The hole will reach far into the Earth’s crust to the Cretaceous System.
Scientists in China have begun digging a 10,000-meter (32,808 feet) hole into the Earth, the deepest ever attempted in the country.
Digging down through 10 layers of rock, the team hopes to reach rocks from the Cretaceous Period, the layer known as the Cretaceous System, which dates back up to 145 million years. The project, which broke ground on Tuesday, could be used to identify mineral resources as well as help assess environmental risks like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, according to Bloomberg.