Large Lakes Observatory

Sedimentology Laboratory and Sample Repository

The Sedimentology/Paleoclimatology Laboratories are well equipped for the routine investigation of sediment cores. Core splitting, photography and archiving facilities complement the capabilities of the core archiving facility of the Limnological Research Center on the Twin Cities Campus, where many of our preliminary core analyses are done, including core logging for magnetic susceptibility, gamma ray bulk density, and sound wave velocity. Our laboratory in LLO has microscope facilities, capabilities for various sediment digestions and analyses, and sample preparation for light stable isotopes, many of which we will soon be able to run on a new stable isotope mass spectrometer to be installed in August 2004. LLO has a cold room to store up to 600 m of split sediment core at 4ºC. We use this limited storage space for cores that are under current investigation by LLO scientists and students. Once current investigations are completed, we then transfer cores to the national lacustrine core repository (LacCore) at the Limnological Research Center on the Twin Cities campus for long-term storage and access by the international science community.