10,000 meters deep. The Shenditake 1 borehole in the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang reached a new record depth on Monday. And it is set to go even deeper, to a depth of 11,100 meters. The drilling project marks a breakthrough in the exploration of Earth’s deep layers. The previous world record was set in the 1970s. A depth of 12,262 meters was reached on the Soviet Kola Peninsula.