Images

Drillers from the USGS Research Drilling Program using a drill rig to install a 42 foot length of schedule 80 extensometer pipe at the James River extensometer site.

The foot of the James River Extensometer shortly before installation, with a nearby hardhat for scale. The extensometer foot is installed at the very base of the extensometer hole, at a depth of 1280 feet in the case of the James River Extensometer. All 1280 feet of extensometer pipe gently rests on the extensometer foot.

The completed Jame River extensometer borehole. The nested 24-inch diameter conductor casing, 16-inch diameter surface casing, 7-inch diameter steel casing, and the 2-inch diameter extensometer rod are all visible protruding upwards from the ground. 

Greg Connock, a USGS geologist, leads a tour of the James River Extensometer drill site. He indicates where drilled sediments are deposited out of the shaker.

A USGS Research Drilling Program rig at the site of the James River Extensometer.

USGS scientists performing a step-injection aquifer test while drilling a bedrock borehole at the Perigo Mine site, Colorado during September 2023.

While drilling the 1420-foot-deep borehole for the West Point Extensometer, USGS geologists take the opportunity to learn all they can about the underlying geology. As they drill deeper, sediments are pumped out of the borehole. Geologists take samples of the sediments every 20 feet and note their composition.

In order to construct the borehole extensometer at West Point, 1420 feet of 7 inch steel casing was fed into the ground using the drilling rig, as pictured here. This steel casing allows the borehole to hold its shape and not collapse in on itself, and isolates the 2 inch thick extensometer rod from the surrounding sediments.

Drilling a new borehole extensometer is a delicate task.

Drilling Capabilities- Kaiparowits UT Drill rig site. This is a drill rig site in Utah.

This photograph shows the initial drilling for the borehole extensometer installed at the Nansemond, Virginia research site.

Connecting drill stem to the top head drive on the USGS Research Drilling program’s rig.

Aerial image of drilling oil well into Bakken Formation in North Dakota