The oceanic crust has a more stable structure than the crust on land and is 6-7 km thick on average. And to take samples without exposure to the atmosphere, scientists need to arrange drilling underwater. For these purposes, it is necessary to ensure the stability of the scientific drilling ship, which is the first challenge in this process. The researchers say underwater drilling is necessary to prevent rock weathering.
Drilling underwater is “very difficult”, but the current “record” has allowed scientists to gather the material they’ve long sought. In 1991, an American bark drill team reached 200.8 meters below the seafloor and have now managed to reach 1,000 meters.
Geologists say such studies have taken the deepest mantle rocks in history, but technically it’s not about depth, because there are deeper wells – the Kola Superdeep, which is 12,261 meters below sea level. To extract the samples, the researchers used what’s called the “tectonic window”—the area where mantle rocks are being pushed closest to Earth’s surface—through the Atlantis massif, an underwater mountain range near the Lost City’s hydrothermal field.
The scientists also say that certainly this is not yet a mantle – the samples taken were affected by seawater. Therefore, the rock should be considered as a deep crust. However, these are the deepest examples ever unearthed.
Source: Ferra
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