The Swedish Deep Drilling Program: the quest for the Earth's inner secrets

The Swedish Deep Drilling Program (SDDP) has been initiated to study fundamental problems of the dynamic Earth system, its natural history and evolution. Many key scientific questions can be addressed through in situ investigations only, requiring deep continental drilling. Some are unique to Scandinavia, most are of international interest and significance. At present, five core projects (Fig. 1) with international teams are integrating scientific problems with societal and industrial applications. If SDDP succeeds to attract the funding required, Sweden will have a number of world-class boreholes at key locations by 2020.