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Let's say a hole about the size of the Kola Superdeep Borehole spaced about every five miles across the continent of Australia.

  • Assume no human interaction after initial placement

Answers preferably would deal with physical effects to the continent, the ecosystems that could spring up around this, and eventual changes to the look of the region.

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    $\begingroup$ Nothing? The holes would quickly close up. $\endgroup$
    – Euphoric
    Mar 3, 2016 at 8:00
  • $\begingroup$ @Euphoric Why did you add a question mark to "nothing"? And could you please clarify on how or why that is the case, since the example used by OP hasn't closed up? $\endgroup$ Mar 3, 2016 at 21:10

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Ecosystem changes: More abandoned concrete structures lying around from the drilling operations. Nothing else of note. I can find nothing that indicates any ecological change around such boreholes.

Eventual changes to the look of the region: Well it'll have a lot of sodding great potholes for things to fall into. Someone will probably decide to use them for dumping waste.

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user16295 is correct. From a geological point of view the bore holes (even spaced regularly) are too infrequent and small to have any real effect.

If you happened to hit a hot spot or area where a volcano was likely to form soon anyway then you might trigger that happening sooner than otherwise by providing a weak point but that is unlikely in a stable area like Australia.

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