Smear slide and coarse fraction sediment characteristics of the Samoa Basin collected during cruise 2026-604-FA

USGS cruise 2026-604-FA recovered box cores from the Samoa Basin to characterize the sediments, fauna, and minerals on the abyssal plain. This data-release addresses sediment composition and how it varies across the Samoa Basin. The analyses were carried out primarily to determine which dating methods might be most appropriate to use to date the sediment, such as biostratigraphy, strontium isotope geochemistry, and so on. Samples from the top ~2 cm of 38 box cores were collected. A small amount was turned into a smear slide and the remainder was passed through a 63 µm sieve to concentrate the >63 µm fraction. Smear slides were examined under a transmitted light microscope at 100-630 x magnification and sieved samples were examined under a binocular microscope at 10-50 x magnification to determine the biogenic, minerogenic, and volcanogenic sediment components. Qualitative data (dominant, abundant, common, rare, and trace) were collected for each sample.