Comments on: The Deepest Hole http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/ A collection of legitimately fascinating information culled from the past, present, and anticipated future. Tue, 22 May 2012 01:30:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: GeothermalSusan http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-26946 GeothermalSusan Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:49:16 +0000 #comment-26946 I'm surprised at the temperatures. The geothermal gradient in this area would need to be pretty low to only have 180C at 12.75 km. And believe me, it would need to be much hotter than this to have drilling problems due to plasticity of the rock. The Icelanders just drilled into magma (liquid rock) and they had very little trouble until that happened. The temperature was over 450C. They drilled into magma at the Puna geothermal project as well and again they had no drilling problems until just before they hit it. We are working on a geothermal project in a well that has over 325C at the bottom and there was no problem with plasticity of the rock. We run mud motors as was described in this well at temperatures over 250C. Over 44 TW of heat energy escapes from the earths surface into the atmosphere annually. The planet wide energy consumption is about 11 TW. This energy is not from the sun nor does it come from pressure. It comes from heat given off by radioactive decay of elements in the rocks making up the planet. There are hot spots, of course, where the crust is thin. The mid-ocean ridges and rift zones as well as the Basin and Range have this thin crust. Some extra heat is given off by friction between moving pieces of the crust but this isn't a big piece of the heat budget of the planet. Geothermal power in the Hawaiian Islands comes from one project at Puna on the Big Island which supplies about 25 MW. Thats about 20% of the Big Island power consumption but only about 2% of the state consumption. I’m surprised at the temperatures. The geothermal gradient in this area would need to be pretty low to only have 180C at 12.75 km. And believe me, it would need to be much hotter than this to have drilling problems due to plasticity of the rock. The Icelanders just drilled into magma (liquid rock) and they had very little trouble until that happened. The temperature was over 450C. They drilled into magma at the Puna geothermal project as well and again they had no drilling problems until just before they hit it. We are working on a geothermal project in a well that has over 325C at the bottom and there was no problem with plasticity of the rock. We run mud motors as was described in this well at temperatures over 250C.

Over 44 TW of heat energy escapes from the earths surface into the atmosphere annually. The planet wide energy consumption is about 11 TW. This energy is not from the sun nor does it come from pressure. It comes from heat given off by radioactive decay of elements in the rocks making up the planet. There are hot spots, of course, where the crust is thin. The mid-ocean ridges and rift zones as well as the Basin and Range have this thin crust. Some extra heat is given off by friction between moving pieces of the crust but this isn’t a big piece of the heat budget of the planet.

Geothermal power in the Hawaiian Islands comes from one project at Puna on the Big Island which supplies about 25 MW. Thats about 20% of the Big Island power consumption but only about 2% of the state consumption.

]]> By: 14darkmatt15 http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-26226 14darkmatt15 Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:14:49 +0000 #comment-26226 [quote]Candyass said: "Jack Starr said: “Don’t you hate it when people use the metric system like some third world “county?” You would think that other countries would emulate the world’s only SuperPower and give up that ridiculous idea.” I agree with Jack Starr. Why would anyone want to dibble dabble with complicated units like 10? 10mm = 1cm, 10cm = 1dm, 10 dm = 1 meter – my head is just spinning!! I mean c’mon, if someone asked you: “how far is the bush from the fence”?, why would you want to spend hours calculating it in metrics and saying “It’s 105 centimeters”, when you can say “it’s 3.444882 feet…or 1.148294 yard…or 41.338584 inches”?"[/quote] Why calculate anything when you can take 5 minutes or 300 second to go grab a measuring tape? =D [quote]Candyass said: “Jack Starr said: “Don’t you hate it when people use the metric system like some third world “county?” You would think that other countries would emulate the world’s only SuperPower and give up that ridiculous idea.”

I agree with Jack Starr. Why would anyone want to dibble dabble with complicated units like 10? 10mm = 1cm, 10cm = 1dm, 10 dm = 1 meter – my head is just spinning!! I mean c’mon, if someone asked you: “how far is the bush from the fence”?, why would you want to spend hours calculating it in metrics and saying “It’s 105 centimeters”, when you can say “it’s 3.444882 feet…or 1.148294 yard…or 41.338584 inches”?”[/quote]

Why calculate anything when you can take 5 minutes or 300 second to go grab a measuring tape? =D

]]> By: Worried http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-26071 Worried Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:36:53 +0000 #comment-26071 Has anyone done the math on how much heat is being released into the atmosphere. Volcanoes are pimples compared to these. These are more on a par with impact craters. Perhaps impact craters do not release volcanic mayhem as is usually described as dinosaur killers. Perhaps they just dig deep holes in the crust and let heat out steadily but surely. In total BTUs, how does this giant hole (holes?) we dug compare to the temperatures needed to start a big green house problem? Does the timing of these deep man made holes line up with the global warming record in the ice core studies. Easy questions to make up, I know. But did someone at least demonstrate that these holes could not possibly contribute to, much less cause, the global warming of the last several decades? 100 degree plastic rock sounds significant to me. Has anyone done the math on how much heat is being released into the atmosphere. Volcanoes are pimples compared to these. These are more on a par with impact craters. Perhaps impact craters do not release volcanic mayhem as is usually described as dinosaur killers. Perhaps they just dig deep holes in the crust and let heat out steadily but surely. In total BTUs, how does this giant hole (holes?) we dug compare to the temperatures needed to start a big green house problem? Does the timing of these deep man made holes line up with the global warming record in the ice core studies. Easy questions to make up, I know. But did someone at least demonstrate that these holes could not possibly contribute to, much less cause, the global warming of the last several decades? 100 degree plastic rock sounds significant to me.

]]> By: Flackbash http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25985 Flackbash Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:19:47 +0000 #comment-25985 [quote]Why would anyone want to dibble dabble with complicated units like 10? 10mm = 1cm, 10cm = 1dm, 10 dm = 1 meter – my head is just spinning!! I mean c’mon, if someone asked you: “how far is the bush from the fence”?, why would you want to spend hours calculating it in metrics and saying “It’s 105 centimeters”, when you can say “it’s 3.444882 feet…or 1.148294 yard…or 41.338584 inches”?"[/quote] I've worked as a land surveyor here in the U.S. Basically, they're the people who drive stakes in the ground to show constructions crews where to build things. In order to show distances/etc smaller than a foot, they break the foot down into tenths and hundredths of a foot. There are no inches. That's right, in our steadfast avoidance of all things metric, we ironically break feet down to base 10. I could show you what a tenth looks like between two fingers much more easily than I could show you a centimeter. Yeah, I know. Yep. [quote]Why would anyone want to dibble dabble with complicated units like 10? 10mm = 1cm, 10cm = 1dm, 10 dm = 1 meter – my head is just spinning!! I mean c’mon, if someone asked you: “how far is the bush from the fence”?, why would you want to spend hours calculating it in metrics and saying “It’s 105 centimeters”, when you can say “it’s 3.444882 feet…or 1.148294 yard…or 41.338584 inches”?”[/quote]

I’ve worked as a land surveyor here in the U.S. Basically, they’re the people who drive stakes in the ground to show constructions crews where to build things. In order to show distances/etc smaller than a foot, they break the foot down into tenths and hundredths of a foot. There are no inches.

That’s right, in our steadfast avoidance of all things metric, we ironically break feet down to base 10. I could show you what a tenth looks like between two fingers much more easily than I could show you a centimeter. Yeah, I know. Yep.

]]> By: thetennthtenn http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25922 thetennthtenn Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:28:16 +0000 #comment-25922 to all you people who go "lol" or "lmao" about this alternative energy sources are messed up nuts go check your selfs in to the physc ward. there is many energy sources other then oil and yes as long as we did not drill to the core of the earth [the earth would go super nova] we could use geothermal heat and many other sources. to all you people who go “lol” or “lmao” about this alternative energy sources are messed up nuts go check your selfs in to the physc ward. there is many energy sources other then oil and yes as long as we did not drill to the core of the earth [the earth would go super nova] we could use geothermal heat and many other sources.

]]> By: geonerd http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25757 geonerd Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:21:31 +0000 #comment-25757 Hi I am a geologist just wanted to comment on a very common misconception: that the Earth's mantle is molten. In fact it is solid crystalline rock all the way down to the core-mantle boundary, the rock is hot and deformable due to the extreme pressure(hence it will flow) but it is not a liquid. Magma only occurs at places where there is an influx of water such as subduction zones which lowers the melting temperature of rocks, or in places where upward motion causes decompression melting such as mantle plumes. Anyway the crust as a whole is not underlain by magma. we know this because both P and S-waves will propagate through the mantle, and S-waves will not pass through liquid. so there is no danger of magma coming up the borehole because there is no magma down there. Hi I am a geologist just wanted to comment on a very common misconception: that the Earth’s mantle is molten. In fact it is solid crystalline rock all the way down to the core-mantle boundary, the rock is hot and deformable due to the extreme pressure(hence it will flow) but it is not a liquid. Magma only occurs at places where there is an influx of water such as subduction zones which lowers the melting temperature of rocks, or in places where upward motion causes decompression melting such as mantle plumes. Anyway the crust as a whole is not underlain by magma. we know this because both P and S-waves will propagate through the mantle, and S-waves will not pass through liquid. so there is no danger of magma coming up the borehole because there is no magma down there.

]]> By: MacAvity http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25636 MacAvity Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:49:19 +0000 #comment-25636 [quote]Korgmeister said: "You know, I am starting to think we need a category for entries called “Those Wacky Soviets”"[/quote] I second the motion. [quote]Korgmeister said: “You know, I am starting to think we need a category for entries called “Those Wacky Soviets””[/quote]

I second the motion.

]]> By: alandoud http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25495 alandoud Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:11:02 +0000 #comment-25495 geo-t wrote As far as damaging the earth by drilling a hole – that’s pretty audacious to think that we as humans have that much control. We don’t! We can’t stop volcanoes, we can’t stop the movement of techtonic plates, whatever hole we dig, will eventually be filled back in by acts of nature. God made it that way and he is in control, and if you look at the long history of the earth – you will know this – because God set up the laws that cause the acts of nature. Whoever said, digging a hole would damage the earth has watched way too much TV and suscribed to the media propaganda way too much. Actually we caused an earth quake when water was pumped into a fault meeting magma created steam pressure. As far as God goes we he left us the will to destroy ourselves if we choose. I Love God! Don't you? geo-t
wrote
As far as damaging the earth by drilling a hole – that’s pretty audacious to think that we as humans have that much control. We don’t! We can’t stop volcanoes, we can’t stop the movement of techtonic plates, whatever hole we dig, will eventually be filled back in by acts of nature. God made it that way and he is in control, and if you look at the long history of the earth – you will know this – because God set up the laws that cause the acts of nature. Whoever said, digging a hole would damage the earth has watched way too much TV and suscribed to the media propaganda way too much.

Actually we caused an earth quake when water was pumped into a fault meeting magma created steam pressure. As far as God goes we he left us the will to destroy ourselves if we choose. I Love God! Don’t you?

]]> By: ChuckS http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25363 ChuckS Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:02:58 +0000 #comment-25363 Oh I cannot wait for the day when MANKIND will drop the useless PC nonsense and go back to proper terminologies. Great article though. I had a feeling that it would get hotter as it drilled down but that would only make sense since it is believed that there is a molten core here on Earth. Oh I cannot wait for the day when MANKIND will drop the useless PC nonsense and go back to proper terminologies. Great article though. I had a feeling that it would get hotter as it drilled down but that would only make sense since it is believed that there is a molten core here on Earth.

]]> By: geo-t http://www.damninteresting.com/the-deepest-hole/#comment-25182 geo-t Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:45:42 +0000 #comment-25182 Ok, just wanted to clear a lot of things up. The Bible (which when referred to is capitalized regardless of your religion but because it is a book) does state that hell is down. Of course from an American perspective this can be quite confusing because what we consider up - the Chinese consider down....so maybe it is symbolic? However, the conditions found when going down far enough might be another symbolism for what Hell might be like? Another religious fact that someone mentioned early on in these posts was The "Flood". It has been questioned where the "wellsprings of the deep" are that could have helped flood the world that the Bible mentioned. I found it interesting to see that water (or equivalent volumes of hydrogen/oxygen) were found in the rocks when they dug deep - just food for thought... There was a scientist who put out the theory that oil is regenerated from something within the crust of the earth and therefore there was a perpetual supply. (maybe one of the links someone listed pointed to this theory - I'm both too lazy and limiting my Internet traversing because I'm not at home). An interesting theory that might coincide with the micro-organisms found deep in the crust. Metric vs Imperial measuring system - I blame the British! As far as damaging the earth by drilling a hole - that's pretty audacious to think that we as humans have that much control. We don't! We can't stop volcanoes, we can't stop the movement of techtonic plates, whatever hole we dig, will eventually be filled back in by acts of nature. God made it that way and he is in control, and if you look at the long history of the earth - you will know this - because God set up the laws that cause the acts of nature. Whoever said, digging a hole would damage the earth has watched way too much TV and suscribed to the media propaganda way too much. Ok, just wanted to clear a lot of things up.
The Bible (which when referred to is capitalized regardless of your religion but because it is a book) does state that hell is down. Of course from an American perspective this can be quite confusing because what we consider up – the Chinese consider down….so maybe it is symbolic? However, the conditions found when going down far enough might be another symbolism for what Hell might be like?
Another religious fact that someone mentioned early on in these posts was The “Flood”. It has been questioned where the “wellsprings of the deep” are that could have helped flood the world that the Bible mentioned. I found it interesting to see that water (or equivalent volumes of hydrogen/oxygen) were found in the rocks when they dug deep – just food for thought…
There was a scientist who put out the theory that oil is regenerated from something within the crust of the earth and therefore there was a perpetual supply. (maybe one of the links someone listed pointed to this theory – I’m both too lazy and limiting my Internet traversing because I’m not at home). An interesting theory that might coincide with the micro-organisms found deep in the crust.
Metric vs Imperial measuring system – I blame the British!
As far as damaging the earth by drilling a hole – that’s pretty audacious to think that we as humans have that much control. We don’t! We can’t stop volcanoes, we can’t stop the movement of techtonic plates, whatever hole we dig, will eventually be filled back in by acts of nature. God made it that way and he is in control, and if you look at the long history of the earth – you will know this – because God set up the laws that cause the acts of nature. Whoever said, digging a hole would damage the earth has watched way too much TV and suscribed to the media propaganda way too much.

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