Boring (earth)

Boring is drilling a hole, tunnel, or well in the earth. Boring is used for a various applications in geology, agriculture, hydrology, civil engineering, and mineral exploration. Today, most earth drilling serves one of the following purposes:

• return samples of the soil and/or rock through which the drill passes
• access rocks from which material can be extracted
• access rocks which can then be measured
• provide access to rock for purposes of providing engineering support