Super-Deep Continental Drilling and Deep Geophysical Sounding

The proceedings of a seminar on super-deep continental drilling and deep geophysical research held in USSR in August 1988. The conference focused on drilling technology, scientific interpretations of logs from boreholes with reports on geological transects and deep geophysical sounding.

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The international seminar on "Super-Deep Continental Drilling and Deep Geophysical Research" was held at Yaroslawl/Wolga in the USSR, August 23-29, 1988. The unique feature of this international conference was the combination of reports on drilling technology, scientific interpretation of logs from boreholes with reports on geological transects and on deep geophysical sounding. The new frontier in the exploration of the lithosphere is the combination of remote sensing and imaging with deep drilling, whereby the latter provides direct access to the deeper part of the crystalline Earth's crust. Super-deep drilling into depth ranges with conditions of high pressure-temperature and high chemical reaction rates challenges the imagination and abilities of the best of engineers. Super-deep drilling is also a tremendous challenge to all geoscientists since it provides "ground truth" for a wide spectrum of remote sensing and imaging methods that can be applied to the crystalline crust. The reader will find the latest achievements about drilling into the continental crust.