China's Record-Breaking Borehole: The Why and How.

China has started drilling a 10,000-metre borehole in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang province, which is the country's deepest-ever borehole. The project aims to explore areas deep beneath the Earth's surface, discover valuable minerals and energy resources, and assess the risks of environmental calamities. The drilling intends to reach the Cretaceous system, which has rocks reaching back 145 million years. The project faces challenges due to the harsh ground environment and complicated underground conditions in the Tarim Basin. The deepest man-made hole on Earth is the Russian Kola Superdeep Borehole, which was completed in 1989 at a depth of 12,262 metres.