Geotechnical Drilling Town ‘N Country Why Do You Need Soil Samples from Geotechnical Drilling?

Town ‘N Country natives often ask about the uses for the soil samples – formally known as core samples – that are extracted from the ground during the geotechnical drilling process. There are actually a number of different uses for soil samples, which are extracted as a tubular “slice” from the ground.

What Information Do You Get from Soil Samples Extracted via Geotechnical Drilling?

Town ‘N Country clients can get a lot of valuable information from the soil samples that are extracted during a geotechnical drilling project.

One bit of information pertains to the soil layer composition, depth and thickness of each layer, along with the depth of the bedrock. Engineers and developers can use this information when planning a structure for a site. It’s critical that you ensure that the site’s ground is sufficiently stable and robust enough to support a large building or other structure.

Soil samples also provide information on the groundwater depth and the degree of saturation within the soil. Groundwater sources are often tapped by well companies, but they need to know how deep to drill in order to access that water. Additionally, the degree of soil saturation is also important because this can have a very significant impact on the ground’s overall stability.

It’s also possible for our geotechnical drilling crews to extract rock core samples, providing you with a sample of the limestone bedrock that sits beneath the Florida peninsula. In other areas of the country, the rock core samples can actually vary quite a bit, whereas the state of Florida sits atop a consistent layer of limestone bedrock.

Soil samples can also be used to determine if ground contaminants are present and if so, how deep those contaminants have seeped into the earth. This can be useful for remediation and clean-up efforts, as the crews will need to know how deep to dig in order to remove all of the contaminants.

With geotechnical drilling, Town ‘N County clients may find that the absence of soil is a key finding. This can indicate that you have penetrated an underground void that holds the potential to collapse, forming a sinkhole. So in cases where you come up with an unexpected lack of soil, this can be important because it allows the property owners to make a decision as to whether sinkhole remediation is required.

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