Borehole materials search — Key to material types

British onshore borehole sample types are indicated by a series of icons.

Icon	Type	Comments
	Drillcore	Continuous sticks of drillcore, usually stored as one metre lengths. Sometimes the drillcore has been sliced along the middle.
	Discontinuous core	Similar to drillcore, except that there are a number of gaps.
	Core samples	A representative set of drillcore samples.
	Bulk samples	A series of bagged samples of known depth ranges, typically used for microfossil or geochemical analysis.
	Waxed core samples	A reference sample, usually from a hydrocarbon well, preserved in wax. Not usually available for subsampling.
	Resin mounted drillcore	A reference section of drillcore, usually from a hydrocarbon well, preserved in resin. Not usually available for subsampling.
	Registered borehole specimen	A series of hand specimen sized samples of drillcore, individually registered with depths and accession numbers. Many also have a list of fossil identifications or comments on petrology.
	Registered cuttings	Washed & dried cuttings, usually only a few tens of grams.
	Unwashed cuttings	Unwashed cuttings, complete with fines and drilling mud. Usually several hundred grams.

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