Cores and Core Logging for Geoscientists, 2nd edition. By Graham A. Blackbourn Whittles Publishing, 2009 distributed by CRC Press ISBN-10: 978-1904445395 ISBN-13: 978-1439801161 US $79.95, hardcover, 152 p.
1 This book is an expanded and updated version of Cores and Core Logging for Geologists (ISBN-13: 978-1870325257), which was originally published in 1999 as a 120 page paperback (US $39.95). The author is a sedimentologist and his Scotland-based company, Blackbourn Geoconsulting, caters to the petroleum industry; consequently, the emphasis is on cores and core logging practices from oil and gas wells. Upon learning this, my first reaction was that this book will be of little use to me as a hardrock geologist who looks at mineral industry drill cores. To my surprise, I was wrong, as my wife delights in telling me at every opportunity.
2 The book is laid out in seven chapters and three appendices, including chapters on drilling and coring methods (2), core handling (3), core logging (4), core analysis and testing (5), interpretation and preparation of final logs (6), and core preservation and storage (7). Each of these chapters contains nuggets of useful information and a few practical tips for any geologist who works with drill cores or drilling projects. This book should be mandatory reading for geology students, although North Americans need to keep in mind that a ‘conductor pipe’ is called a drill casing and a ‘torch’ is a flashlight on this continent.
3 Overall, it is well written and well illustrated apart from the odd editorial oversight, e.g. ‘But although’ and ‘one-off studies’, and the handling of the colour figures. These figures are all placed in the centre of the book, obviously to reduce printing costs, and are assigned chapter-specific figure numbers, which are referred to in the text. When reading along in the text, however, it is not obvious where to find each missing colour figure, especially if one misses the ‘Key to colour section’ at the beginning of the book. It would have been less confusing for this reader if these colour images were labelled with plate numbers, rather than chapter-specific figure numbers.
4 What is most surprising is that there is no comparable book with a minerals-industry perspective on cores and core logging, given the increased emphasis in recent years on reporting standards by regulatory agencies, e.g. Canadian National Instrument 43-101. The book, Geoscience Reporting Guidelines (ISBN-10: 0-968769314), by Brian Grant has seven pages (out of a total of 346) devoted to the preparation of ‘Drillcore Logs’, which is more than can be found in the ‘Exploration Best Practice Guidelines’, to which NI 43-101 refers. In my opinion, there is a real need for a ‘best practices’ book on core logging for minerals industry geologists, in order to ensure consistent reporting. However, until such a book is published, I am going to keep a copy of Graham Blackbourn’s second edition on my shelf for handy reference.