The Core Facility
The Limnological Research Center Core Facility is an open laboratory operating with funds from the National Science Foundation and the University of Minnesota. The mission of the Core Facility is to provide expertise, equipment, and instrumentation in support of the collection and study of lake sediment cores to the University, North American, and international communities.
The LRC Core Facility comprises a pallette of lake coring and water sampling equipment and vessels, a laboratory with state-of-the-art instrumentation for initial core description (ICD) and special studies, and connections to other campus laboratories for further analytical research. The Core Facility is tightly coupled with LacCore, the National Lacustrine Core Repository, and jointly these units employ three full-time staff with the mandate of supporting and assisting visiting researchers and developing new techniques and capabilities. Materials and chemicals are provided to users at cost, and undergraduate technicians are available at hourly wages to conduct analytical procedures.
This site provides an outline of some of the steps conducted in lake sediment analysis from field collection to specialized analytical prodecures. It includes a series of protocols (standard operating procedures or SOPs) which will be of most use to researchers and technicians working in the Core Facility, but which may also be of use to the general limnogeological and broader scientific community.
Core Retrieval
Initial Core Description (ICD)
Special Studies
Core CurationCore Facility annual safety/policy update training handout
The Core Facility's Lab Safety Plan
Core image: Lago Santamaria del Oro, Mexico
maintained by Amy Myrbo
updated March 14, 2005