China completes drilling of deep borehole

The deepest borehole to be drilled for scientific purposes by Asians - the first to penetrate a continental layer of strata from the earth's Cretaceous period - was completed in northeastern China on Saturday, four years after it began. It reached a depth of 7,018 meters.

The project, Songke 2, in Anda, Heilongjiang province, started in April 2014, led by the China Geological Survey in cooperation with about 20 organizations, including the Institute of Exploration Technology, SinoProbe Center, China University of Geosciences, Jilin University and Daqing Oilfield Co.

"On behalf of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, I would like to congratulate you on the project, which achieved an unprecedented depth," said Ulrich Harms, head of the ICDP's operational support group.