Project Mohole
Project Mohole (abbreviation for Mohorovičić discontinuity , fused with English hole = hole) was a research program carried out by the National Science Foundation , which aimed to penetrate the earth's crust by means of deep drilling . The project was initiated in 1957 by Walter Munk and Harry Hammond Hess , with the aim of obtaining information about the age of the earth, its structure and internal processes, as well as confirmation of the plate tectonics model currently under discussion (based on Alfred Wegener ).
In 1961, phase 1 drilling was carried out off the Mexican Pacific coast, about 75 kilometers west of the island of Guadelupe . From the drilling ship CUSS I , however, only 183 meters into the kilometer-thick earth's crust was penetrated at a depth of 3500 m. No further drilling took place. In 1966 the project was ended without having achieved its goal. Despite the early end of the project, the basic technical feasibility of deep drilling into the earth's mantle was demonstrated. The successor to Project Mohole was the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) launched in 1968 .
literature
- Hellmuth Vensky: Journey to the center of the earth. Time online, March 1, 2011