Drilling deep into the earth holds a fascination for earth scientists derived in part from the fact that the drill hole is the ultimate test of a hypothesis. When surface exploration methods have been fully uti lized and all the geological inferences drawn about the structure be neath the surface, we must finally drill to sample directly the third dimension of the crust of the earth. The drill is thus the tool of choice of the energy and minerals re sources industry. Because of high cost, drilling has been only sparing ly used for solving fundamental problems in the earth sciences. But now,...

The purpose of this book is to inform geoscientists about the progress made in scientific continental deep drilling as a new method for studying the continental crust. The Seeheim symposium was the second meeting organized for experts of the various national programs to present and discuss the results and progress made in their respective programs since the first symposium in Tarrytown in 1984. Various contributors dealt with the present state of - and experience in - deep drilling techniques as well as with the development of logging tools for drilling at high temperatures. Special emphasis...

The present book is devoted to the study of the deep Earth's interior structure, one of the most important problems of Earth sciences today. The drilling of the Kola superdeep well inaugurated a new stage in the study of the Precambrian continental crust. The well was sunk in the northeastern part of the Baltic Shield, in an area where the Precambrian ore-bearing structures, typical of the ancient platform basements, are in juxtaposition with each other. To the present the well has been drilled to a depth of 12 km, has traversed the full thickness of the Proterozoic complex and a considerable...

This book presents the results of the Third International Symposium on Observation of the Continental Crust through Drilling held in Mora and Orsa, Sweden, September 7 - 10, 1987. Volume 2 reviews new and general information on geology, geophysics, rock mechanics, geochemistry, drilling techniques and drilling problems in very deep holes of the FRG, USA and the Soviet Union. The proceedings are invaluable for earth scientists as well as for exploiters of geoenergy and other natural resources in the crust. Volume 1 summarizes the results of the Deep Gas Project in the Siljan impact structure,...

The drilling site of the KTB is located on the western margin of the Bohemian Massif, a few kilometers south of the structurally important Saxothur ing ian/Moldanubian boundary of the central European Hercynian orogene and several kilometers east of one of the most important Permian-Mesozoic strike-slip zones of central Europe, the Franconian line. The borehole will be drilled in the Moldanubian segment (Fig. 1). o -::: --... . . -. . -. D Il1O, Fig. l: Geological map of the Central Europe Variscides and location of borehole From geographical and political points of view, the drill site is...

In October 1986 the German Minister for Research and Technology (Bundesminister fUr Forschung und Technologie), Dr. H. Riesenhuber, officially announced that the super-deep borehole of the Continental Deep Drilling Program of the Federal Republic of Germany (KTB) would be drilled in the Oberpfalz area of Northern Bavaria. The site selection was based on a recommendation from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) made after an evaluation by the Project Management of the technical and financial risks involved. This decision was preceded by a conference held from September 19 to 21, 1986 in...

Terrestrial Heat Flow and the Lithosphere Structure summarizes current problems of analyzing related data. The individual chapters are written by leading scientists in geothermics, and are arranged in three sections: - General Lithospheric Geothermics - Regional Lithospheric Geothermics - Worldwide Heat Flow Density Studies. Emphasis is laid on the interrelations between lithospheric structure and local heat flow fields.

The earth is seen as a dynamic body undergoing convection that is driven by its internal heat. The elucidation of the nature and evolution of the earth's lithosphere, that has provided all minerals and energy resources and the space in which we live is one of the principal motives behind the International Program "Dynamics and Evolution of the Lithosphere." A full understanding of the lithosphere requires further research especially on the continents and their margins: while the oceanic lithosphere cools and subsides as it flows away from the zone of upwelling, the continents, because of...

The articles in this volume were selected from a series of reports delivered in the So viet Union at Yaroslavl during the International Seminar "Super-deep drilling and deep geophysical research," which was organized and held in August 1988 by the Ministry of Geology of the USSR, jointly with the Inter-Union Commission on the Lithosphere. One of the most important problems of modem geology, is the state and prospects of further development of deep continental structure investigations, was discussed at the seminar with the participation of 245 scientists and specialists from 19 countries. At...