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Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms |
Wag 04/07/2005 05:25 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms By Robert Roy Britt LiveScience Senior Writer posted: 07 April 2005 08:51 am ET Scientist said this week they had drilled into the lower section of Earth´s crust for the first time and were poised to break through to the mantle in coming years. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) seeks the elusive "Moho," a boundary formally known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity. It marks the division between Earth´s brittle outer crust and the hotter, softer mantle. The depth of the Moho varies. This latest effort, which drilled 4,644 feet (1,416 meters) below the ocean seafloor, appears to have been 1,000 feet off to the side of where it needed to be to pierce the Moho, according to one reading of seismic data used to map the crust´s varying thickness. The new hole, which took nearly eight weeks to drill, is the third deepest ever made. The rock collection brought back to the surface is providing new information about the planet´s composition. "It will provide important clues on how ocean crust forms," said Rodey Batiza, program director for ocean drilling at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Already the types of rocks recovered show that conventional interpretation of Earth´s evolution are "oversimplifying many of the features of the ocean’s crust," said expedition leader Jay Miller of Texas A&M University. "Each time we drill a hole, we learn that Earth’s structure is more complex. Our understanding of how the Earth evolved is changing accordingly." The latest drilling was done at the Atlantis Massif, located at the intersection of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Atlantis fracture zone, two plates of the planet´s broken crust. The seafloor is shallower at the center of this region and therefore easier to reach. It´s not clear yet whether drilling should continue at the new hole or if another one should be started in the effort the reach the mantle. Such work isn´t likely to begin again in the next year, said Barbara John, a University of Wyoming geologist and one of the co-chief scientists on the expedition. "We need to evaluate all the data we have from the cruise and re-analyze the seismic data, to determine whether it´s better to deepen the current hole or drill elsewhere, or maybe even collect additional seismic data to better constrain where to drill," John told LiveScience. "Our major result is that we´ve recovered the lower crust for the first time and have confirmed that the Earth´s crust at this locality is more complicated than we thought." John said mantle material will be evident when and if it´s brought up because it will have different texture and chemistry and will contain different proportions of minerals compared with rock in the crust. Drillers use the vessel JOIDES Resolution. The 10-year, $1.5 billion program is funded by the NSF and Japan´s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. [ link to www.livescience.com] |
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A / C Mascot 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Bump for Deep content. |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms wag...nice to see you interesting .... |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Shit - if they break through - all the air will come out and we will zoom around like a balloon with a hole in it.
Tell them to stop now!! |
idol harobed 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms They are looking for Hollow Earth´s inner Sun. |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Maybe they´ll find the mantle is made of crude oil! Then we can all drive gas guzzling Hummers, even the billions of Chinese!!!
To hell with air! We´ll evolve to breath Naptha fumes~ |
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Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Sure they are, Idol... |
zany, relevant legend 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms The article mentions seismic data.
Do you think this kind of drilling could cause or contribute to earthquakes? |
interest bump 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms And when they crack the mantle like a hole in a dam, the pressure comes spewing forth.
Flaming dumbest idea I have heard yet. Whomever thought this one up is a brainless numb nuts.
Stuff the consequences lets just see what happens hey. |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms I was wondering the same thing 7349.
I wonder what other kinds of interesting things are going on in the world that we´re not aware of. |
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Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Cool. What if it pops like a bottle of champain shooting super heated gas up the drill hole melting it out to ever larger size..... |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Just the latest technological breakthrough. |
flame 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms on the other hand ..... what if they find Hell down there.... |
Greywolff 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms |
Cynicalabsurdance 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms
Frankly if it causes some neat shit to happen I for one,,, am ready for the RIDE I´m bored with this freaking planet anyway it is a tiresom little place full of Greedy little minded ass´es wow,,, it would poetic justice if this planet did streak like hell across the Galaxy from a puncture,,,,,,, be a hell of a sight to watch as well sheeeeet,,, where´d you say they are drilling I believe i´ll go give them a hand and hurry it up I can´t wait heh heh call me cynical,,, but I just love it when wiseguys get a backfire in the face Rog´ |
Eagle # 1 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms On another thread, same subject, I thought they said there was methane in high percentages, where not much was expected. That´s CH3 to chemists, and VERY explosive. Could THIS be the answer to gas stove problems ? OR, a continuous release where NO ONE dares light a match, LOL ?
Eagle |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms I thought they hit water, water with 2x salinity of the sea, lots of dissolved nitrogen and methane also. |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Does "unobtainium" ring any bells? |
paranoid eyes 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms it´s a wonder some of you people can even spell. |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms a HOLE for 1.5 billion? Has the world gone crazy? Ok, that was a rhetorical question. |
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Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms "it´s a wonder some of you people can even spell." One word: "iespell":banana2: |
Mack 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms In the movie "Core" the rock submarine had to swing around giant diamonds, and geodes full of amethyst crystals.
Whatever they turn up in real life will be stranger than fantasy. Still, what if they release a Horta? |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms I guess they didn´t find the abiotic oil layer, huh? |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms THOSE FOOLS!!! THEY WILL KILL US ALL!!!! |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Rog... the planet streaking like hell across the galaxy... sounds fun to me.... |
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icey ice 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms i only bore holes in the ground to make sweet bountiful love to..
but think drilling in the core of an object could cause cracks in a mineral?
anyone ever pound a steak into a rock solid? or a crack in concrete before?
hehhe, gee, real smart, scienticians (not scientists, they´re lacking a section of reality) |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms |
Anonymous Coward 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Really bad idea |
Wag 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Naw, at that depth the heat and pressure makes the rocks almost plastic...
It should be self sealing....
At least- that´s what they think. |
REAL Dave 12/08/2005 10:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth´s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms Pellucidar, here i come!
dave |
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