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Employee Benefit Plans (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Legacy Dawson Geophysical Company 401k Plan
Employer matching contribution, percent matched	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Percentage of employees gross pay that is matched	6.00%	6.00%	6.00%
Matching contribution to the plan	$ 1,480,000	$ 1,658,000	$ 1,849,000
Legacy TGC 401k Plan
Employer matching contribution, percent matched			50.00%
Percentage of employees gross pay that is matched			6.00%
Matching contribution to the plan			$ 98,000

X

- Definition

Amount of cost for defined contribution plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 70
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49170846&loc=d3e28014-114942

+ Details

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- Definition

Percentage of employees' gross pay for which the employer contributes a matching contribution to a defined contribution plan.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Percentage employer matches of the employee's percentage contribution matched.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Details

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