Drill cuttings

Drill cuttings[[1]] refers to any material (typically called solids) removed from a borehole while drilling petroleum wells. While sand and shale make up the majority of the cuttings encountered while drilling a well, depending on the location, any number of formations will actually be encountered. These include but are not limited to: anhydrite, calcite, chalk, chert, clay, dolomite, feldspar, glauconite, granite, gypsum, hematite, iron, kaolinite, lime, marlstone, mica, mudstone, pisolite, pyrite, quartz, sand, sandstone, shale, silica, silt and sulfur. Drill cuttings are usually removed by circulating the drilling fluid over shale shakers.