The LDEO Deep-Sea Sample Repository and the Curating and Maintenance of the Sediment Library and Dredge Collection

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The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) archives a large collection of deep-sea samples, both in actual number of sites and in spatial coverage. The collection provides a service to national and international researchers who study ocean floor sediments. Total size of the collection is ~19,000 cores and 3,750 dredges and grab samples. During the past three-years over 20,000 samples from the collection were distributed to 75 scientists and 85 teachers. During the last five years there have been 109 publications based upon samples from this repository that cover topics related to our present and past climate, other environmental studies, and studies of cosmic impacts. It is anticipated that during the period of this award, the repository will distribute some 7000 samples to the global research community, describe and archive 500 dredge/grab samples, and describe and store, in refrigerated containers, over 100 piston cores. Continuing goals are to upgrade digital accessibility to the collection for long-term reliable service, administration, a public interface to carry out searching and browsing of the sample catalog and assured interoperability with external systems such as NOAA-NGDC and to enhance data mining by parsing core and dredge descriptions into the database and subsequently visualizing the information using tools developed at LDEO. A one year pilot project will conduct calcium carbonate measurements on un-sampled and sparsely-sampled cores to promote their near-term use for investigations of past and rapid climate change. The LDEO core repository is a resource for research and teaching in every field of marine science. This award will also support weekend workshops.