DEVELOPMENT OF FACILITIES AT THE KGS WELL SAMPLE AND CORE REPOSITORY

The Kentucky Geological Survey was designated by the State legislature in 1960 as the official repository for oil and gas drilling records and well samples (KRS:353). In addition to collecting rock cores and well cuttings to comply with this mandate, the Survey has also made a concerted effort to collect valuable cores and samples from other exploratory efforts, including those from coal and industrial minerals. By maintaining a repository for cores and samples, KGS provides an extremely valuable service to the Commonwealth. Persons engaged in the exploration for and development of Kentucky's mineral resources must have detailed knowledge about the rock strata in which the deposits occur, as well as information about associated deposits. For rock strata that lie beneath the earth's surface, this knowledge can be gained only from drill cores and well cuttings. Cores and well samples also provide essential information for a better understanding of our ground-water resources and related environmental problems.

The cost of obtaining well samples and cores is extremely high, and it is grossly inefficient and expensive to drill new holes each time new information is needed. Therefore, a repository that archives the results of previous exploration and makes this valuable information available to the public is the only reasonable solution. The Repository now contains cuttings and cores from more than 20 million feet of exploratory drilling from over 22,400 locations. These samples represent an estimated initial expenditure of approximately $535 million. New material representing hundreds of thousands of feet of drilling are added to the Repository annually.

The staff at the KGS Well Sample and Core Repository continues to move toward better and more efficient ways to provide services. Unfortunately, our moves are not always in the direction we have anticipated nor as productive as we have hoped. Our recent "moving experience" is a good example. Although the University of Kentucky had extensively renovated the American Building, our former facility, problems such as leaking walls, collapsing roof, and extremely uneven floors continued. The possibility of floods, such as the one that occurred in June 1992 and caused more than $400,000 in damage to boxed cores, well cuttings, and KGS publications stored in the building, also remained. The June 1992 flood made the facility unavailable to the public for an extended period and caused extensive delays in washing, packaging, and indexing samples. Given the problems of the American Building, the University decided in late 1994 to demolish the American Building and build a parking structure on the site. The KGS Well Sample and Core Repository was moved during April and May of 1995 to 554 South Forbes Road, Warehouse 23, directly across from the Lexington Quarry. This, our second move in 10 years, has resulted in another temporary setback in our ability to serve the public. However, the new facility, a renovated tobacco warehouse, should provide a much better facility than the old American Building. We hope to open the facility to the public by July 1, 1995. If you have special needs or wish to contribute cores or samples to the Repository, please contact Patrick Gooding at 606-255-2439.

At the same time, plans are underway for a new Repository to be built on University property in the near future. KGS will be working with the University, the KGS Advisory Board, and members of the Kentucky General Assembly to obtain authorization and funding for the new facility. Although this will necessitate another move, the facility should provide adequate storage and research and sample-examination space for the public; more important, it will provide the continuity of public service we have been seeking.

KGS apologizes for any inconvenience to its clients. We assure you, it has not been much fun for us either, but the end results will be positive.