Initial Core Description (ICD)

The central operation of the LRC Core Facility is to help facilitate, support, and standardize procedures for initial core description. ICD consists of nondestructive measurement of bulk sediment properties, division of the core into working and archive halves, imaging of the whole core, and macro- and microscopic identification of sedimentary structures and composition. Comprehensive and consistent description is too often overlooked in the drive to sample and analyze lake sediment cores, but this documentation provides an essential basis for all further study.

In 2004, with NSF funding, the LRC acquired both a new Geotek Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MSCL) with tremendous capabilities for logging both whole and split cores, and the first Geotek XYZ core logger in the Western Hemisphere, which automates the measurement of high-resolution magnetic susceptibility by point-sensor, color analysis by spectrophotometry, and detection of natural gamma emissions.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

ICD Overview
LacCore/GLAD core naming convention
Multisensor logging
Core splitting
Core cleaning
Imaging
Microscopic core description (smear slides, coarse fractions)
     smear slide basics
     smear slide library
     smear slide form (.pdf, editable in Illustrator)
Macroscopic core description and lake sediment classification
     sediment classification basics
Initial core description ("barrel") sheets
CoreWall

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Core image: Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru
updated May 12, 2008