The researchers of JAMSTEC plans to drill the Earth’s mantle.
JAMSTEC – Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology’s researchers desire to be the first to drill into the mantle of the Earth successfully.
Based on a recent news report in Manila Bulletin, in the pursuit of reaching the Earth’s mantle, a group of Japanese scientists plans to drill through the crust of the Earth.
It is by the month of September that the preliminary study is expected to begin.
According to the news report, one of the goals behind the project is to know the depth of the microbial life’s existence on Earth and to wander through the oceanic crust.
One of those that are extending some support by aiding in the expedition’s funding is the Japanese government who aspires that the project can be something that could pave the way for the founding of better means to predict earthquakes.
Based on the news report, Dr. Natsue Abe, researcher with the JAMSTEC, had a talk with Radio Sputnik and expressed that the Chikyu, the most huge vessel for drilling and the most advanced will be utilized by the team.
The waters off Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Mexico were chosen by the research group as the possible sites where the drilling would be conducted. It is by year 2030 that the drilling is expected to begin.
According to Dr. Abe, in order for the geologists to come up with precise assumptions about the Earth, the temperature and as well as the exact composition of the mantle should be known.
She added that the knowledge of the scientists regarding the Earth’s mantle is that it is solid rock and not a liquid substance.
Dr. Abe shared that previously, there was a project which attempted to drill through the crust of the Earth into the boundary between the planet’s mantle and crust or the Mohorovičić discontinuity. The project was called as “Moho”.
It was the American Miscellaneous Society who spearheaded the project. The National Science Foundation financed it but soon the team gave up drilling as they had no equipment to drill the Earth’s mantle.
Based on the news report, before the drilling vessel will reach the ocean floor, the Chikyu will go through around 4.5 kilometers of water after being dropped. Before reaching the mantle, it will have to bore through six kilometers of the crust.