New Focus on the Tales of the Earth—Legacy Cores Redistribution Project Completed

• Main Authors: Ursula Röhl, John Firth, Lallan Gupta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2009-03-01
• Series: Scientific Drilling
• Subjects: core repository
• Online Access: http://www.iodp.org/images/stories/downloads/sd7_09.pdf#page=31

Scientific drilling for marine cores began in 1968 under the auspices of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), whose initial discoveries included salt domes on the sea floor and formation of oceanic crust by sea-floor spreading along the mid-ocean ridges rift zone. Analyses of cores in various laboratories all over the world provided key information toward a better understanding of Earth’s past, present, and future including the geology of the sea floor, evolution of the Earth, and past climatic changes. With an eye towards future development of analytical tools for core-based research, it was important to maintain cores in as close to their original condition as possible for the years to come. This led to the establishment of large repositories curating cores at 4ºC, conducting sub-sampling, and facilitating non-destructive observation of cores while following well-defined curation policies.