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[Gatleos]

See, I embarked on this map to start my new fortress, Hairychambers. Unfortunately, the first four layers or so below ground are soil. Beyond that, the fifth layer IS ONE HUGE AQUIFER. I've gone all over the map trying to penetrate it, there isn't a way through. the whole layer is an aquifer. The result? No stone. All the stone is below that aquifer, and all I have to work with is trees. Anybody got a good way to punch straight though to the stone, or tips for a stone (and as a result, metal) free economy?

[Terisuke]

All of the ingredients of a screw pump (corkscrew, blocks, pipe section) can be made of wood.  Make a few of these and drain out a section of the aquifer long enough for you to punch through, operating on dwarven manual labor. 

[Xenoc]

Once you've dug through, smooth it and all will be well.

[AtomicPaperclip]

Fortunately you have 4 layers to cave in on the aquifer. Plan ahead, and you should do fine.

[Terisuke]

Fortunately you have 4 layers to cave in on the aquifer. Plan ahead, and you should do fine.

Not stone layers.  If you try caving in loam/sand layers on something they (iirc) don't survive like stone does.

[Gatleos]

I thought of screw pumps, but could I really pump enough of it out of the way to dig past it? Doesn't a pump only remove water from the space below it?

[Terisuke]

I thought of screw pumps, but could I really pump enough of it out of the way to dig past it? Doesn't a pump only remove water from the space below it?

Well, yeah, but then the other water will lower as well, and faster than the aquifer will refill it.  All you need to do is lower it to 3/7 or lower so your dwarves will work in it. 

[Gatleos]

This aquifer must all be connected or something, because it fills up fast. The screw pump could barely put a dent in it. It wouldn't go below 5/7, and only for an instant did it go even that low.

[Terisuke]

This aquifer must all be connected or something, because it fills up fast. The screw pump could barely put a dent in it. It wouldn't go below 5/7, and only for an instant did it go even that low.

How big of an area did you channel out?  I've been able to take out a very small area before with no trouble.  Try three pumps around a single square on a smoothable area with one side for access.  Alternatively, a 3x3 on a nonsmoothable with pumps arrayed as you see fit, but no fewer than 3 or 4 pumps.  That should get you pretty well started off.

[shibdib]

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Aquifer


lists many ways to breach an aquifer

[Mr.Elendig]

Not stone layers.  If you try caving in loam/sand layers on something they (iirc) don't survive like stone does.

I've successfully breached 8 levels of aquifer by caving in rings of loam.  There is also a thread somewhere on the forum about a dude that did it with 9 layers.

I used a somewhat similar method as this, only that I dug out all the rings first, and supported them from above by wooden constructions, before I dug out the level above the aquifer. Found out that trying to channel them out when there was a 4 z-level drop beneath was a bad idea, since the miners loves to go down the ramps...   

Edit: The pit did look rather nice when covered with dwarf blood spatters, and having a pool of bloody water in the bottom tho.  I later built a nice temple over the first pit.

Fixed the link, chromium was messing up with copy/paste as usual :/

[shibdib]

Not stone layers.  If you try caving in loam/sand layers on something they (iirc) don't survive like stone does.

I've successfully breached 8 levels of aquifer by caving in rings of loam.  There is also a thread somewhere on the forum about a dude that did it with 9 layers.

I used a somewhat similar method as this, only that I dug out all the rings first, and supported them from above by wooden constructions, before I dug out the level above the aquifer. Found out that trying to channel them out when there was a 4 z-level drop beneath was a bad idea, since the miners loves to go down the ramps...   

Edit: The pit did look rather nice when covered with dwarf blood spatters, and having a pool of bloody water in the bottom tho.  I later built a nice temple over the first pit.

ur "this" link takes me to some linux forum where their trying to downgrade nvidia drivers?

[Twobeard]

You could just use DFreveal to find out if the entire layer is aquifer. I usually find that there is a chunk that is aquifer free.

[Psieye]

This aquifer must all be connected or something, because it fills up fast. The screw pump could barely put a dent in it. It wouldn't go below 5/7, and only for an instant did it go even that low.

"The"? That's what you're doing wrong. "The". People meant 9~12 screw pumps surrounding an area, not 1. You'll need to use the aquifer itself as a drain to the water so you can constantly pump more water.

[gtmattz]

Not stone layers.  If you try caving in loam/sand layers on something they (iirc) don't survive like stone does.

WRONG....

Soil layers remain intact just as any other natural wall does when collapsed.

Please refer to the following images for information on piercing aquifers via the collapse method (arguably the easiest method):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)