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Layout, Equipment, and Supplies

Layout

The Gulf Coast Repository is situated in College Station appended to the rear of the ODP building. It has 4 main refers, each is approximately 3,500 square feet and maintained at 40 F. In addition, one freezer (maintained at -20 F) houses geochemical samples. Another room is maintained at 100% humidity to store some specialty cores and samples.

Immediately behind the reefers is a storage area and loading bay. The storage area is designed so that it can be easily converted into 2 additional reefers when the current refrigerated space is exhausted. It is projected that the 4 reefers will be filled by 2003.

The sampling area is situated immediately in front of the reefers. Four sampling stations are maintained here and occupy most of the available space. Each sampling station is directly connected to the JANUS database.

Other facilities of the GCR include a digital imaging room and a micropaleo reference center, both with state-of-the-art equipment, and the BP-Amaco thin section collection.

Equipment and Supplies

Our laboratory is equipped with an assortment of sampling tools and supplies designed to sample both soft sediment and hard rock cores. Samples can be taken with plastic tubes or scoops if the sediment allows, or cut on the Felker saw or mini-core drill press. Tube and scoop sizes are 2 cm³, 5 cm³, 10 cm³.

Larger volumes can be sampled if needed. P-mag cubes and U-channels can be provided for paleomagnetic studies. All samples are documented in our database and can be viewed by the investigator through the database sample report query.

Sample bags and labels indicating exact core and section intervals are provided. Kapak sample bags are available for organic chemistry samples. Initial Reports volumes and Scientific Results volumes are available for reference. Fully equipped microscope and photo labs are also available for use. Internet connections are available for visitors as well as a variety of useful computer programs.