Core Repository

Check out cores, rocks and sediments taken from beneath the ocean floor.

The Lamont-Doherty Core Repository stores thousands of cores, rocks and sediments taken from beneath the ocean floor. Deep-sea sediments contain fossils of marine animals, volcanic glass, cosmic spherules, and other unusual materials unique to a marine environment. Deep-sea samples also hold a permanent record of magnetic history, revealing to scientists the ever- changing magnetic orientation of the poles. See how we find evidence of climate change, cosmic impacts and earthquakes in these sediments.

visitors check out trays of sediment cores in the lab