Geotechnical Drilling Ashley Park How Deep Can You Drill With Geotechnical Drilling?

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Ashley Park natives often wonder about how deep you can drill into the ground as part of a project involving geotechnical drilling. Ashley Park drilling crews will consider a number of different factors when overseeing a drilling project, including the type of information and data that’s sought, the ground conditions at the location and the type of drill that’s used to perform the drilling.

Ashley Park drilling projects can vary in terms of the objective. Some are designed to evaluate the ground prior to building a new structure, while others are designed to determine the integrity of the underlying bedrock or even identify an underground void that could potentially collapse into a sinkhole.

The variables for a drilling project can include:

  • The type of information you’re seeking as part of the drilling project
  • The type of drill and drill bit that is being utilized
  • The subsurface conditions, including the soil and bedrock conditions

With a smaller drill that’s drilling into hard, dense clay rich soil, the maximum depth may be just 7 or 8 feet, whereas a larger drill that’s drilling into softer, sandier soil may be able to reach depths of 80 feet or more.
The required drilling depth varies depending upon what type of information you’re seeking at a particular site. In many cases, the vital information you’re seeking can be obtained by drilling to a depth of just 15 or 20 feet, while other projects may require a much deeper drilling project.

Overall, humans have not drilled very far in terms of depth. In fact, human drilling projects have never fully penetrated the Earth’s crust to reach the mantle. The deepest drilling project took place in 1970 on the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Known as the Kola Super-deep Borehole, drills reached a depth of 12 kilometers or 7.5 miles. Although it was created over 45 years ago, the Kola Super-deep Borehole still holds the record for being the deepest drill hole ever bored on the planet Earth.

The deepest mine on Earth is a gold mine in South Africa, which is approximately 2.5 miles deep.

The thickness of the Earth’s crust varies quite dramatically depending upon location. In the ocean (which, at its deepest point, is over 6 miles deep), the Earth’s crust can range in thickness from 3 to 6 miles, whereas in areas of landmass, the crust can range from a depth of anywhere from 20 to 30 miles.

Miles above sea level.

*Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Amdrill Inc*