Shipboard and shore-based researchers should refer to the interim IODP Sample, Data, and Obligations policy posted on the Web at iodp.tamu.edu/curation/policy.html. This document outlines the policy for distributing IODP samples and data to research scientists, curators, and educators. The document also defines the obligations that sample and data recipients incur. Owing to the unprecedented scheduling of two consecutive expeditions from a single proposal, the Science Planning Committee of IODP has recommended that the science parties of both expeditions be considered a single entity. Therefore, the Sample Allocation Committee (SAC) will consist of all four Co-Chief Scientists, both Staff Scientists, the IODP onshore Curator, and the curatorial representatives onboard ship. This team will work with the entire science party from both expeditions to formulate a specific sampling plan for shipboard and postcruise sampling.
In order to coordinate all shipboard sampling, shipboard scientists from both expeditions are expected to submit sample requests (iodp.tamu.edu/curation/samples.html) no later than 2 months before the beginning of the first expedition. Based on sample requests (shipboard and shore based) submitted by this deadline, the SAC will prepare a tentative sampling plan. The sampling plan will be subject to modification depending upon the actual material recovered and collaborations that may evolve between scientists during the expeditions.
Based on prior results coring serpentinized peridotite during ODP Legs 153 and 209, we expect to recover 500–700 m of core during the two expeditions (as much as 400 m of serpentinized peridotite and lesser gabbro and, possibly, 200 m of basalt). The minimum permanent archive will be the standard archive half of each core. Samples for shipboard studies will be collected routinely (likely daily) following core labeling, nondestructive whole-core measurements (multisensor track measurements and possibly whole-core images), core splitting, close-up photography of intervals of interest, and core description. Shipboard samples for geochemical, mineralogical, and fabric analyses and for physical property measurements will be extracted from working halves of cores by the shipboard party. When possible, our goal will be to make as many measurements as possible on common samples, thus reducing the amount of material removed from the core and enhancing the opportunity for data correlation.
In order to provide the entire science party access to the cores from both expeditions and the opportunity to formulate sampling strategies based on the entire recovery, sampling for postcruise research must take place on shore after the second expedition. Some personal sampling for ephemeral properties, microbiology, and/or whole-round samples will take place during each expedition; however, the bulk of personal sampling will take place at a shore-based repository. Although the cores from these expeditions will eventually be stored at the Bremen Core Repository (Germany), for logistical reasons the cores will be shipped directly to the Gulf Coast Repository at Texas A&M University (TAMU; USA), which is better equipped to handle a postcruise sampling program of this magnitude. The most convenient and cost-effective time to hold this sampling party would be in conjunction with the postcruise meeting held at IODP-TAMU for editing the expedition report, ~3 months after the end of Expedition 305. Coordination between the science parties will be accomplished by the SAC, and preparation of detailed records for preferred sampling intervals of each participant will be done during the expeditions. With this preparation, a 3–4 day meeting at the Gulf Coast Repository, with all sampling participants from both expeditions including approved shore-based researchers, should be sufficient for completion of all tasks. This time estimate is based on the single sampling party held at the conclusion of ODP Leg 209, where nearly 400 m of core was sampled.
For the purpose of developing sample requests, participating scientists could expect to receive on the order of 25–100 samples of no more than 15 cm3. This is based on historic precedent from ODP designed to enable scientists to complete a research program and meet the established publication deadlines. For these expeditions, all personal sample frequencies and sample volumes taken from the working half of the core must be justified on a scientific basis and will be dependent on core recovery, the full spectrum of other requests, and the project objectives. Postcruise research projects that require more frequent sampling or larger sample volumes should be further justified in sample requests. Some redundancy of measurement is unavoidable, but minimizing redundancy of measurements among the shipboard party and identified shore-based collaborators will be a factor in evaluating sample requests.
If some critical intervals are recovered (e.g., fault gouge, veins, fresh peridotite, gabbroic intervals, melt lenses, etc.), there may be considerable demand for samples from a limited amount of cored material. These intervals may require special handling, a higher sampling density, reduced sample size, or continuous core sampling by a single investigator. A sampling plan coordinated by the SAC may be required before critical intervals are sampled.