Borehole and well core samples are primarily housed at BGS Keyworth near Nottingham, along with the English & Welsh biostratigraphy and petrology collections. A Scottish Hydrocarbons Teaching Collection is located at BGS Edinburgh, with the existing Scottish biostratigraphy and petrology collections.
The majority of borehole cores and samples are available for study and subsampling by bona fide academics and commercial companies. Please complete the Core Store Viewing and Sampling Application Form as well as reviewing all of the instructions below for safe working practices and sampling instructions.
Commmercial companies are charged for access; non-funded academics will need to complete an academic waiver form.
Boreholes may be selected using the GeoIndex or the borehole materials database.
The online database also provides information on available sample depths and types.
For all Core Store materials enquiries, including visitor bookings and available dates etc., please contact the Core Store.
All prices are subject to VAT.
- The cost of laboratory hire is *£292.18 + VAT per lab per day plus a Standing Charge of £133.83 + VAT per lab per visit. The minimum booking fee to secure one lab per day is *£426.01 + VAT. This fee includes up to four hours of staff time (to cover two technicians to lay out and return material to the store). If the staff time required to retrieve material exceeds this limit, or you request additional material during your visit, an additional cost recovery rate of *£53.53 + VAT per hour will be applied. Where we can assess the amount of staff time to retrieve the core/material requested, we will prepare a quotation for the visitor to approve before arrival, but in some instances, this may increase depending on the complexity of the location of the core/material. This charge is waived for academics on production of evidence, e.g. letter from supervisor or signed academic waiver, stating all works are for academic purposes only. * This fee is subject to change to reflect staff costs
- Biostratigraphy and petrology collections (Keyworth and Edinburgh) and marine collections (Keyworth) are £60.00 per day.
- Onshore borehole (Keyworth) pallet inspection fee is £26.00 per pallet (two pallets included in each visitor ticket).
- Onshore borehole (Keyworth) tray inspection fee is £10.00 per tray or £5.25 if the trays are in a running sequence (up to ten trays included in each visitor ticket, provided they run consecutively).
- Borehole sampling charge is £18.00 per sample, plus postage and packing.
- Sample retrieval charge (biostratigraphy, petrology & geochemistry collections) £20.00 per half hour of staff time (first half hour included in visitor ticket).
- Sample loan charge is £100.00, plus £5.00 per sample (£1.00 for any additional samples within a sequence), plus postage and packing.
All the above charges may be varied at the discretion of the Chief Curator.
Set charges for producing samples please replace with below text:
Sampling must follow the procedure described in “Record of Samples Taken during Inspection” i.e. all subsamples taken during the visit must be bar-coded and referenced by these unique numbers in all data and reports produced. A sampling fee of £12 + VAT for each sample taken from cuttings and *£18 + VAT is charged if sample is taken from core.
Sampling will not normally be allowed at intervals less than 1m, unless a significant scientific reason has been submitted and agreed by our Chief Curator. * This fee is subject to change to reflect staff costs
Sampling must follow the procedure described in “Record of Samples Taken during Inspection” i.e. all subsamples taken during the visit must be bar-coded and referenced by these unique numbers in all data and reports produced. A sampling fee of £12 + VAT for each sample taken from cuttings and *£18 + VAT is charged if sample is taken from core.
Sampling will not normally be allowed at intervals less than 1m, unless a significant scientific reason has been submitted and agreed by our Chief Curator. * This fee is subject to change to reflect staff costs
Loans of samples, slides, fossils, etc. are regularly made from the collections to BGS staff and bona fide academics, commercial research workers and individuals who have approved borrower status.
Academics and private individuals are required to sign an academic waiver form (stating that the work will not be used for commercial gain, otherwise they will be charged at commercial rates.
BGS staff carrying out commercial work and requiring access to the collections are legally required to cost the commercial access rates into their quotations.
Academics and private individuals signing the waiver form may use the results for commercial gain only after they have been published in full in a recognised academic journal.
Anyone signing a waiver form and then found to have benefited from access to unpublished results will become liable to full commercial charge.
BGS Keyworth visitor forms and instructions
Core store viewing and sampling application form
BGS Academic Waiver
Subsampling instructions
Safe working practices for staff & visitors to the Keyworth core store
Get in touch
For general NGR enquiries or to arrange a visit, please contact:
enquiries@bgs.ac.uk or 0115 936 3143
Dr Mike Howe, Chief Curator
Telephone: 0115 936 3105
Alison Steven, Senior Records Manager
Telephone: 0131 6500 434
Andrew Morrison, Archivist
Telephone: 0115 936 3247
You may also be interested in
National Geological Repository
Hosting BGS’s collections of borehole cores, cuttings, samples, specimens, and related subsurface information from the UK landmass and continental shelf.
Donations and loans of materials collections
We will consider offers of donations that contribute to the geological knowledge of Great Britain.