Glossary
Geological Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential geological technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key geological technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in geological technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Assay
- Test for mineral content.
- Chain of custody
- Sample handling record.
- Core
- Drilled rock cylinder.
- Core box
- Holds core.
- Cuttings
- Rock chips from drilling.
- Depth correlation
- Matching samples to depth.
- Drill rig
- Drilling equipment.
- Gas show
- Gas detected while drilling.
- Geotechnical
- Soil and rock engineering.
- H2S
- Toxic gas.
- Hand lens
- Small magnifier.
- Lithology
- Rock type.
- Mud log
- Record of drilling samples.
- Rotation
- Weeks on, weeks off.
- Sample bag
- Holds samples.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Geological Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Geological Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.