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Scientists are preparing a trip to the Earth's mantle
Scientists are preparing to commit one of the greatest achievements, which can be compared with the flight to the Moon: the researchers are going to reach the Earth's mantle, which no one has yet succeeded.
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With the help of a Japanese vessel for deepwater drilling "Chikyu" the researchers plan to get to the fault that caused the devastating earthquake in Tohoku last year.
The data obtained can turn the idea of the evolution and structure of the Earth. There is even a likelihood, that will be found something unexpected - like the "mantle of life", some unique local organisms, reports Kompyulenta.
The project, dubbed Mohole to Mantle, has a clear scientific basis. Although the mantle accounts for 68% of the mass of the Earth, people know very little about it.
"We have no pure sample the mantle," - said party collaboration Damon crucibles from the National Oceanography Centre UK.
Until now nobody has been able to pass over a third of the way to the mantle. Record keeping 1507-meter well on the coast of Costa Rica. It is not a deep hole (even in the oceanic crust), but this is where the scientists turned to the mantle closest thickness of the cortex there are only 5, 5 km.
For the new project will have to make the drill, which had not yet been born. And not only in length but also in the material of the drill. When drilling holes with a diameter of 30 cm in solid magmatic rocks at a speed of 1 m / h head lives about 50 hours. And the teeth can grind off even faster. The new superhard material must also withstand the pressure to 2 kbar and temperatures up to 250 degrees Celsius.
The report, released in 2011 by Blade Energy, shows that the project is technically feasible. There remains only the problem of financing - alone work vessel "Chikyu" will cost 1 billion. Dollars. However, the Japanese government has agreed to take over the lion's share of the cost, other countries have also expressed interest in the project.
If all the financial issues will be resolved in the next year, scientists hope to get to the mantle for a decade.
The idea to get to the heart of the Earth from researchers regularly. In 2012 Japanese scientists aprede oceanographers managed to drill the deepest subsea well in the world. Total depth was 7740 meters, which was a new world record for scientific deep drilling. The purpose of research - finding out the main seismological reasons that a devastating earthquake on March 11 last year.
A little over a year ago, geologists have stated their intention to drill the deepest existing today offshore wells using Japanese floating drilling station. They wanted to get samples of the Earth's rocks to record depth, to better understand the nature of earthquakes.
Source:
via
With the help of a Japanese vessel for deepwater drilling "Chikyu" the researchers plan to get to the fault that caused the devastating earthquake in Tohoku last year.
The data obtained can turn the idea of the evolution and structure of the Earth. There is even a likelihood, that will be found something unexpected - like the "mantle of life", some unique local organisms, reports Kompyulenta.
The project, dubbed Mohole to Mantle, has a clear scientific basis. Although the mantle accounts for 68% of the mass of the Earth, people know very little about it.
"We have no pure sample the mantle," - said party collaboration Damon crucibles from the National Oceanography Centre UK.
Until now nobody has been able to pass over a third of the way to the mantle. Record keeping 1507-meter well on the coast of Costa Rica. It is not a deep hole (even in the oceanic crust), but this is where the scientists turned to the mantle closest thickness of the cortex there are only 5, 5 km.
For the new project will have to make the drill, which had not yet been born. And not only in length but also in the material of the drill. When drilling holes with a diameter of 30 cm in solid magmatic rocks at a speed of 1 m / h head lives about 50 hours. And the teeth can grind off even faster. The new superhard material must also withstand the pressure to 2 kbar and temperatures up to 250 degrees Celsius.
The report, released in 2011 by Blade Energy, shows that the project is technically feasible. There remains only the problem of financing - alone work vessel "Chikyu" will cost 1 billion. Dollars. However, the Japanese government has agreed to take over the lion's share of the cost, other countries have also expressed interest in the project.
If all the financial issues will be resolved in the next year, scientists hope to get to the mantle for a decade.
The idea to get to the heart of the Earth from researchers regularly. In 2012 Japanese scientists aprede oceanographers managed to drill the deepest subsea well in the world. Total depth was 7740 meters, which was a new world record for scientific deep drilling. The purpose of research - finding out the main seismological reasons that a devastating earthquake on March 11 last year.
A little over a year ago, geologists have stated their intention to drill the deepest existing today offshore wells using Japanese floating drilling station. They wanted to get samples of the Earth's rocks to record depth, to better understand the nature of earthquakes.
Source: