Lamont-Doherty Core Repository: Curation, Service, Professional Development, Outreach (2016-2019)

海底岩石、岩心、珊瑚、热液喷口流体和烟囱沉积物、沉积物和其他材料的样本是宝贵的科学资源，是在科学海洋考察中花费巨大费用收集的。有些样品来自异常短暂的浅海近岸环境，另一些样品来自大洋中脊、海山、深海平原、火山岛的根部和大陆架。许多样品来自海面以下数英里的人迹罕至的地方，并由专门的机器人车辆、人工潜水器、取芯设备和/或岩石挖掘机从海底取回。为了保存这些有价值的样本，并将它们提供给其他科学家进行原始收集者没有想到的研究，美国国家科学基金会海洋科学部的海洋地质和地球物理计划资助了四个专业运营的储存库，其中存放着海洋科学家收集的样本。该奖项资助哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球观测站的拉蒙特-多尔蒂核心资料库对海洋海底样本的管理、存储和分发。根据科学家和教育工作者的要求，这个储存库中的样本被分发给希望更好地了解海洋盆地和大陆架、它们的资源分布以及地球运行方式的科学家和教育工作者。在过去的三年里，这个储存库向美国和国际科学家分发了超过8000个海底材料样本，以促进我们对海底、洋壳、地幔、海底火山活动以及海洋化学史和地球气候的了解。来自该储存库的样品已被用于开创新的分析技术，并为海底、大陆边缘和海底下岩浆过程提供了重要的见解。这一奖项增加了哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球天文台的一项重大投资，为那些有兴趣研究或展示收藏中的样本的人提供财政支持，以管理和分发样本。储存库工作人员维护收藏，将新材料摄取到收藏中，收集和核实提交的关于样本的信息，并将这些数据和元数据输入在线数据库，使感兴趣的各方可以通过互联网查看收藏，以便科学家和教育工作者可以找到并请求用于研究和教育的样本。除了继续运营该设施外，这笔资金还为工作人员提供资源，以开发沉积物岩芯的高分辨率分析扫描，以提高其对研究人员的实用性。这项工作的更广泛影响包括通过中小学团体、当地社区组织和其他感兴趣的各方的旅行进行公共宣传。它还协助博士后和研究生培训。此外，该奖项还为一项重要的海洋地质基础设施提供支持，该基础设施可加强以高额费用收集的具有高科学价值的材料的再利用。

Samples of seafloor rocks, cores, corals, hydrothermal vent fluids and chimney deposits, sediments, other materials are valuable scientific resources that are collected at great expense on scientific oceanographic expeditions. Some samples come from shallow, near-shore environments of unusual and ephemeral character and others come from mid-ocean ridges, seamounts, the abyssal plain, the roots of volcanic islands, and continental shelves. Many samples come from inaccessible places miles below the surface of the ocean and are retrieved from the seafloor by specialized robotic vehicles, human occupied submersibles, coring devices, and/or rock dredges. To preserve these valuable samples and make them available to other scientists for studies not envisioned by the original collectors, the Marine Geology and Geophysics Program of the Division of Ocean Sciences of the National Science Foundation funds four professionally run repositories that house samples collected by seagoing scientists. This award funds the curation, storage, and distribution of marine seafloor samples by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's Lamont-Doherty Core Repository. Samples in this repository are distributed upon request to scientists and educators wishing to better understand the ocean basins and continental shelves, the distribution of their resources, and how the Earth works. Over the past 3 years, this repository has distributed more than 8,000 samples of seafloor material to US and international scientists to advance our knowledge of the seafloor, ocean crust, mantle, seafloor volcanism, and the history of ocean chemistry and Earth's climate. Samples from this repository have been used to pioneer new analytical techniques and provide important insights into seafloor, continental margin, and sub-seafloor magmatic processes. This award augments a significant investment by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory by providing financial support for the curation and distribution of samples to those interested in studying or exhibiting samples from the collection. The repository staff maintains the collection, ingests new material into the collection, collects and verifies submitted information on samples and enters these data and metadata into an online database making the collection visible to interested parties via the Internet so scientists and educators can find and request samples for research and education. In addition to the continued operation of the facility, this funding provides resources for staff to develop high resolution analytical scanning of sediment cores to enhance their utility to researchers. Broader impacts of the work include public outreach via tours for primary and secondary school groups, local community organizations, and other interested parties. It also assists in postdoctoral and graduate student training. In addition, this award provides support for an essential piece of marine geology infrastructure that enhances the reuse of material of high scientific value that is collected at great expense.