Borehole drilling for sewage disposal at Asuka Station, East Antarctica

• Main Authors: Kenji Ishizawa, Akiyoshi Takahashi
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: National Institute of Polar Research/Geo Tec Co. Ltd. 1994
• Subjects: East Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=2225; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00002225/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=2225&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

A borehole for sewage disposal was drilled at Asuka Station (71°31′34″S, 24°08′17″E, 930m a. s. l.) in January 1987. The borehole, 400mm in diameter and 27.5m in depth, was drilled 50m distant from the main hut using a steam drilling system. The drilling speed was 4m/h between the snow surface and 20m depth. The total amount of kerosene used for melting snow and steam generation was 110/. Sewage stored in the tank was directed to the borehole through a heated pipe. The cumulative amount of sewage was 1077k/ for 5 years, and the bottom of the hole rose 14m.