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The BGS collection of continuous borehole core, broken core, cuttings, etc. are held at Keyworth.

The collections

• The onshore borehole materials collection(including hydrocarbon wells) has approximately 250km of core, plus about 150km of drilling represented by cuttings. Samples are held from about 15000 boreholes. Borehole names and positions may be determined from the and the Borehole Materials Database.
• The BGS manages the national collection of UKCS (offshore) hydrocarbon well samples. The collection consists of core and cuttings for all wells drilled for hydrocarbon exploration in UK waters and was transferred from the Gilmerton store, Edinburgh to Keyworth during 2011–2012.
• The offshore (non-hydrocarbon) material collection contains cores, vibrocores, gravity cores, grab samples, etc. There are about 12000m of core and 15000 seabed samples. Core positions are available on the offshore Geoindex.
• The BGS manages the collection of seabed samples which are routinely collected during the (MCA) (CHP) Hydrographic Instruction (HI) surveys.
• The Nirex Geological Archive was transferred from Nirex to the BGS during 2000–2001. The archive consists of borehole cores and samples, thin and polished sections, digital data and paper records acquired by Nirex during its investigations at Sellafield and Dounreay.

Specimens are available for study at Keyworth and a loan system is available to accredited scientists.

Download the borehole material regulations and booking form.

Get in touch

For general NGR enquiries or to arrange a visit, please contact:
enquiries@bgs.ac.uk or 0115 936 3143