Extreme Journey to the center of the Earth - Scientific drilling into the Earth is a way for scientists to probe the Earth's sediments, crust, and upper mantle.
In addition to rock samples, drilling technology can unearth samples of connate fluids and of the subsurface biosphere, mostly microbial life, preserved in drilled samples.
Most of the technology used for drilling come from advances in the oil and gas industry.
Scientific drilling is carried out on land by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and at sea by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).
Scientific drilling on the continents includes drilling down into solid ground as well as drilling from small boats on lakes.
Sampling thick glaciers and ice sheets to obtain ice cores is related but will not be described further here.
