Kola ultra-deep well

The most amazing well in the world is located in the Murmansk region, 15 km east of the village of Nickel and 12 km west of the city of Zapolyarny. Its depth is 12,262 meters, the diameter of the upper part is 92 centimeters, the diameter of the lower part is 21.5 centimeters.

The Kola experimental reference ultra-deep well (SG-3) is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the deepest human intrusion into the Earth's crust.

Unlike the other largest ultra-deep wells, which were drilled for practical purposes — for oil, gas or geological exploration, the Kola well was drilled exclusively for scientific research purposes.

The well was laid in 1970 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Initially, it had the status of a secret object, since it was located in the border zone, next to strategic mineral deposits, and in addition, the USSR protected its scientific priority in the study of the lithosphere.

In the early 1980s, the Kola superdeep passed 11,022 meters, bypassing the Mariana Trench. In September 1984, a depth of 12,066 meters was reached for the first time, but the drill string broke off. This was a real tragedy for the drilling crew. At the same time, within the framework of the World Geological Congress, the work carried out in the Arctic was declassified.

After 1991, the research center began to decline. Drilling was officially stopped in 1992. The continuation of the work required a long and expensive update of the techniques.

By 1995, funding for the work was almost completely stopped, and in 2008, by the decision of the head of the Federal Property Management Agency for the Murmansk Region, the research and production center at the well was liquidated "due to unprofitability".

As a result of ultra-deep drilling on the Kola Peninsula, many valuable information about the earth's interior was obtained, the simple two-layer structure of the Earth was refuted, and it was found that the temperature in the depth of the earth's crust is completely different from what scientists expected. It turned out that at a depth of five kilometers, it is 75 degrees Celsius, at seven — it reaches 120 degrees, and at a depth of 12 kilometers it reaches 220 degrees.

The Kola ultra-deep well was the source of the urban legend of the "well to hell". Legend has it that when the well was drilled to a depth of 14.5 km, the drillers stumbled upon voids, lowered down a microphone capable of operating at extremely high temperatures, and other sensors. The temperature inside reached 1100 °C — it was the heat of the fire chambers, from which, allegedly, you could hear human screams. However, despite all the investigations and refutations, the story about the well to hell still remains one of the most popular urban legends of our time.

Now the legendary well is preserved, and its mouth is closed by a steel plate.