Head-space and vacutainer samples from each core will be taken on the catwalk for hydrocarbon monitoring.
Samples for microbiology will be taken from the split A hole cores and will be offloaded from the ship during daylight hours for processing at shore-based laboratories.
Samples for pore-water chemistry will be taken from the lower 20 cm of each core. The sample will be one-quarter of the core. Samples will be squeezed on board under nitrogen.
Residues from squeezing will be taken ashore with the A hole cores for subsequent analysis.
Shore-based Sampling
Extensive, high-resolution sampling of the laminated sediments in these cores is essential to meeting the objectives of this cruise. This sampling will be done on the A hole cores at the Pacific Geoscience Center, and will include lamina-by-lamina studies of paleontology and sedimentology on long continuous sections of the cores, which will exceed the normal sampling limits of (1) not sampling the archive half, (2) sampling only 1/2 of the working half and (3) allowing only 50 cm3/m of core per investigator. Sampling of the massive layers for sedimentology and paleontology will follow the standard sample guidelines. Intervals not recovered in the A hole will be sampled in the B and C holes according to the procedures for the A hole. In the event that a C hole is cored at each site, this extensive sampling scheme will fall within the established guidelines for sampling triple-cored sequences.
U-channel samples will be taken from the B holes and possibly the C holes at the Gulf Coast Repository for magnetic property and X-radiography studies.