Knowra Core sample Core sample A cylindrical section of rock or sediment removed from the subsurface by drilling. Its layered structure preserves a physical record of underground materials and their sequence.
Diamond core drilling : A rotary drilling method that cuts rock with a bit set with industrial diamonds while recovering a cylindrical core. Its rotating bit cuts a continuous rock cylinder for direct examination.
Petroleum geology : The study of how petroleum forms, moves, accumulates, and can be explored in sedimentary basins. Rock cores reveal reservoir properties, seals, and source-rock characteristics.
Stratigraphy : The study of rock layers, their sequence, distribution, and relationships through time. A core’s successive layers are interpreted as a stratigraphic record.
Kola Superdeep Borehole : A Soviet scientific drilling project in northwestern Russia that reached a depth of 12,262 meters. Its deep cores and borehole measurements revealed unexpected conditions in continental crust.
Cuttings (geology) : Small rock fragments carried to the surface by drilling fluid during the creation of a borehole. Cuttings are cheaper to collect but lose the core’s continuous structure and precise orientation.
Wireline coring : A drilling technique that retrieves an inner core barrel through the drill string without removing the entire string. It speeds repeated core retrieval in deep boreholes.
Mineral exploration : The search for economically useful mineral deposits using geological, geochemical, and geophysical evidence. Drill cores expose mineralized zones and the rocks surrounding them.
Borehole : A narrow shaft drilled into the ground for exploration, measurement, or resource extraction. A core is recovered from a particular depth interval within a borehole.
Chicxulub crater drilling : Scientific drilling into the buried Chicxulub impact structure on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Recovered rocks helped investigate the impact linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
Sidewall core : A small rock sample taken from the wall of an existing borehole, commonly by percussion or rotary tools. It samples selected depths without retrieving a full-length core barrel.
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