Automated Multi-Sensor Petrophysical Core Logging

Summary

A GEOTEK multi-sensor core logger (MSCL), which was originally developed to log soft-sediment cores, has been adapted to allow simultaneous measurement of a range of petrophysical parameters on diamond drill core. The system can measure density, P-wave velocity, electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility of either whole or split core. It also acquires high resolution digital colour imagery of the core. System operation, sensor modification, sensor calibration, data accuracy and repeatability are described in this paper. The GEOTEK system is currently being used to acquire detailed petrophysical data on archival drill core from metalliferous mines for correlation with metallurgical parameters (AMIRA Project P843) but it has significant potential for use in other applications, e.g. environmental.

Key words::

• petrophysics
• core logging
• GEOTEK logger
• geometallurgy
• calibration