Geology 409 / 509: Well Installation

Water-well Drilling
We spend part of a day on a rotary drilling and cable tool rig with local well drillers and observe the process drilling and identification of drill cuttings.

Working on a mud rotary rig.

Rotary drilling on the ISU campus. Drill bit later hit a steam tunnel.

Monitoring Well Installation and Sediment Description
We install one or more monitoring wells using a hollow-stem auger and make detailed descriptions of the continuous cores. Students are required to submit a well construction diagram and a complete sediment description for each core.

Taking sediment core with a hollow-stem auger.

Examining a till core in central Iowa.

Describing a till core.

Geoprobe Applications
Representatives from Geoprobe, Inc. of Salina, Kansas, come to the Ames area to demonstrate their direct-push method and geophysical tools.

Computer screen showing conductivity log.

Demonstrating the Geoprobe.

Student masters operation of Geoprobe.