圖像來源, GETTY IMAGES
The lakes, forests, mists and snow of the Kola Peninsula, deep in the Arctic Circle, can make this corner of Russia seem like a scene from a fairy tale. Yet amidst the natural beauty stand the ruins of an abandoned Soviet scientific research station. In the middle of the crumbling building is a heavy, rusty metal cap embedded in the concrete floor, secured by a ring of thick and equally rusty metal bolts.
在北極圈內的科拉半島（Kola Peninsula），湖泊、森林、霧靄和積雪，使俄羅斯的這個角落看起來仿若童話中的天地。然而，在這片自然美景中卻有一片廢墟，這是一個廢棄的蘇聯科研站。在這棟破敗的建築中間，有一個厚實的、生鏽的金屬蓋嵌在水泥地上，由一圈同樣鏽跡斑斑、粗大的金屬螺栓所固定。
According to some, this is the entrance to hell.
有人說，這裡是地獄的入口。
This is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the deepest manmade hole on Earth and deepest artificial point on Earth. The 40,230ft-deep (12.2km) construction is so deep that locals swear you can hear the screams of souls tortured in hell. It took the Soviets almost 20 years to drill this far, but the drill bit was still only about one-third of the way through the crust to the Earth’s mantle when the project came grinding to a halt in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia.
這是科拉超深鑽孔（Kola Superdeep Borehole），地球上最深的人造井和最深的人工標誌點。當地人發誓說，這座深達地底40230英尺（12.2公裡）的鑽井，可以聽到井底深處傳來地獄的鬼魂慘叫聲。蘇聯人花了將近20年的時間才鑽到這個深度，但在蘇聯解體後的混亂中，這個項目戛然而止，當時的深度離穿過地殼到達地幔只鑽了三分之一左右。
The Soviets』 superdeep borehole isn’t alone. During the Cold War, there was a race by the superpowers to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust – and even to reach the mantle of the planet itself.
蘇聯人的超深鑽孔並非獨一無二。在冷戰時代，超級大國進行了一場鑽井競賽，都儘可能深鑽入地殼，甚至希望到達地幔。
Now the Japanese want to have a go.
現在日本人也想試一試。
「It was in the time of the Iron Curtain when the drilling was started,」 says Uli Harms of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, who as a young scientist worked on the German rival to the Kola borehole. 「And there was certainly competition between us. One of the main motivations was that the Russians were simply not really open with their data.
「地底超深鑽探始於鐵幕時代，」國際大陸科學鑽探項目（International Continental Scientific Drilling Program，德文簡稱KTB）的哈默斯（Uli Harms）表示。年輕的時候，他曾為科拉超深鑽孔的德國競爭對手工作。「我們之間肯定是有競爭的。我們要競爭，其中一個主要動機是，俄國人對他們的數據遮遮掩掩。」
「When the Russians started to drill they claimed they had found free water – and that was simply not believed by most scientists. There used to be common understanding among Western scientists that the crust was so dense 5km down that water could not permeate through it.」
「俄國人開始鑽的時候，聲稱發現了游離水，但大多數科學家根本不相信這一點。過去，西方的科學家普遍認為，地殼下面5公裡的地方密度很大，水根本不可能滲透進去。」
「The ultimate goal of the [new] project is to get actual living samples of the mantle as it exists right now,」 says Sean Toczko, programme manager for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science. 「In places like Oman you can find mantle close to the surface, but that’s mantle as it was millions of years ago.
日本海洋研究開發機構（Agency for Marine-Earth Science）的項目經理託齊科（Sean Toczko）說：「（新）項目的最終目標是獲得目前存在的地幔實際活體樣本。在像阿曼這樣的地方，你可以找到接近地表的地幔，但那是數百萬年前形成的地幔。」
圖像來源, GETTY IMAGES圖像加注文字,
這個鑽井位於俄羅斯北部科拉半島的荒野中（Credit: Getty Images）
「It’s the difference between having a live dinosaur and a fossilised dinosaur bone.」
他說：「這相當於活恐龍和恐龍化石的區別。」
If the Earth is like an onion, then the crust is like the thin skin of the planet. It is only 25 (40km) miles thick. Beyond this, is the 1,800-mile deep mantle and beyond that, right at the center of the Earth, is the core.
如果把地球比作洋蔥，那麼地殼就像地球最外面的一層薄皮，只有25英裡（40公裡）厚。之下就是厚達1800英裡（近2900公裡）的地幔，再往下，就是地球的中心，也就是地核。
Like the space race, the race to the explore this unknown 「deep frontier」 was a demonstration of engineering prowess, cutting-edge technology and the 「right stuff」. The scientists were going where no human had gone before. The rock samples these super-deep boreholes could supply were potentially as important for science as anything Nasa brought back from the moon. The only difference was that this time the Americans didn’t win the race. In fact, no-one really did. (Read about how a switch saved the race to the Moon from disaster.)
跟太空競賽一樣，探索這個未知的「深度邊疆」的競賽，展示的是工程實力、前沿技術和「正確的東西」。科學家們要去人類從未涉足的地方。這些超深鑽孔所能提供的巖石樣本對科學的重要性，恐怕不亞於美國宇航局（NASA）從月球帶回的任何一樣東西。唯一的不同是，這次競賽的贏家不是美國人。事實上，根本沒有贏家。
The US had fired up the first drill in the race to explore the deep frontier. In the late 1950s, the wonderfully named American Miscellaneous Society came up with the first serious plan to drill down to the mantle. The society-turned-drinking-club was an informal group made up of the leading lights of the US scientific community. Their crack at drilling through the Earth’s crust to the mantle was called Project Mohole, named after the Mohorovičić discontinuity, which separates the crust from the mantle.
在探索深度邊界的競賽中，美國先發制人。20世紀50年代末，美國科學雜項協會（American Miscellaneous Society，這名字妙吧）提出了第一個深鑽進入地幔的認真計劃。這個由嚴肅聚會演變為飲酒作樂派對的非正式學術組織，成員都是美國科學界的領軍人物。他們這個鑽穿地殼達到地幔的項目叫莫霍計劃（Project Mohole）。計劃名字來自將地殼與地幔隔開的莫霍界面（Mohorovičić discontinuity）。
Rather than drill a very, very deep hole, the US expedition – observed by novelist John Steinbeck – decided to take a short cut through the Pacific Ocean floor off Guadalupe, Mexico.
美國的勘探計劃不想在地球鑽一個很深很深的洞，據美國小說家斯坦貝克（John Steinbeck）說，他們決定抄近路，從墨西哥瓜達盧佩（Guadalupe）附近的太平洋海底開始鑽洞。
The advantage of drilling through the ocean floor is that the Earth’s crust is thinner there; the disadvantage is that the thinnest areas of crust is usually where the ocean is at its deepest.
從海底開鑽的好處是，海底的地殼比較薄；缺點是，地殼最薄的地方通常位於海洋的最深處。
圖像來源, RAKOT13/CC BY-SA 3.0
科拉超深鑽孔仍然存在，但入口已被焊死（Credit: Rakot13/CC BY-SA 3.0）
The Soviets started to drill in the Arctic Circle in 1970. And finally, in 1990, the German Continental Deep Drilling Program (KTB) began in Bavaria – and eventually drilled down to 5.6 miles (9km).
蘇聯於1970年開始在北極圈鑽探。最後一個超深鑽井工程是德國在1990年開始的大陸深層鑽探計劃（German Continental Deep Drilling Program, KTB），於巴伐利亞州啟動，最終達到的深度為5.6英裡（9公裡）。
As with the mission to the Moon, the problem was that the technologies needed for the success of these expeditions had to be invented from scratch.
跟登月任務一樣，麻煩之處在於，若想取得成功，所需要的技術都得從零開始研發。
When in 1961 Project Mohole began to drill into the seabed, deep-sea drilling for oil and gas was still far off. No one had yet invented now essential technologies such as dynamic positioning, which allows a drill ship to stay in its position over the well. Instead, the engineers had to improvise. They installed a system of propellers along the sides of their drill ship to keep it steady over the hole.
1961年，當莫霍計劃開始在海床上鑽探時，深海石油和天然氣的鑽探還是很久之後的事情。動態定位這個今天的關鍵技術當時尚未發明出來，這是一種可以讓鑽探船穩固保持在鑽井上方位置的技術。工程師們不得不靈機一動。他們在鑽探船的兩側安裝了推進器系統，以便保持它在鑽孔上方的穩定。
One of the biggest challenges the German engineers faced was the need to drill a hole that is as vertical as possible. The solution they came up with is now a standard technology in the oil and gas fields of the world.
德國超深鑽孔工程師面臨的最大挑戰之一，是需要鑽一個儘可能垂直的洞。他們拿出來的解決方案現在已經成了世界石油和天然氣領域的標準技術。
「What was clear for the experience of the Russians was that you have to drill as vertical as possible because otherwise you increase torque on the drills and kinks in the hole,」 says Uli Harms. 「The solution was to develop vertical drilling systems. These are now an industry standard, but they were originally developed for KTB – and they worked until 7.5kms (4.7 miles). Then for the last 1.5–2km (.9 to 1.25 miles) the hole was off the vertical line for almost 200m.
哈默斯說：「俄國人的經驗清楚地表明，你必須儘可能垂直地鑽孔，否則就會增加鑽孔的轉矩，孔道會變得歪扭。解決方案就是開發垂直鑽井系統。現在這些已經是一個行業標準，但它們最初是為德國KTB工程開發的，這個技術直到7.5公裡（4.7英裡）深度之前都很有效。但在最後的1.5～2公裡（0.9～1.25英裡），鑽洞偏離了垂直線近200米。
圖像來源, JOCHEM KUECK
德國人在1990年開始了他們自己的超深鑽孔工程（Credit: Jochem Kueck）
「We tried to utilise some of the Russian techniques in the early 90s or late 80s when Russia became more open and willing to cooperate with the West,」 he adds. 「Unfortunately, it was not possible to get the equipment in time.」
他補充道：「到了上世紀80年代末或90年代初，俄羅斯變得開放，願意與西方展開合作，我們試圖利用俄羅斯的一些技術，不幸的是，無法及時獲得他們的設備。」
However, all of these expeditions ended in a degree of frustration. There were false start and blockages. Then there were the high temperatures their machinery encountered that deep underground, the cost and the politics – all of which put paid to the dreams of the scientists to drill deeper, and break the record for the deepest hole.
然而，所有這些地底探險都以不同程度的挫敗而告終。有錯誤的開始和阻塞。然後是機器在深入地下後遭遇的高溫，還有成本和政治因素。所有這些都讓科學家們想要深鑽地球，並且打破最深的鑽井記錄的夢想付之東流。
Two years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, US Congress cancelled the funding for Project Mohole when costs began to spiral out of control. The few metres of basalt that they were able to bring up worked out at a cost of roughly $40m (£31m) in today’s money.
在阿姆斯特朗（Neil Armstrong）登上月球的兩年前，當莫霍計劃的成本開始失控時，美國國會取消了對這項計劃的資助。以今天的貨幣計算，莫霍開採出的數米長的玄武巖，大約花費了4000萬美元（3100萬英鎊）。
Then it was the turn of the Kola Superdeep Borehole. Drilling was stopped in 1992, when the temperature reached 180C (356F). This was twice what was expected at that depth and drilling deeper was no longer possible. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union there was no money to fund such projects – and three years later the whole facility was closed down. Now the desolate site is a destination for adventurous tourists.
然後就該輪到科拉超深鑽孔工程的結束了。1992年，當鑽點的溫度達到180攝氏度（356華氏度）時，鑽探工作停了下來。那是當初預期溫度的兩倍，再往深處鑽已不可能。蘇聯解體後，已無錢來資助這樣的工程。三年後，整個設施被關閉。現在，這個荒涼的廢墟成了冒險客的目的地。
The German borehole has been spared the fate of the others. The huge drill rig is still there – and a tourist attraction today – but today the crane just lowers instruments for measurement. The site has become in effect an observatory of the planet – or even an art gallery.
德國超深鑽孔工程倖免於難。巨大的鑽機仍然高聳在原處，今天還成了旅遊景點。但在今天，仍在操作的起重機只是把測量儀器放下井洞作勘察之用。這個地點實際上已經成為一個地球觀察站，甚至是一個藝廊。
When Dutch artist Lotte Geevan lowered her microphone protected by a thermal shield down the German borehole, it picked up a deep rumbling sound that scientists couldn’t explain, a rumbling that made her 「feel very small; it was the first time in my life this big ball we live on came to life, and it sounds haunting,」 she says. 「Some people thought it did sound like hell. Others thought they could hear the planet breathe.」
荷蘭藝術家吉文（Lotte Geevan）把由隔熱罩保護的麥克風放進德國鑽孔的深處，麥克風接收到了科學家無法解釋的低沉的隆隆聲，這種聲音讓她「覺得自己非常渺小」。她說：「這是我生命中第一次感到這個我們賴以生存的巨大球體有了生命。其聲音聽起來讓人難以忘懷。有些人認為這像是地獄之聲，但有些人認為他們聽到的是地球的呼吸。」
「The plan was there to drill deeper than the Soviets,」 says Harms, 「but we hadn’t even reached our allowed phase of 10km (6.25 miles) in the time we had. Then where we were drilling was just much hotter than where the Russians were. It was pretty clear that it was going to be much more difficult for us to go any deeper.
哈默斯說：「當時的計劃是要比蘇聯鑽得深，但我們當時甚至還沒有達到我們預期的10公裡（6.25英裡）階段。而且我們鑽探的地方比俄國人的氣候要熱得多。很明顯，我們要想鑽更深將會困難得多。」
「By then it was also the early 90s in Germany and there was no good argument to raise additional funding to go any deeper because the German unification was costing such a lot of money.」
「當時是上世紀90年代初，德國沒有充分的理由籌集更多的資金來資助這個工程，德國為了統一已花了很多錢。」
It is hard not to shake off the feeling that the race to the Earth’s mantle is an updated version of the famous novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth. While the scientists don’t expect to find a hidden cavern full of dinosaurs, they do describe their projects as 「expeditions」.
人們難免會想到，抵達地球地幔的競爭就像是法國科幻作家凡爾納名作《地心遊記》（Journey to the Centre of the Earth）的新版本。雖然科學家們並不期望找到一個裡面全是恐龍的隱藏洞穴，但他們確實將自己的計劃描述為「探險」。
「We thought of it as an expedition because it really took some time in terms of preparation and execution,」 says Harms, 「and because you’re really going into no-man’s land, where no-one has been before, and that is really unusual today.
哈默斯說：「我們認為這是一次探險，因為在準備和執行過程中確實花了一些時間，因為你真的要進入無人地帶，以前從來沒有人去過那裡，即或這在今天也很不尋常。」
「You always find down there something that really surprises you, and especially if you go down into an area that is very deep in the crust.
「你總會在下面發現一些真正讓你吃驚的東西，尤其是深入地殼深處的時候。」
「And if we talk about KTB or the Kola Superdeep, then the theories that were behind the goals of the project were 30–40 years old by the time drilling started.」
「如果我們說起KTB或科拉超深鑽孔工程，計劃背後的理論在鑽探開始時已經有三、四十年的歷史了。」
「The thing about these missions is that they are like planetary exploration,」 says Damon Teagle, professor of geochemistry in the School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton at the University of Southampton, who has been heavily involved in the new Japanese-led project. 「They are pure science undertakings and you never know quite know what you are going to find.
英國南安普頓大學（University of Southampton）南安普頓國家海洋學中心海洋與地球科學學院地球化學教授蒂格爾（Damon Teagle）說：「這些任務的意義就像人類探索行星一樣，是純粹的科學事業，你永遠不知道自己會發現什麼。」
「At Hole 1256 [a hole drilled by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)], we were the first get to see intact ocean crust. No one had got to it before. It was really exciting. There are always surprises.」
「在1256號洞[由深海鑽探項目（Deep Sea Drilling Project ，簡稱DSDP）和海洋鑽探項目（Ocean Drilling Program, ODP）鑽探的一個洞]，我們第一次看到了完整的海洋地殼。以前沒人能做到這一點。真的很令人興奮。總會有驚喜。」
圖像來源, RAKOT13/CC BY-SA 3.0
自上世紀90年代初以來，科拉超深鑽孔工作一直處於廢棄狀態（Credit: Rakot13/CC BY-SA 3.0）
Today, 「M2M-MoHole to Mantle」 is one of the most important projects of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). As with the original Project Mohole, the scientists are planning to drill through the seabed where the crust is only about 6km (3.75 miles) deep. The goal of the $1bn (£775m) ultradeep drilling project is to recover the in-situ mantle rocks for the first time in the human history.
今天，日本的「從莫霍界面到地幔計劃」（M2M-MoHole to Mantle）是國際海洋發現計劃（International Ocean Discovery）最重要的項目之一。與當初的莫霍計劃一樣，科學家們計劃在地殼只有6公裡（3.75英裡）深的海床上進行鑽探。耗資10億美元（7.75億英鎊）的超深鑽孔計劃的目標，是在人類歷史上首次找到原位地幔巖石。
「To do this would be an amazing undertaking and require a huge commitment from Japan,」 says Teagle, who is involved in the project.
參與該項目的蒂格爾表示：「這將是一項了不起的任務，需要日本做出巨大的投入。」
Despite the importance of the project, the huge drilling ship the Chikyū was built almost 20 years ago with this project in mind. The Chikyū uses a GPS system and six adjustable computer-controlled jets that can alter the position of the huge ship by as little as 50cm (20in).
儘管這個項目很重要，巨大的鑽井船地球號（Chikyū）是幾乎20年前為這個項目建造的。地球號使用GPS系統和六個計算機控制的可調噴射器，可用50釐米（20英寸）這麼小的幅度調整這艘巨船的位置。
「The idea is that this ship would pick up the torch and continue the work started by the original Mohole project 50 years ago,」 says Sean Toczko, programme manager for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science. 「Superdeep boreholes have made a lot of progress in telling us about the thick continental crust. What we are trying to do is find out more about the Crust-Mantle boundary.
日本海洋研究開發機構的項目經理託齊科說：「我們的想法是，這艘船將接續上50年前的莫霍項目開創的工作。」在獲取我們厚厚的大陸地殼資料的方面，莫霍超深鑽孔計劃已經取得了很多進展。我們要做的是了解更多關於地殼和地幔之間邊界的信息。
「The main sticking point is that there are three main candidate sites. One of those is off Costa Rica, one off Baha, and one off Hawaii.」
「現主要的爭議在於有三大候選地點。一個在哥斯大黎加，一個在巴哈，還有一個在夏威夷附近。」
Each of the sites involves a compromise between the depth of the ocean, distance from the drilling site and the need for a base on the shore that can support a billion-dollar, 24-hours-a-day operation at sea. 「The infrastructure can be built up, but that takes time and money,」 adds Toczko.
託齊科補充道，計劃都需要在海洋的深度、與鑽井地點的距離，以及是否需要在海岸建立一個基地以便為耗資數十億美元、一天24小時的海上作業提供支持這些問題，在三個候選地點之間做出妥協。「基礎設施可以建，但需要時間和金錢。」
「In the end, it really is a cost issue,」 says Harms. 「These expeditions are extremely expensive – and therefore they are difficult to repeat. They can cost hundreds of millions of euros – and only a small percentage will actually be for the earth sciences, the rest will be for technological development, and of course, operations.
哈默斯說：「說到底，這確實是一個成本問題。這些探險非常昂貴，因此無法再來一次。其成本可能高達數億歐元，其中只有一小部分用於地球科學，其餘部分將用於技術開發，當然還有運營。」
「We need inspiring politicians to talk up the value of these expeditions.」
他說：「我們需要善於鼓動人心的政客們來宣揚這些探險的價值。」