Drilling is an integral part of subsurface exploration. Because almost all drilling operations require the use of a drill fluid, contamination by infiltration of drill fluid into the recovered core material cannot be avoided. Because it is impossible to maintain sterile conditions during drilling the drill fluid will contain surface microbes and other contaminants. As contamination cannot be avoided, it has to be tracked to identify those parts of the drill core that were not infiltrated by the drill fluid. This is done by the addition of tracer compounds. A great variety of tracers is available, and the choice depends on many factors. This review will first explain the basic principles of drilling before presenting the most common tracers and discussing their strengths and weaknesses. The final part of this review presents a number of key questions that have to be addressed in order to find the right tracer for a particular drilling operation.

钻探是地下勘探不可或缺的一部分。因为几乎所有的钻井作业都需要使用钻井液，所以无法避免由于钻井液渗透到回收的岩心材料中而造成污染。由于不可能在钻孔过程中保持无菌状态，因此钻井液将包含表面微生物和其他污染物。由于无法避免污染，因此必须对其进行跟踪以识别钻芯中未被钻井液渗透的那些部分。这是通过添加示踪化合物来完成的。跟踪器种类繁多，选择取决于许多因素。本文将首先介绍钻井的基本原理，然后介绍最常见的示踪剂并讨论其优缺点。