A mobile chassis frame (14); a coring support or head (17) having a plurality of vertically aligned drilling members (44) for coring a ground surface; means for causing rotational movement of the drilling members during vertically reciprocatory movement thereof from an operative position when the ground surface is penetrated by the drilling members to an inoperative position when the drilling members are clear of the ground surface. Such rotational means may comprise a drive motor (11) mounted on the mobile chassis frame (14) and a belt drive which includes an endless belt (27) which engages idler pulleys (28) and (29) on the mobile chassis frame (14) as well as an idler pulley (31) mounted on the coring head (17). The idler pulley (31) may be associated with a plurality of sprockets (42) on the coring head (17) which engage with an endless chain (41) for causing rotation of the drilling members (44). Each drilling member (44) may be vertically reciprocatable by being fixed to the coring head (17) which is part of the chassis frame (14) so that the chassis frame (14) may pivot from a lower location corresponding to the operative position of the drilling members to a higher location corresponding to the inoperative position of the drilling members. There also may be provided a foot (22) which is attached to a crank means (34) which is coupled to a gear box (30) mounted on the chassis frame (14) so as to advance from one ground contact position to another and thus facilitate forward movement of the coring apparatus (10) from one ground drilling location to a subsequent ground drilling location.
