Hotter Than Expected
Temperatures within the borehole had more or less adhered to what the researchers had planned to find for the first 10,000 feet. After that depth, however, the amount of heat shot up much more quickly. And the hole had heated up to a whopping 180 °C (356 °F) by the time the drilling had started close to its target, a complete 80 °C (176 °F) hotter than expected.
Hotter Than Expected
Fascinating Discovery
However, before sealing up what has been called the Kola Superdeep Borehole, researchers were able to learn some interesting things. For starters, they found tiny fossils of marine plants at a depth of some four miles. Given how long they had spent enclosed below several miles of rock, these relics were amazingly intact, which itself was thought to be over two billion years old.
Fascinating Discovery
