A borehole is the generalized term for any narrow shaft drilled in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes including the extraction of water or fluid (such as oil) or gases (such as natural gas or methane), as part of a geotechnical investigation or environmental site assessment, for mineral exploration, or as a pilot hole for installing piers or underground utilities.

For finding soil depth information, the easiest method is to download the KML file from the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, open it in Google Earth, find the location of interest, and click on the closest borehole(s).

**To add a KML file (like the boreholes) to in-browser Google Earth, click on the Projects button (in the left side menu) and Open the file on your computer.