Facility Resources and Fees

The Michigan Geological Repository for Research and Education at Western Michigan University has extensive resources that make it possible to carry out its mission and goals of student training, basic and applied research, continuing education and outreach programs. The MGRRE facility is equipped with:

• 20,000 square feet of warehouse storage for samples cores and data
• A 2,000 square foot sample examination and preparation area
• Two state-of-the-art microscope and testing labs
• A conference area and 30-seat training and seminar room
• A library
• 6,500 square feet of offices

Cores and Samples

• MGRRE houses approximately 530,000 feet of core from nearly 1,850 wells drilled for oil, gas and mineral exploration; environmental research and geological mapping projects. Our core collection represents 62 of 68 Lower Peninsula counties and 2 of 15 Upper Peninsula counties. Core sample depths range from unconsolidated glacial material and bedrock at the surface, to Precambrian basement at more than 16,000 feet.
• MGRRE also archives drill cutting samples from more than 28,000 wells, mostly from Lower Peninsula counties. About 25,000 of those wells are from oil and gas exploration, and 3,000 are from water wells.
• At MGRRE, we also maintain a collection of surface outcrop samples from most of Michigan's Paleozoic sedimentary rock formations. These samples are from natural outcrops and quarries in the Lower Peninsula and eastern Upper Peninsula.
• MGRRE has also archived over 2,500 thin sections from about 200 Michigan oil and gas wells.

Data Sets

Extensive data sets relating to Michigan wells and subsurface geology are archived at the MGRRE facility. Historical maps, more than 40,000 paper copies of wireline well logs, drillers’ reports, well reports, geochemical data, core reports, engineering well tests and mudlogs are available to be viewed as hard-copies. However, some well data has been converted to digital format, including: core analyses, mudlogs and wireline logs, some geochemical and engineering test data.