The US Polar Rock Repository. A Tool for Antarctic Peninsula Research

In late 2003, the United States Polar Rock Repository (USPRR) opened on the campus of The Ohio State University. The repository houses terrestrial rock samples, unconsolidated material, dredges and terrestrial cores primarily from Antarctica and the Arctic and makes them available for research, museum and educational use. All samples are relabeled with a USPRR number, weighed, photographed and measured for magnetic susceptibility. Metadata associated with the samples are available in the USPRR online database, including geographical location, rock description, sample age, location maps, logistics used, rock surface observations, location features, and structural measurements. Users can research the samples by using the online database and sample requests can be made online by using the 'sample bag' feature. Researchers interested in a particular geographic area, formation or rock type, are encouraged to contact the curator to see if there are relevant collections waiting to be cataloged.

The samples at the USPRR can provide provenance information for sediment cores taken in the Pacific Ocean, Scotia, Bellingshausen and Weddell seas. Currently, more than 15,000 rock samples are available at the rock repository including about 500 outcrop samples from the Antarctic Peninsula and 84 dredge samples from the Scotia Sea, Weddell Sea and Pacific Ocean. The cataloged outcrop samples come from Seymour Island, the South Shetland Islands and Graham Land. Formations and groups represented by these samples include the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group, the Trinity Peninsula Group, the Scotia Metamorphic Complex, the Nordenskjold Formation, and the Lopez de Bertodano Formation. The USPRR also houses ~2000 samples from Ellsworth Land at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. More than 1000 samples remain to be cataloged from the Antarctic Peninsula and include: sedimentary rocks from Seymour Island; igneous and sedimentary rocks from the South Shetland Islands; igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks from Graham Land.