This Abandoned Soviet Site Is Home To The World’s Deepest Man-made Hole

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In the late 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, competing teams of US and Soviet scientists began a series of experiments. These experiments involved drilling down deep into the earth’s crust, the thin shell on the outside of Earth, thought to stretch as far as 30 miles towards the centre of our planet.

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The shell eventually gives way to the mantle, a layer of silicate rocks between the Earth’s crust and the outer core. With a thickness of a 2,900 kilometres, it makes up a staggering 84% of Earth’s volume. The American’s and Soviets aimed to reach the mantle.