This is among the top core labs in the country. It’s a one-stop-shop for researchers who use sediment and coral cores to investigate past environmental events and conditions. By collecting information about the past found within core samples, geologists contribute towards a better understanding of how conditions may change in the future. 

Many cores are analyzed with the multi-sensor core logger. The core logger can automatically measure a range of properties, including gamma density, color spectrophotometry, and X-ray fluorescence, at intervals from around 3-millimeter to 1-centimeter resolution, on cores up to a meter and a half long. The device can also collect line-scan images of cores that have been split, up to a resolution of 10 microns.  

Most cores are also analyzed with an instrument called the rotating x-ray computed tomography system, or RXCT. The RXCT creates ultra high-resolution density imagery of sediment and coral cores. In medicine, radiologists use computed tomography, or CT scanning, to collect highly detailed images of your bones and body. Similarly, the RXCT data can be used to create a complete 3-D image rendering of a sediment core by combining a series of X-ray images taken from different angles as the machine rotates around the core. The system then uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images of the core. 

The images and data collected with the RXCT and the MSCL allow scientists to see and explore inside of the core without having to cut into it. Analyzing the structure and composition of core samples in this non-destructive way helps to not only guide the next step of the research, but ultimately enables a better understanding of the history of the location where the core was collected, whether it was the seafloor, a lakebed, a coral reef, or a marsh area.

Other tools available in the sediment core lab include a core splitter, dissecting microscopes, a core shrink-wrapper system, and a wide assortment of sampling tools and balances for core sub-sample preparation and analysis. We store the cores, along with other sediment samples, in a large, walk-in refrigerated room that features library-style mobile shelving for efficient storage and easy access to all cores. Our archived samples are searchable on online databases and can be requested by other U.S. researchers.