A SIMPLE METHOD FOR ORIENTING DRILL CORE BY CORRELATING FEATURES IN WHOLE-CORE SCANS AND ORIENTED BOREHOLE-WALL IMAGERY

Assessing the regional significance of fractures in drill core requires the collection of oriented core intervals. Direct orientation of core during drilling is possible, but is commonly precluded because of expense and time requirements. A simple and accurate method of core reorientation is presented where high-resolution imagery of drill cores (whole-core scans) are directly compared to oriented borehole imagery. Core intervals are reoriented by aligning features (i.e., fractures, bedding, and clasts) in whole-core scans with correlative, oriented features in borehole-wall imagery. Unlike other core orientation techniques, the direct side-by-side comparison of core scans and borehole-wall imagery can identify core segments that were mismatched due to undetected rotation between two portions of core. The combined analysis of core-based fracture data, whole-core scans and borehole imagery in this method optimizes data integration to improve structural interpretations.