China has achieved a significant breakthrough in deep-Earth exploration with the drilling of a super-deep borehole in China’s northwestern desert. It has reached the 10,910-meter mark, making it the deepest vertical well in Asia and the second deepest worldwide. Located in the heart of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the well, known as “Shenditake 1,” is a scientific exploration project. In addition to searching for oil and gas resources, it will be tasked with pursuits such as exploring the evolution of Earth.
The deepest hole ever drilled is still the Kola Superdeep Borehole dug by the USSR reaching 12,262m in 1989. Sadly that project has since been abandoned due to - of course, what else? - the destruction of socialism and the decline that Russian science suffered as a result.