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The ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ core and rock repositories hold an extensive collection of marine sediment cores and rock samples. The samples are collected during ship expeditions to the world’s oceans and during research campains on land, as well as from onshore expeditions affiliated to ship expeditions.

The sample collection is available to the international research community, subject to current research projects. Information about the sample material, including meta data, is provided via the data bases OSIS (; ) and for further research. Details about how to store samples you can find on the intranet pages (). Please direct sample requests to the curator.

A GIS map application gives an overview of all geological material held at ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ - rocks and sediment cores:

The building ZPL with its 900 m² offers storage space for a core repository of 600 m² for sediment cores, and a 200 m² for other specimen requiring cooling. For freeze samples (-20°C) two walk-in compartments are integrated within the building. In the entrance area, an office and a core preparation and sampling laboratory complete the infrastructure of the ZPL.

The collections encompasses roughly 35.000 core sections, including 5.000 m of core material from the Red Sea, the former PREUSSAG-collection. Storage conditions are +4°C in customised lattice boxes.

Some superlatives:

• The oldest cores of the collection are taken in 1964 in the coastal region of Egypt
• The longest sediment core is 46,5 m long, from an expedition with the French vessel MARION DUFRESNE in 2002 in the northern Golf of Mexico
• The deepest core was recovered at a depth of 8,323 m in the Puerto Rico Trench on the south-western edge of the North Atlantic
• Total weight of the stored cores: 200 tonnes.

For a 360°-look into the core shed, please follow this link (narrative in german).

The rock samples are stored in the building Kalthalle at ambient temperature. The three-storey shelf complex offers storage space for about 7400 boxes. In addition to rocks from the seafloor, the repository holds specimens from onshore Germany, Central and South America, France, Iceland, Kamchatka and Namibia.

An important part of the collection are mineral separates, sieve fractions, thin sections as well as documentary and reserve samples. This material originates from the scientific analysis of sediment cores and rock samples.

To date, 6.200 boxes are archived. They contain:

•     Hard rock
•     Soft rock
•     Radiographs
•     Foraminifera collections and dried sediments
•     Corals, Bivalves
•     Pore water samples
•     Manganese nodules and ore samples