Richard Boulter Jan 1, 2010:

Great! I'd think that 'mechanical boreholes' would be sufficient, as there may be a more-specific term for core drilling in Spanish, too, which the writer declines to use.

spanruss (asker) Jan 1, 2010:

They are indeed doing core sampling in these works. No mention of seismic surveying is mentioned.

Richard Boulter Jan 1, 2010:

Further context To be sure of our term for this particular source, more context is needed. Two surveying systems that I know of for this purpose are 'core-drilling' surveys and 'siesmic drilling' surveys.
Core drilling samples are removed from the ground and studied to identify subterranean formations.
Seismic drilling is part of a 3-stage process: the hole is drilled with others along a line of several miles, an explosive charge is planted in each and detonated in series, then the resulting seismic signature is read and provides a picture of subterranean formations. There may be other surveying systems that include drilling and their terminology might reflect on the appropriate wording of this translation. Happy typing!