A subsurface investigation may be done for many reasons, including, but certainly not limited to, the following:
· Exploratory drilling for natural resources like oil, natural gas and mineral deposits.
· Geotechnical investigations for engineering design of infrastructure like buildings, roadways, gas transmission pipelines, etc.
· Exploration of groundwater resources culminating in the installation of potable (drinking) water wells for domestic, municipal and industrial use.
· Subsurface exploration for seismic (earthquake) studies, sinkhole risk evaluations, etc.
· Subsurface investigations to obtain soil and groundwater samples for determinations of the presence or absence of contamination, otherwise known as contamination assessments.