Curatorial Stewardship of the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean National Collection of Rock and Sediment Cores at the OSU Marine and Geology Repository

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Nontechnical DescriptionThe Antarctic core collection, curated at Florida State University since 1963, is one of the world?s premier marine geology collections. Consisting of irreplaceable sediment cores, this archive has greatly advanced the understanding of the Earth system, past and present, and will remain critical to future studies of the Earth. Given Oregon State University?s (OSU) leadership in marine research and long track record providing state-of-the-art curatorial services through the OSU Marine and Geology Repository, this facility will provide world-class curatorial stewardship of the Antarctic core collection for decades to come. The Antarctic core collection will be co-located and co-managed with the current OSU collection in a single modern repository and analytical facility. The combined collection will contain more than 30 km of refrigerated sediment core from the world?s oceans and will be housed in a new 33,000 SFT facility purchased in 2009 by OSU and upgraded in 2016-17. The total refrigerated space can hold both collections comfortably and has at least five decades of expansion space.The co-location and co-management of these two collections, paired with a modern suite of analytical facilities, will lead to greater collaboration, cross-pollination of ideas, and availability of enhanced technical services and capabilities for a growing user group that increasingly relies on marine sediments. The facility will employ a comprehensive community interaction plan that takes advantage of the new OSU Marine and Geology Repository building with a 32-person seminar room, its large 1,044 square foot core lab, and ten adjoining analytical laboratories, which will provide scientific and experiential learning opportunities for students, the general public, and the Earth Sciences research community. The facility will organize small group meetings, sampling parties and summer schools that will complement ongoing support for teaching, training and learning through the use of the repository in graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 classes and Research Experience for Undergraduate programs. The repository is open to the general public for tours and presentations, and the data products derived from the facility will be disseminated via the repository website at http://osu-mgr.org/ and other national databases.Technical DescriptionThe Antarctic and the Southern Ocean National Collection of Rock and Sediment Cores currently housed at Florida State University will be relocated to Oregon State University (OSU) and housed along with the OSU Marine and Geology Repository. Oregon State University investigators will co-manage the Antarctic core collection and the Marine and Geology Repository as a single modern repository and analytical facility. The combined collection will be housed a new 33,000 square foot building with refrigerated space that can hold both collections with approximately five decades of expansion space. The co-location and co-management of these two collections offers unique curatorial synergies, cost savings, and improved capabilities to support both the research and educational needs of a wider marine and Antarctic communities. The facility will house a 32-person seminar room, a large 1,044 square foot core lab that allows layout, inspection and examination of cores, and adjoining analytical laboratories that will provide quantitative analysis as well as experiential learning opportunities for students.