Project Mohole

CUSS I

Underseas beacons for positioning by sonar

Project Mohole was an ambitious attempt to drill through the Earth's crust into the Mohorovičić discontinuity, and to provide an Earth science complement to the high profile Space Race. It was led by the American Miscellaneous Society with funding from the National Science Foundation.

Phase One was executed in spring 1961. Five holes were drilled off the coast of Guadalupe, Mexico, the deepest at 183 m (601 ft) below the sea floor in 3,500 m (11,700 ft) of water. This was unprecedented: not in the hole's depth but because of the depth of the ocean and because it was drilled from an untethered platform. Also, the core sample proved quite valuable, showing Miocene age sediments with the lowest 13 m (44 ft) consisting of basalt.

Project Mohole contracted with Global Marine of Los Angeles for the use of its oil drillship CUSS I. A consortium of Continental, Union, Superior and Shell Oil Companies, CUSS had originally developed it in 1956 as a technological test bed for the nascent offshore oil industry. CUSS I was one of the first vessels in the world capable of drilling in water depth up to 3,560 m (11,700 ft), while maintaining a position within a radius of 600 ft (180 m). Hence Project Mohole expanded its operational range by virtually inventing what is now known as dynamic positioning.

Phase One proved that both the technology and expertise were available to drill into the Earth's mantle. However, Mohole-Phase Two was dissolved in 1966 due to poor management and cost overruns.

In popular culture

• The 1970 Doctor Who serial Inferno was inspired by the Mohole project.
• The 2007 science fiction novel Deep Storm by Lincoln Child centers around an attempt by the United States government to drill through the Mohorovičić discontinuity.
• Moholes are described in the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. In the story, they are built to assist the terraforming of Mars by thermal convection adding to the gradual warming of the Martian climate.

See also

• Ocean Drilling Program
• Deep Sea Drilling Program
• Integrated Ocean Drilling Program
• Kola Superdeep Borehole

References

Bibliography

• A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea: The Story of the Mohole Project by Willard Bascom, 1961. ISBN-0385007116
• Oral History Interview. Willard Bascom, 1993.
• Oral History Interview. Robert Bauer, 1993
• Milton Lomask, "A Minor Miracle: An Informal History of the National Science Foundation." NSF
• Chandler, G. N. "Experimental Deep Water Drilling- Project Mohole" (Motion Picture, Library of Congress Catalogue Number: fi 68000006, 28 min)

Notes

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External links

• NSF Ocean Drilling Program
• Project Mohole photo gallery
• Geology History: Project Mohole
• NAS - Project Mohole