The present book is devoted to the study of the deep Earth's interior structure, one of the most important problems of Earth sciences today. The drilling of the Kola superdeep well inaugurated a new stage in the study of the Precambrian continental crust. The well was sunk in the northeastern part of the Baltic Shield, in an area where the Precambrian ore-bearing structures, typical of the ancient platform basements, are in juxtaposition with each other. To the present the well has been drilled to a depth of 12 km, has traversed the full thickness of the Proterozoic complex and a considerable part of the Archean stratum, and is still be­ ing worked on. This book reviews the principal results of investigations to a depth of 11,600 m; these are described in three sections: geology, geophysics, and drilling. The book begins with a general review of the history, the present state of knowledge, and trends of further investigations in the field of study of the Earth's interior and superdeep drilling. The first section of the book considers the geology of the vicinity of the Kola superdeep well and describes its geological section based on a detailed examination both of the cores and the near-borehole area.

Assisted by: N.I. Andrianov, M.I. Vorozhbitov, D.M. Guberman, V.I. Kazansky, E.W. Karus, V.S. Lanev, E.B. Nalivkina, R.A. Sumbatov
Translated by: I.P. Lavrushko, G.A. Bylevski, Y.Y. Prizov, D.E. Stolyarov