How far would you have to dig down before you hit lava and the like?

Answer 1

The crustal part of Earth varies in depth. It ranges from 6-30+ miles. Under the continents, which are sort of floating on the upper mantle, the crust is deeper. Under the oceans, the crust is thinner. Recently, scientists have attempted to drill down to the mantle through the Oceanic crust. The drill did not go straight down this time and did not reach the molten part. They may try again next year.
From http://library.thinkquest.org:
The outer most layer, the crust, is categorized into two parts, the Oceanic crust and the continental crust. The Oceanic crust is the smallest part of Earth, only 0.099% of its mass and reaching a small depth of 0-6 miles (0-10 kilometers). In the beginning of time, it was possible that this area did not exist for through frequent volcanic activity does only the crust form. Evidence of this is marked by the oceanic ridge system, which is a 25,000 mile (40,000-kilometer) array of many volcanoes which creates layer after layer of new crust at the rate of 17 km3 per year. The ocean floor is covered in basalt originating from volcanic activity and as a matter of fact, Iceland and Hawaii are two island systems that emerged from the accumulated basalt.

Continental crust: The second smallest area of the Earth is the Continental crust, making up only 0.374% of the Earth's mass and extending a short depth of 0 - 31 miles (0-50 kilometers). Looking at the percent by composition, the continental crust makes up only 0.554% of the mantle-crust mass. The layer is composed primarily of crystalline rocks made of low-density buoyant minerals dominated mostly by quartz (SiO2) and feldspars (metal-poor silicates). This is the outer part of the Earth composed essentially of crystalline rocks. The continental crust and the oceanic crust are also referred to as the lithosphere because of the cool and rocky conditions that exist in its chemical composition.

Answer 2

Roughly speaking you would have to dig down 400km to reach the "shalow mantle" you need to dig approxz 650 to hit the lower mantle and gurantee yourself some top quality lava

Answer 3

It changes from where u are but the average is to reach the mantle so that means you have to dig through the crust which is in most places 40 km thick. (the biggest hole ever dug is 4 km)

Answer 4

How Deep Is Lava

Answer 5

I think you mean "magma", not "lava", right?

It varies by where you are on the planet, but I believe its more than a
thousand miles in.

There are places where the rock is so hot it is liquid near the surface
which is why we have volcanos.

Check out http://www.fi.edu/earth/core.html for a pretty good tutorial.

Answer 6

I'd say 200 km. That's a lot of digging, hombre. Can't you find something easier to do?

Answer 7

the thinnest place in ocean is 27 km

Answer 8

depends where you are, if you dig into a volcano it might be 100M

Answer 9

dunno, have a go & find out...make sure u dont fall in