first time in world science and practice, the thickness of not young sedimentary deposits, but ancient crystalline rocks, was discovered and studied in detail by a well, for the first time it was possible to collect a lot of new information about these rocks and the geological and physical conditions of their occurrence.

Rapidly creating and applying various technical innovations By continuously improving drilling technology and adapting it to specific geological conditions, Soviet scientists and drillers with domestic equipment and tools paved more than a seven-kilometer course in the hardest earthly rocks.

The path to the bowels of the Earth in a certain sense has become a road technical progress in drilling: what has proven itself well when drilling wells in other areas is tested and improved, new ones are created and tested technical means and technology.

The Kola superdeep field has become an experimental testing ground new technology and drilling technology. The role of the general designer and scientific supervisor of this unique testing ground was entrusted to our All-Union Order of the Red Banner of Labor Research Institute of Drilling Technology (VNIIBT) of the Minnefteprom.

Well to hell

The drilling of the Kola super-deep well served as a source of rumors associated with the emergence of the legend of the "road to hell".

The primary source of information (1989) was the American television company Trinity Broadcasting Network, which, in turn, took the story from a Finnish newspaper report. Allegedly, while drilling a well, at a depth of 12 thousand meters, the microphones of scientists recorded screams and groans.

The Kola super-deep well immediately received the name - "the road to hell" - and each new kilometer drilled brought misfortune to the country. At a depth of 13,000 meters, the USSR collapsed, at a depth of 14,500 meters, scientists stumbled upon voids.

The researchers lowered the microphone into the shaft and heard strange terrifying sounds and even human screams. The sensors showed a temperature of 1100 °C. The scientists thought they had discovered hell.

In fact, acoustic well survey methods do not record the sound itself and not on the microphone, but the wave pattern of the reflected elastic vibrations to seismic receivers.

The drilling stop depth was 12,262 meters and the temperature recorded at this depth was only 220 ° C, which does not correspond to the main “facts” of the legend.

Kola superdeep: the last fireworks

Sounds of the underground - the secrets of the deepest well (TC "Vesti")

Kola superdeep hellish deceit

Exist creepy story about how Soviet drillers drilled into the earth so deep that they got to hell itself. They lowered a microphone into the well and recorded the cries of sinners. Recently, interest in such a supernatural achievement of science has flared up with new force- there was a record. The sounds really resemble the rumble of the crowd, singing, some kind of squeaking is heard.

The story features a certain "Dmitry Azzakov", to whom everyone refers. But numerous attempts to find this man did not lead to anything. Our further investigation showed that the surname itself appeared in the press as early as 1989. We found it in the Finnish newspaper Ammenusastia (monthly for Christians in the Levasjoki area). It is possible that this is the original source. There, Dr. “Azzakov”, a Soviet geologist, stated the following: “As a communist, I do not believe in heaven and the Bible, but as a scientist, I am now forced to believe in hell. Needless to say, we were shocked to make such a discovery. But we know what we heard and what we saw. And we are absolutely sure that we drilled through the gates of hell.”

It followed from the newspaper that the drama allegedly erupted in the USSR, when geologists who conducted surveys in Western Siberia, reached a depth of 14.4 km. Suddenly, the drill bit began to rotate wildly, indicating that there was a void or a cave below. When the scientists lifted the drill, a fanged, clawed creature with huge evil eyes emerged from the well, screeching like a wild animal, and disappeared. Frightened, most of the workers and engineers rushed to run, and the rest had to pass an equally ordeal.

“We lowered a microphone into the well, designed to record the movement of lithospheric plates,” Azzakov said further. - But instead we heard a loud human voice that sounded like pain. At first we thought the sound was coming from the drilling equipment, but when we carefully checked it, our worst suspicions were confirmed. The screams and screams did not come from one person. It was the cries and groans of millions of people. Luckily, we recorded the terrifying sounds on tape."

And by June 1990, they had drilled up to 12,260 meters here. Now the work has been stopped, but then geologists did not hear about any hell.

In the end, it turned out that both stories were launched by the Norwegian Age Rendalin, who liked to call himself "special adviser to the Minister of Justice of Norway." When they became interested in him with might and main, it turned out that it was just school teacher overdeveloped imagination.

He admitted that he invented everything to check how seriously the Christian press checks their publications. The audio recording, of course, was made by someone else in our days in order to somehow stir up interest in a long-standing fake.

In the USSR, they loved the scale, but more, and this applied to literally everything. So one well was dug in the Union, which today bears the title of the deepest on earth. It is noteworthy that the well was not drilled for oil production or geological exploration, but purely for scientific research.

Tips used to drill a well.

The Kola super-deep well, or SG-3, is the deepest man-made well in the earth. Located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers from the city of Zapolyarny, in westbound. The depth of the hole is 12,262 meters. Its diameter at the top is 92 centimeters. At the bottom - 21.5 centimeters. An important feature SG-3 is that, unlike any other wells for oil production or geological work, this one was drilled solely for scientific purposes.

The well was laid in 1970, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin. The chosen location is remarkable in that the well was drilled in outcropping volcanic rocks more than 3 billion years old. By the way, the age of the Earth is about 4.5 billion years. When mining, wells are rarely drilled deeper than two thousand meters.

The work went on for days on end.

Drilling began on May 24, 1970. Up to the mark of 7,000 meters, drilling proceeded easily and calmly, but after the head hit the less dense rocks, problems began. The process has slowed down significantly. Only on June 6, 1979 a new record was set - 9583 meters. It was previously installed in the US by oil producers. The mark of 12,066 meters was passed in 1983. The result was achieved by the International Geological Congress, which was held in Moscow. Subsequently, two accidents occurred at the complex.

Now the complex looks like this.

In 1997, several legends were circulated in the media at once that the Kola super-deep well was the real road to hell. One of these legends said that when the team lowered the microphone to a depth of several thousand meters, human screams, groans and screams were heard there.

Of course, there was nothing of the sort. If only because special equipment is used to record sound in a well at such a depth - but it did not record anything either. There were indeed several accidents at the complex, including an underground explosion during drilling, but geologists definitely did not disturb any underground “demons”.

The well itself is mothballed.

It is really important that 16 research laboratories worked at SG-3. During the Soviet Union, domestic geologists were able to make many valuable discoveries and better understand how our planet works. The work at the site allowed to significantly improve the drilling technology. The scientists were also able to understand the local geological processes, received comprehensive data on the thermal regime of the subsoil, underground gases and deep waters.

Unfortunately, today the Kola super-deep well is closed. The building of the complex has been deteriorating since the last laboratory was closed here in 2008, and all equipment was dismantled. The reason is simple - lack of funding. In 2010, the well was already mothballed. Now it is slowly but surely destroyed under the influence of natural processes.