... and deep drilling holes.West Germany West Germany: see Germany. has given the go-ahead for a 14-kilometer hole to be drilled in either the Black Forest or the Upper Palatinate Upper Palatinate, Germany: see Palatinate. district beginning in 1988 German geophysicists are especially interested in using the hole to study the stresses that have developed over the last 600 million years in the European crust from the interaction of the American, African and Asian plates. German officials also recently visited the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. to discuss the possibility of cooperation, such as sharing technical know-how, between the drilling programs of the two countries. The United States'Continental Scientific Drilling Scientific drilling is a way to probe down into the Earth, allowing scientists and students to obtain samples of sediments, crust, and upper mantle. In addition to rock samples, drilling technology allows us to obtain samples of connate fluids and of the subsurface biosphere, Program is just getting up to speed, with a number of sites now being considered for future drill holes. Other nations with deep-drilling programs include Canada, South Africa and the Soviet Union, which so far has drilled a 12-km hole--the deepest to date. |
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