The Project Mohole is an attempt to reach the surface of Mokhorovichich with deep water drilling in 1961-1966. The project was implemented by the US National Science Foundation . The goal of the project was not achieved.
The project was based on the assumption that the thickness of the ocean floor to the surface of Mokhorovichich is much less than on land. A place was chosen near the island of Guadalupe with an ocean depth of about 3.5 km . Five test wells were drilled with a bottom depth of up to 180 meters . The project was closed due to cost overruns.
One of the reasons for the failure was the revolutionary nature of drilling from a floating loose platform at great depths. The positioning of the platform was carried out by the platform engines according to the sonar signals. The CUSS I drilling platform was created by a consortium of oil companies in 1956 as a test bench for offshore oil production.
The project “Mokhol” was named after the Croatian scientist Andrei Mokhorovichich ( Croatian Andrija Mohorovičić ), who explored the earth's crust and mantle . Part of the name, hole , is translated from English into Russian as "well."
See also
- Kola superdeep well
- Deep water drilling
- Chikyu Hakken
Literature
- A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea: The Story of the Mohole Project by Willard Bascom, 1961. ISBN 0-385-00711-6
- Chandler, GN “Experimental Deep Water Drilling- Project Mohole” (Motion Picture, Library of Congress Catalog Number: fi 68000006, 28 min)
Links
- Viktorova L. Touch the mantle (Russian) // Chemistry and life - XXI century. - 2012. - No. 12 . - ISSN 0130-5972 .