Sediment Core

A sediment core is a cylindrical sample of seabed sediment recovered intact so its layering can be studied in order. Coring devices include the gravity corer and piston corer for soft surface sediment, the box corer for an undisturbed surface, and the advanced piston corer on drillships for long, continuous deep sections. The preserved stratigraphy lets analysts read sediment type, microfossil assemblages, geochemistry, and magnetic polarity downcore, building records of climate, sea level, and tectonics through time. DSDP, ODP, and IODP have recovered hundreds of kilometers of core. Core quality depends on recovery percentage and on avoiding the disturbance that flow-in or gas expansion causes.