As of: March 26, 2024, 7:12 p.m
By: Felix Herz
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The drilling tower in the geocenter near Windischeschenbach stands over the deepest hole in the world - it reaches a depth of more than nine kilometers.
© Zoonar / IMAGO
The highest land drilling tower in the world is located near Windischeschenbach in the Upper Palatinate - but something special lies beneath it.
Windischeschenbach – Everyone knows the race between the superpowers USA and the Soviet Union to the moon during the Cold War.
Of course it is documented in great detail; there are countless reports about the moon landing.
What is less well known is the race into the depths.
The current winner?
Neither the USA nor Russia – but the Upper Palatinate.
More than nine kilometers down: the deepest hole in the world is in the middle of Bavaria
The showdown between the superpowers in the Cold War sometimes took on strange excesses.
The USA and the Soviet Union competed for the deepest hole in the world.
The Americans drilled the Bertha Rogers exploration well in Oklahoma - and reached a depth of 9,583 meters, writes
prosieben.de
.
The Russians countered with a drilling on the Kola Peninsula - as part of the “super deep Kola drilling SG-3”, the Russians reached a depth of 12,262 meters.
It is probably the deepest hole ever.
But it is not the deepest hole in the current world.
Because the Americans and the Russians each closed their holes again - in both cases mainly because the costs were no longer affordable - this record is now held by the “Continental Deep Borehole (KTB)” near Windischeschenbach, Neustadt an der Waldnaab district.
At 9,101 meters deep, the world's deepest hole is currently in the Upper Palatinate.
(By the way: Our Regensburg newsletter regularly informs you about all the important stories from the world heritage city and the Upper Palatinate. Sign up here.)
“A place hostile to life”: The conditions at depth – and why it is so difficult to continue drilling
The “Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers e.
V.” writes on
helmholtz.de
that the hole narrows as it goes deeper.
At the surface it measures 71 centimeters in diameter, but at the bottom it is only 17 centimeters in diameter.
Down there there are “temperatures of up to 280 degrees Celsius and pressures of up to 940 bar – an absolutely hostile place.”
For comparison: a car tire has 2.5 bar.
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Above all, the heat is the main reason why it is so difficult to penetrate deeper into the earth's crust.
The drills would simply melt.
Drilling in the deep sea is more suitable because not only can you start deeper there, but according to
sz.de
the rock layers are also not as thick as the earth's crust on land.
But deep-sea drilling is expensive and requires special equipment and equipment.
The KTB in the Upper Palatinate is likely to retain its unique selling point on land for the time being.
Anyone interested can visit the Geozentrum information and meeting place at the Continental Deep Drilling (KTB). According to
sz.de
, 25,000 visitors come each year.
Tickets for adults cost 5.50 euros and can be visited all year round - further information can be found on the website.
(fhz)
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