In this most recent news article readers are informed of what the National Science Foundation calls the third deepest plunge into the Earth. In which scientist said they had drilled into the lower section of Earth's crust for the first time. This drilling was located at the intersection of the Mid-Atlantic ridge and the Atlantis fracture zone which are both plates of the planet's broken crust. This site is called the Atlantis Massif. This location was chosen due to the seafloor being shallower at the center and logically made the drilling easier. These new developments might allow scientists to break through the mantle in coming years. I am not sure what the anticipated result of the penetration of the mantle is but it is unsettling to me. A new word was added to my vocabulary "Moho" which is a boundary formally known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity. This marks the division between Earth's brittle outer crust and the hotter, softer mantle.
small image showing the location of the Mid-Atlant...
depth of mohorovicic discontinuity in the netherla...
The JOIDES Resolution departing Honolulu, Hawaii a...My own research on The Mohorovicic discontinuity found the Mohorovicic discontinuity was first identified in 1909 by Andrija Mohorovicic when he observed the abrupt increase in the velocity of earthquake waves at this point. The location of the Mohorovicic discontinuity varies between about 5 km beneath the mid-oceanic ridges to approximately 75 km beneath continents.
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program or IODP seeks this Boundary. This hole took about eight weeks to drill and brought back new information about the planets composition. Drillers used the vessel JOIDES Resolution. The 10-year, $1.5 billion program is funded by the NSF and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. ," I researched the vessel JOIDES resolution because The article did not provide additional information. The JOIDES Resolution was formerly known as the B.P. Sedco-Explorer. The vessel is specially equipped with...