China wants to drill into the Earth's mantle for the first time

China has unveiled a new drill ship with a very special mission: to reach the Earth's mantle for the first time in human history. The background is an international race to the depths.

With a new special ship, China wants to drill through the earth's crust for the first time and thus penetrate into the earth's mantle. The ship named “Mengxiang” (Dream) – China's first self-developed drillship – recently embarked on its first test voyage, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The almost 180 meter long and 33 meter wide colossus should be able to travel 15,000 nautical miles and work for 120 days without having to return to port. What is really impressive, however, is the ship's alleged drilling performance. It is said to be capable of drilling holes up to 11,000 meters deep, Xinhua reported. That would make it the leader by far.

Through such deep drilling, scientists could take direct samples from the Earth's mantle. It would be conceivable, for example, to gain new insights into the processes that lead to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the movement of tectonic plates.

The previous deep-sea record was set in 2019 by the Japanese ship “Chikyu” with a borehole of 3,250 meters. The already aging US research vessel “Joides Resolution” recently reached a depth of around 2,000 meters. Both ships are part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), an association of 20 countries that explore the ocean together.

Race into the interior of the earth

Now China is also getting involved with the “Mengxiang” and apparently has great ambitions. The ship can “drill through the earth’s crust into the upper mantle,” writes Xinhua, citing unnamed sources. China would be the first nation to succeed in this complicated undertaking.

Generations of scientists have already worked on researching the inner workings of our planet. And similar to the race to the moon, there was already intense competition to reach the Earth's mantle during the Cold War – but so far without success.

The earth's crust is the outermost layer of the earth and forms the solid surface on which we live. It begins at the Earth's surface and extends downwards to the so-called Mohorovičić discontinuity (“Moho” for short). This is the boundary between the Earth's crust and the underlying mantle.

The big goal for geologists is penetrating the Moho, whose depth varies greatly depending on geographic location. While on land you would often have to drill between 30 and 50 kilometers deep to reach the Moho, on the seabed it is around five to ten kilometers.

Ocean drilling more suitable

This is exactly why the USA tried its luck with ocean drilling in the 1960s. The Mohole project took place in the Pacific Ocean. Despite some scientific successes, it was discontinued before reaching the Moho due to high costs and technical difficulties.

In the 1970s, a Soviet project began with the “Kola Superdeep Borehole,” which reached a depth of 12,262 meters on the Kola Peninsula. To this day it is the deepest borehole in the world – but it also did not reach the Moho.

Although international research on the Earth's crust continued, other methods proved more efficient for understanding the properties of the Earth's mantle. Some seismological studies have provided valuable insights.

However, the International Ocean Discovery Program has not given up on its original goal. Work continues to reach the Earth's mantle. The race to the center of the earth is now entering the next round with the Chinese.

Deep holes even on land

However, Beijing makes no secret of the fact that, in addition to scientific interests, it also pursues economic interests. The “Mengxiang” is intended to help develop energy resources in the sea and contribute to “national energy security”. With this goal in mind, there is a lot of drilling going on not only in the ocean but also on land.

Chinese engineers began a new deep
drilling project last July. They want to drill a 10,520 meter deep hole into the earth's crust in the Sichuan Basin in southwest China. The region is an important gas producing area and engineers expect natural gas deposits there. Shortly before, China had started another drilling project in the Tarim Basin in northwest China. The super borehole will even go to a depth of 11,100 meters.