Some of you may think the sound of hell is your alarm going off in the morning. Others may think it’s the death rattle of your phone falling down the side of the car seat. A few more may think it’s Lazy Song by Bruno Mars.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 was dug by the Soviet Union in the Pechengsky District of Russia back in 1989.
This was part of a project to drill as deep into the Earth’s Crust as possible.
After reaching a depth of 12.262 km (7.61 miles), the project had to be stopped because the equipment was melting. At this depth, the temperature was around 180C (356F).
This is the cap of the Kola Superdeep Borehole.
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) November 20, 2021
They reached 40,111 feet of depth in 1989, after nearly two decades of drilling.
One of the deepest drill holes in the world.
It was so unexpectedly hot the drilling had to stop as drill bits were melting. pic.twitter.com/iRrKzhYUmh
This was still an incredible feat of science and engineering, allowing researchers to work out what the Earth’s crust was made up at that depth.
Whilst this fascinated some, others thought humans shouldn’t really be delving that far down, Indy100 reports.
According to some tabloid reports, scientists working on the drilling started hearing strange sounds coming from the hold.
This prompted them to lower a microphone into the hole to pick up the noise.
The recordings they picked up apparently sounded like people screaming in agony, according to YouTube videos that have shared the story.
However, the truth behind this urban legend is likely quite flimsy.
No recording devices were found at the site of the drilling and it’s unlikely a microphone would have been able to reach such depths and still work.
Researchers did make some enlightening discoveries though. For example, scientists discovered that deep parts of the Earth’s crust were saturated with water, whilst microscopic plankton fossils were found six kilometres below the surface.
Despite plans for the project to continue, funding dried up in 1995. But to this day, the Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 is still the deepest artificially dug hole ever.
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