Scientists begin another attempt to drill through the Earth’s crust
An expedition to the Indian Ocean is about to begin an effort to drill a core down through the Earth’s crust and into its mantle.
Geologists have been trying to drill through the contact between the crust and the mantle, called the Moho, since the 1960s, with no success. Either the projects have gone way over budget and been shut down, have failed due to engineering problems, or were stopped by the geology itself. This last issue is maybe the most interesting.
Expeditions have come close before. Between 2002 and 2011, four holes at a site in the eastern Pacific managed to reach fine-grained, brittle rock that geologists believe to be cooled magma sitting just above the Moho. But the drill could not punch through those tenacious layers. And in 2013, drillers at the nearby Hess Deep found themselves similarly limited by tough deep-crustal rocks
This new project hopes to learn from these past problems to obtain the first rock samples from below the Earth’s crust.
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An expedition to the Indian Ocean is about to begin an effort to drill a core down through the Earth’s crust and into its mantle.
Geologists have been trying to drill through the contact between the crust and the mantle, called the Moho, since the 1960s, with no success. Either the projects have gone way over budget and been shut down, have failed due to engineering problems, or were stopped by the geology itself. This last issue is maybe the most interesting.
Expeditions have come close before. Between 2002 and 2011, four holes at a site in the eastern Pacific managed to reach fine-grained, brittle rock that geologists believe to be cooled magma sitting just above the Moho. But the drill could not punch through those tenacious layers. And in 2013, drillers at the nearby Hess Deep found themselves similarly limited by tough deep-crustal rocks
This new project hopes to learn from these past problems to obtain the first rock samples from below the Earth’s crust.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Also of note, there is an interesting reference to the possible origin of some “fossil” fuels being an ongoing byproduct of microorganisms.
“Along the way, researchers hope to explore not just geology, but biology, too. Geological mapping suggests that seawater may have percolated several kilometres deep at Atlantis Bank, triggering chemical reactions that turn the rock into a type known as serpentinite. These reactions generate methane, a gas that sub-sea-floor microbes often munch for energy. JOIDES Resolution scientists will be checking the rock cores for microorganisms, says Virginia Edgcomb, a microbiologist at Woods Hole who will be on the cruise.”
So, for what reason do these guys expect to find anything different from ordinary magma flowing from a volcano?
By extension, is drilling this 8″ hole into the Moho risking creating terrorists?
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/623518/Fears-scientists-fracking-volcanic-sea-bed-trigger-mega-earthquake
Using president Obama’s and Bill Nye’s logic, by human beings drilling this hole having the now stated risk in the media of causing an 8+ level earth quake is a reasonable reason to shut down this project. 1. Earth quake set off by human activity causes destruction and possible Tsunamis 2. people on the earths surface will be displaced and disaffected 3. by their own logic this will cause the displaced and disaffected people to become terrorists.
The logic is perfect, this project by human beings must not be allowed to move ahead because it has the potential to create terror! The U.N. must intervene and have this stopped immediately!
Someone was mentioning that the old 60’s scifi movie with Dana Andrews “Crack in the World” was quite good and scary…found it on utube.