Core logging, three holes, 212 metres, 424 intervals

Geology research poster example

Three drill cores through one sandstone unit, laid out as an A0 portrait board with a coloured sidebar rail carrying the title, abstract and core access note. The rail keeps the identity of the board on the left and leaves the full right hand column for the logs and the analysis.

Create a poster with OneCraftA0 Portrait, printed at 841 by 1189 millimetres

The whole board

The poster at full size, exactly as it prints. Every number, citation and caption on it was written for this example, so the layout is being judged on real content.

BU
Two hundred and twelve metres of core: porosity and unit thickness in three holes through the Warrigal Sandstone
J. Radcliffe ¹, M. Osei ¹, C. Delgado ¹ ²
1 Department of Earth Sciences, Brackenford University · 2 Basin Analysis Group, Brackenford University
ABSTRACT
Three cored holes 1.8 to 3.1 km apart were logged through the full thickness of the Warrigal Sandstone: 68 m in hole C1, 74 m in C2 and 70 m in C3, 212 m in total. Grain size and porosity were recorded at every 0.5 m, giving 424 logged intervals. Four informal units are present in all three holes. Unit B, a clean medium grained sandstone 14 to 19 m thick, carries porosity of 18% to 24% in every hole and is the only unit that does. No other unit reaches 15% in any hole.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The three holes were drilled under a groundwater investigation and the core is held at the state core library, which allowed the plugs to be cut and gave access to the original driller logs and the gamma traces used for the correlation check. Plug analysis was done in the university rock properties laboratory.
INTRODUCTION
A single cored hole through a sandstone gives a porosity log and nothing else. It cannot say whether the good interval is a sheet that extends across the field or a lens that happens to sit under the drill rig, and that is the only question a development decision turns on. Three holes across 3.1 km is the smallest set that can distinguish the two, because two holes with the same interval could still be joined by a channel, while three that are not collinear cannot. The holes here were drilled for a groundwater investigation and cored in full rather than chipped, which is unusual and is the reason a 0.5 m log was possible at all. The interval spacing matters more than it looks: at 1 m the two thinnest units in this section would be represented by two readings each, and the sharp base of unit B, which is the feature that correlates most cleanly between the holes, would be invisible in two of the three. The cost of the finer log is two extra days of core shed time per hole, which is the cheapest thing in the whole programme.
METHODS
Holes. Three fully cored holes drilled through the complete unit: C1 at 68 m, C2 at 74 m and C3 at 70 m, spaced 1.8 to 3.1 km apart and not collinear, so a trend direction can be fixed rather than assumed.
Logging. Grain size, sorting and sedimentary structures recorded at every 0.5 m through all three holes, giving 424 logged intervals across 212 m of core, all logged by one person to keep the descriptions consistent.
Porosity. Helium porosimetry on 2.5 cm plugs cut in the core shed, three plugs per logged unit per hole, 36 plugs in total, with the plug positions photographed before the core left the library.
Correlation. Four informal units defined on grain size and on the sharp base of unit B, then checked hole by hole against the gamma trace rerun by the core library on its original tools.
Quality. Core recovery was 99% in C1, 94% in C2 and 97% in C3.
C1C2C305101520
Figure 2. Unit B thickness in each hole, in metres. The unit thickens to the north east.
Source: continuous core logged at 0.5 m.
%
C1C2C306121824
Figure 1. Mean porosity of unit B in each hole, C1, C2 and C3. Three unit B plugs per hole.
Source: helium porosimetry, Warrigal Sandstone cores.
RESULTS
Unit thickness by hole, top to bottom. Unit A, a muddy fine sandstone: 21 m in C1, 26 m in C2, 22 m in C3. Unit B, clean medium sandstone: 14 m, 19 m and 17 m. Unit C, interbedded sand and silt: 19 m, 18 m and 20 m. Unit D, pebbly coarse sandstone: 14 m, 11 m and 11 m. The totals are 68, 74 and 70 m. Unit B thickens to the north east and is the only unit whose base is sharp in all three holes; the other three boundaries are gradational over one to three metres and were placed at the midpoint of the transition. Core recovery was 99% in C1, 94% in C2 and 97% in C3, and the only gap longer than half a metre falls in unit D of C2, below the interval of interest.
DISCUSSION
Mean porosity in unit B is 18.4% in C1, 21.2% in C2 and 23.6% in C3, so the range across the field is 18% to 24% and every hole sits inside it. No other unit reaches 15% anywhere. The trend runs in the same direction as the thickening, which is what a cleaner, better sorted sand to the north east would produce, and the grain size log agrees: mean sorting improves from moderate in C1 to well sorted in C3. Two cautions. Three plugs per hole is a thin basis for a mean, and the spread within unit B in a single hole is 4 to 6 porosity points, wider than the difference between C1 and C2. And three holes fix a trend direction but not its shape, so a fourth hole to the north east is the obvious next step rather than a model.
Unit B present in all three holes, 14 to 19 m thick
Porosity 18% to 24% in unit B, no other unit reaches 15%
424 intervals logged at 0.5 m across 212 m of core
Thickness and porosity both rise to the north east
REFERENCES
1.Osei, M. and Radcliffe, J. (2025) Log spacing and the detection of thin correlative units. Journal of Sedimentary Practice, 48(2), 166 to 184.
2.Delgado, C. (2024) Plug count and the uncertainty of a unit mean porosity. Petrophysics Letters, 31(4), 290 to 305.
3.Wiremu, H. (2026) Warrigal Sandstone: correlation from three cored holes. Brackenford Basin Reports 2026-05.

Block by block

What each block on the board is for, in the order a reader walks it.

Sidebar: title and three authors
The coloured rail down the left carries the full title, the three authors with generated superscripts across two affiliations, the abstract and the acknowledgements, which double as the core access note.
Abstract
Three cored holes 1.8 to 3.1 kilometres apart through the full thickness of the sandstone: 68, 74 and 70 metres, 212 in total, logged at 0.5 metres for 424 intervals. Unit B carries 18% to 24% porosity in every hole and is the only unit that does.
Why three holes rather than one
A single cored hole gives a porosity log and cannot say whether the good interval is a sheet or a lens. Three non collinear holes across 3.1 kilometres is the smallest set that distinguishes them, and the finer log spacing costs two days per hole.
Methods as a labelled protocol
Five entries: the three holes and their spacing, logging of grain size, sorting and structures at 0.5 metres, helium porosimetry on 36 plugs, units defined on grain size and the sharp base of unit B then checked against the gamma log, and core recovery of 94% to 99%.
Units and thickness
Every unit thickness for every hole, top to bottom, with the totals of 68, 74 and 70 metres. Unit B thickens to the north east and is the only unit with a sharp base in all three holes; the other boundaries are gradational and were placed at the midpoint.
Porosity figure and what it means
A bar chart gives mean unit B porosity for the three holes, which the discussion puts at 18.4%, 21.2% and 23.6%. The methods cut three plugs per unit per hole, 3 x 4 units x 3 holes = 36 in total, so each unit B mean rests on three plugs, and the caption and the discussion both say three unit B plugs per hole.
Thickness figure, checked points and references
A second bar chart at the foot of the methods column shows unit B thickness in each hole, 14, 19 and 17 metres, with a caption stating that the unit thickens to the north east. In the current version of this layout the second figure is an image frame rather than a live chart, so upload a thickness chart made in your own software. Four checked points and three numbered references close the right hand column.

What makes this board work

The unit thicknesses are given hole by hole

Four units across three holes with every thickness listed and the totals of 68, 74 and 70 metres stated. A reader can add the column and confirm it, which is the point of showing a correlation rather than asserting one.

Log spacing is defended, not assumed

The introduction says what a one metre log would have missed: the sharp base of unit B, which is the only surface that correlates cleanly between holes. That is the methodological argument, and it sits where a reader meets it early.

The porosity claim names its plug count

The discussion gives a within unit spread of four to six porosity points and cautions that the spread inside one hole is wider than the difference between two of them. The board argues against its own headline where the data requires it, and it says each unit B mean rests on only three plugs per hole.

Questions people ask

What goes on a geology research poster?

The holes or sections, what was logged and at what spacing, how units were defined and correlated, the measurements with their sample counts, and the trend or model. Core recovery and any gaps belong on the board because they bound every other claim on it.

Do I need a core photograph on a poster?

It helps when a contact or texture carries the argument, but no poster image block can be filled, so plan the board around charts. This board has none: it spends both figures on data, unit B porosity by hole and unit B thickness by hole, and the methods note that plug positions were photographed before the core left the library.

How do I present three logs without three columns of graphics?

List the unit thicknesses as text and spend the figures on the measurements that vary. This board gives all twelve thickness figures in one results block, then uses one chart for unit B thickness by hole and another for mean unit B porosity by hole, so the trend to the north east shows twice.

What type size does a geology poster need?

Body text on this board is near 24 pixels on the 1656 by 2340 canvas, about 12 millimetres printed at A0, which reads at a metre. Text on the coloured sidebar has to work against a dark fill, so keep it short and let the type resolve larger.

How many porosity plugs does a unit mean need on a core poster?

More than this board has. The methods cut three plugs per unit per hole, so each unit B mean rests on three plugs while the within unit spread is four to six porosity points. State the plug count beside each mean, as the caption and discussion do, and say plainly when the spread inside one hole is wider than the difference between holes.

How do I adapt this to my own cores?

Retype the sidebar title, abstract and core access note, change the five method entries, and edit the unit thickness text directly. The porosity figure holds its own categories and values, so adding a fourth hole is a data change rather than a layout one.

Build your own in about a minute

The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.

Make one like this

Other poster examples

Soil science research poster example

Four years of soil organic carbon under cover crops across 24 paired paddocks, laid out as an A0 portrait board built on a before and after grid. The top half sets up the paddocks and the question, the bottom half reports what four years changed, and the figure sits between them.

Mathematics research poster example

A mathematics research poster has to make an abstract object readable at two metres, which means stating the model as assumptions a passer by can check rather than as a page of notation. This board fits a standard M/M/c queue to 9,600 recorded clinic arrivals and puts the predicted waiting times next to the observed ones for every session of the clinic day.

Astronomy research poster example

Six months of photometry on 140 candidate variable stars, laid out as an A0 portrait showcase board with two figures set into a three column grid. The board answers the question a small observatory asks each season: what fraction of somebody else catalogue can a 0.4 metre telescope actually resolve.

Want the steps in the builder? Read Add charts and diagrams, then choose the template, theme and size. For everything this generator can do, see the poster maker.

Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .