German Continental Deep Drilling Programme

Created/changed by: System

Address details

KTB (Kontinentale Tiefbohrung), 92670 Windischeschenbach, Germany

Print route »

Coordinates

N49° 48' 55" E12° 7' 14"   (49.815277777778, 12.120555555556) Start navigation »

Phone & WWW

Business hours

Info

The German Continental Deep Drilling Programme (in German: Kontinentales Tiefbohrprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland), abbreviated as the KTB borehole, was a scientific drilling project carried out from 1987 to 1995 near Windischeschenbach, Bavaria. The main superdeep borehole reached a depth of 9,101 metres in the Earth's continental crust.
The German Federal Ministry of Research funded the project with 528 million DM (270 million Euro). The Lower Saxony LBEG mining office (Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie) took over the project lead. After the drilling project had ended the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences used the borehole to install a seismic observatory at depth (Tiefenobservatorium) that was active from 1996 to 2001. The derrick - one of the largest in the world - became a tourist attraction in the region. The two boreholes remain open for further scientific use.

Discussions