I have sampled soils and saprolite via hand-operated bucket auger up to a depth of 3.5 m. Now I am considering some deeper sampling and am curious about the experiences of others in this regard. Any tips for success? Horror stories to avoid?
Hello Carleton,
I have made once drilling with a hand auger up to 5 meters in sandy colluvium to assess where was the marly substratum and where appears redoximorphic features. It was not so hard because the regolith was really loose.
We frequently hand-drilled up to more than 10 m in depth (the max. we reached was 13m) in Amazonian deep soils. At each withdrawall, you have to disassemble the auger string in segments of max. 5m to prevent it from twisting. Be careful: do not drop a short segment in a deep hole! If this happens, make a loop with a rope at the end of a drill rod and go fishing, twisting the loop when it is around the segment to retrieve.
With hand auger, soil samples can be obtained at the depth of 21-m In the Loess Plateau of China. The deepest sampling depth is mainly decided by soil texture, manipulation technique, the auger and man's strength.
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