INNOVATION IN AN OPEN LIMNOGEOLOGICAL FIELD, LAB, AND CURATION FACILITY

Lake sediment cores are an increasingly popular tool in research on past climate and environment, as well as for shorter-term issues such as anthropogenic eutrophication and salinization, pest outbreaks, and contaminant transport and fate. The growing density of global continental lacustrine records is also bringing closer the goal of an integrated network of regional environmental paleo-sites. At the same time, science budgets remain stagnant, coldrooms are decommissioned upon retirements and departmental reorganizations, and regulations governing safe international transport of geological materials become more complex. The availability of an open-access, community-supported facility supporting the collection, basic analysis, and curation of lake sediment cores allows academic researchers at all sizes of institutions to use the best possible coring and core processing methods. LacCore, the National Lacustrine Core Repository and Core Analysis Facility, provides free and low-cost support to all types and scales of field and laboratory projects involving lake sediments. Funding from NSF and the University of Minnesota underwrites LacCore's assistance and thus spreads each visiting PI's research dollar further. Constant user demands cause streamlining of routine procedures, as well as driving innovation in equipment design. The result is a facility that works in partnership with limnogeologists at the frontiers of lacustrine sediment research.