For over a century, the central core storage of the Geological Survey of the Netherlands collects drill cores, cuttings, slabs, lacquer profiles and other materials from the Dutch subsurface. The collection contains material from both the shallow and deep (subject to the Mining Law) subsurface. The amount of available subsurface material is ever growing and is invaluable for research and in projects that make use of the Dutch subsurface.
Re-use of geological sample material for research
Changing socio-economic perspectives and new research equipment and methods make it of interest to revisit and analyze existing geological samples to, for example, investigate potential or reduce risks of future projects in the subsurface . Research on available sample material from previous drilling campaigns can help with research questions in for instance the:
- Energy sector, e.g. geothermal energy, heat and offshore wind
- Built environment
- Subsurface storage
Visit the core storage
The central core store has facilities to study cores, cuttings and sediments. To plan a visit our central core store please contact our service desk. Sampling is possible upon request.
Available material:
Whether sample material is available can be found for each individual borehole through the borehole page within the datacenter or through selection of a specific borehole on the interactive map.
Borehole sample images
Some of the collection can be viewed online. This can be found by selecting a well via the datacenter or the interactive map and going to the Borehole sample images tab. Also available separately is a collection of photographs of cores from the Rotliegend reservoir of the Groningen gas field and surroundings.
An overview of the boreholes with borehole sample images can be found here: link. This overview is updated periodically.