Boreholes are drilled for many purposes, which may depend on environmental or performance considerations. What they share is that their depth is usually given in metres in Iceland, while their diameter is most often given in inches.
Types of borehole
- Production well — drilled to obtain hot water or steam.
- High-temperature well — a production well for steam used in electricity generation.
- Low-temperature well — a production well for hot water for district heating.
- Injection well — a well used to return water to the ground.
- Exploration well — drilled for research purposes.
- Temperature-gradient well — drilled to determine the geothermal gradient.
- Core hole — a sampling well drilled with a diamond bit.
- Directional well — drilled vertically at first, then steered toward a target.