Bulk sediment thorium concentrations from IODP Expedition 329 to the South Pacific Gyre

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 329 to the South Pacific Gyre on board the D/V Joides Resolution (Chief scientists Steven D’Hondt and Fumio Inagaki) took place in Fall 2010 and had as one of its major objectives to document the habitats, metabolic activities, genetic composition, and biomass of microbial communities in subseafloor sediment with very low total activity. To meet this objective the entire sediment column at seven sites (U1365 through U1371) were cored along two transects in the region of the South Pacific Gyre.
We present here thorium concentration measurements in bulk sediment samples from IODP Expedition 329. Samples were collected during the expedition by Prof. Richard W. Murray (Boston University) and sample preparation and analysis was performed by Dr. Ann G. Dunlea in the Analytical Geochemistry Facilities at Boston University.