Archive of Geosample Data and Information from the University of Minnesota National Lacustrine Core Repository (LacCore)

The National Lacustrine Core Repository (LacCore), operated by the University of Minnesota
is a partner in the Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) database, contributing
information to the IMLGS to help researchers discover geological samples curated in their facility.
The partner repository also sends related data, documents, and imagery to NCEI for long-term archive,
but the originating institution is the definitive source of information related to their sample collection.
LacCore has operated the National Lacustrine Core Repository since 2000, and now curates the world's largest
and most diverse collection of lacustrine sediment cores. The biggest contributors (by core volume) are drilling projects,
but small-volume projects outnumber the drilling campaigns by a factor of nearly 50. The vast majority of the curated
materials are moist, cylindrical cores split in half, but unsplit cores, grab samples, dry cores, and a rapidly-growing
number of rock cores, peat cores, freeze cores and permafrost cores round out the collection.
The Repository also curates unused subsamples and sample residues for re-distribution and analysis.
In addition to these physical holdings, LacCore captures metadata for all materials moving through the Facility;
thus cores processed at LacCore but stored at other institutions are integrated among the physical holdings for
the purpose of data discovery.