Docs / Borehole Logging / During drilling

During drilling

Logging as you go, depths, sampling, SPT procedure, groundwater timing and termination.

What you record while the hole is open cannot be reconstructed afterwards.

Log as you go

Log continuously, not from memory at the end of the day. Cuttings get mixed, samples dry out, and the reason you stopped at 4.3 m is obvious at the time and gone by evening.

The Studio's Live graphical log updates as you type, so you can see your sequence forming and catch a gap immediately.

Depths

Every interval runs from a depth to a depth, with no gaps and no overlaps, from surface to termination. If you cannot describe an interval, describe it as no recovery with the reason — do not leave it out.

Record the pre-drill depth if you pre-drilled. Depths recorded without it are offset from the true surface.

Sampling

Record for each sample:

Reference, depth or depth range, and type
For SPT samples, the individual blow counts and the N value

Take what the laboratory will need. A hole logged perfectly but sampled inadequately means going back.

SPT procedure

Record the three blow-count increments as driven — for example 4,7,4 — not just the total. The seating increment and the two test increments carry different information, and a reviewer needs to see them separately. GeoCRM records them together with the resulting N value, as 4,7,4; N=11.

Note refusal, and at what depth and blow count it occurred.

Groundwater

Timing is the whole point:

Encountered — record the depth and the time it was first met
Standing — record the level after the hole has stood, and how long it stood
Seepage — note where water enters slowly

A single depth with no type and no time is close to useless. See Groundwater observations.

Photographs

Photograph core trays, the trial pit face, and anything unusual. Include a scale and the hole identification in the frame. Attach them via the Photos tab.

Termination

Record why the hole stopped — target depth, refusal, or an instruction — and on what. Terminated at 4.3 m on refusal, inferred boulder is a result. Terminated at 4.3 m is not.

# During drilling

What you record while the hole is open cannot be reconstructed afterwards.

## Log as you go

Log continuously, not from memory at the end of the day. Cuttings get mixed, samples dry out, and the reason you stopped at 4.3 m is obvious at the time and gone by evening.

The Studio's **Live graphical log** updates as you type, so you can see your sequence forming and catch a gap immediately.

## Depths

Every interval runs from a depth to a depth, with no gaps and no overlaps, from surface to termination. If you cannot describe an interval, describe it as *no recovery* with the reason — do not leave it out.

Record the **pre-drill depth** if you pre-drilled. Depths recorded without it are offset from the true surface.

## Sampling

Record for each sample:

- Reference, depth or depth range, and type
- For SPT samples, the individual blow counts and the N value

Take what the laboratory will need. A hole logged perfectly but sampled inadequately means going back.

## SPT procedure

Record the three blow-count increments as driven — for example *4,7,4* — not just the total. The seating increment and the two test increments carry different information, and a reviewer needs to see them separately. GeoCRM records them together with the resulting N value, as *4,7,4; N=11*.

Note refusal, and at what depth and blow count it occurred.

## Groundwater

Timing is the whole point:

- **Encountered** — record the depth and the time it was first met
- **Standing** — record the level after the hole has stood, and how long it stood
- **Seepage** — note where water enters slowly

A single depth with no type and no time is close to useless. See **Groundwater observations**.

## Photographs

Photograph core trays, the trial pit face, and anything unusual. Include a scale and the hole identification in the frame. Attach them via the **Photos** tab.

## Termination

Record why the hole stopped — target depth, refusal, or an instruction — and on what. *Terminated at 4.3 m on refusal, inferred boulder* is a result. *Terminated at 4.3 m* is not.