China Claims 16,172-Foot Drilling Feat with Ocean Hard Rock Recovery
The 30-day trial recovered a 4.27-meter basalt core and pushed drilling to 4,929.17 meters, officials said.
- On Monday, China's Mengxiang ocean drilling vessel established a new national deep-sea record, with the Ministry of Natural Resources confirming the vessel reached the 5,000-meter level while recovering basalt from the South China Sea.
- This achievement positions China as the third nation globally to successfully retrieve hard rock samples from deep oceanic basins, a capability the mission tested through scientific drilling systems in ultra-deep water.
- During the 30-day trial, the vessel drilled to a maximum depth of 16,172 feet while two ROVs accumulated more than 358 working hours at 4,000 meters and researchers recovered a 4.27-meter-long basalt core.
- The recovered samples provide physical evidence of geological processes, potentially revealing the South China Sea's formation history and evolution while supporting future energy exploration in ultra-deep waters.
- With core-recovery rates exceeding 100 percent, the expedition established a coring system meeting International Ocean Discovery Program standards, demonstrating China's complete scientific drilling workflow capability in extreme depths.
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Chinese deep-ocean drilling ship brings home ‘precious’ South China Sea samples
The ocean drilling ship Mengxiang has returned from its first expedition in the South China Sea, where it set a national depth record and obtained basalt core samples that could help to unravel the region’s tectonic history. The 30-day expedition organised by the China Geological Survey tested the operational capabilities of the world’s most powerful deep-ocean drilling ship, according to a report published on Monday by the official ministry new…
During a 30-day scientific study in the South China Sea, the ocean drilling vessel "Mengxiang" reached a depth of 4,929 meters. Rock samples extracted from the depths of the seabed carry important information about how the region was formed millions of years ago.
China's deep-sea drilling capacity reaches 5,000-meter level
China's Mengxiang ("Dream") ocean drilling vessel has set a national record for deep-sea drilling, elevating its capability to 5,000-meter level, after obtaining basalt samples from the South China Sea basin, the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Monday.
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