THE NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM CORE, CUTTINGS, AND WELL LOG COLLECTION: A VALUABLE YET UNDERUTILIZED(?) RESOURCE

The New York State Museum curates a large collection of geologic data from well drilling operations across the state. This collection includes bedrock rock cores, cuttings, well logs, production data, and associated paperwork for many of the 40,000+ deep wells in New York State. Well logs and paperwork are actively being scanned, and in some cases digitized, for use with interpretative software such as Petra or GeoGraphix. The 400+ bedrock cores in this collection vary in length, diameter, and geographic location, while sampling nearly every formation in the state at depths ranging from less than 100 feet to over 13,000 feet. The well cuttings collection includes rock material from over 2,000 wells sampled at 10 foot intervals during drilling.

The data collected on well logs, combined with the analyses that can be run on core and cuttings material, provide an invaluable group of tools for studying the subsurface geology of New York as well as the surrounding states. The rock properties found in a single core can be linked to that well’s log signature, then correlated across some of the 14,000+ wells for which we have logs. Isopach maps, structure contour maps, and detailed cross sections can be constructed to illustrate stratigraphic changes across areas from a few miles to hundreds of miles wide.

The contents of the museum’s core, cuttings, and well log collection are all publically available for study. Scanned logs and other well information can be accessed through the Empire State Organized Geologic Information System (ESOGIS), while requests to study or sample core or cuttings material can be made directly to the museum. The ESOGIS database commonly receives over 600 visits in per month, however requests to access the museum's core or cuttings material number less than 20 per year. Efforts to further organize and publicize the availability of this valuable collection are currently under way.