You may think this is a picture of a dirty old truck... but actually this is a modern, high-tech piece of equipment that uses an ancient methodology to drill a well! The drilling being done here is using a "cable tool" to drill through earth and rock. The bit head is at the end of a flexible cable and as the drill gets further down in the rock more cable is played out.
Another method of well drilling uses a drill head (the "bit") at the end of a metal tube. The bit starts drilling a hole in the ground by either chewing or smashing the rock. As the bit chews more and more rock, more piping is added, creating a very long metal tube with the drill bit at the end. Wells more than 1,000 feet deep can be dug using this method.
Measuring water
Human's influence
Water use
Water Science home page
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/gwtruckrig.html
Page Contact Information: Howard Perlman
Page Last Modified: Friday, 07-Nov-2008 15:43:45 EST
