SAMPLING STRATEGY
Sample RequestsSample requests can be submitted by shipboard and shore-based participants at any time. Participants are asked to submit a request no later than 3 months precruise. Requests received precruise may have precedence over competing requests made during the cruise. All precruise requests will be posted on the ODP web page and the URL will be made available to the Leg 202 participants only. The Sample Allocation Committee (SAC; co-chiefs, staff scientist, and ODP curator) encourages participants to contact each other and coordinate sample requests and proposed work before the cruise to minimize this effort during the precious time available during the cruise. The draft sampling plan will be prepared at the beginning of the cruise by the scientific party, under the leadership of the SAC, and refined during the cruise based on the actual coring results. The final sampling plan will be highly integrated, ensuring that essential work will be completed on all intervals and that duplication will be avoided.
Shipboard Sampling
Samples for routine shipboard analyses of ephemeral properties and for measurements essential to
safety monitoring and initial shipboard interpretations will be taken during the cruise by the
responsible laboratory representatives.
Catwalk Samples:
In addition, individual sample requests for intervals recovered in only one hole, such as some of the deeper XCB intervals, will be sampled on the ship with the approval of the SAC. All shipboard participants will participate in the sampling effort, regardless of their personal sampling plan.
Sampling the Stratigraphic Splice Sections (Postcruise)
Whenever possible, samples for postcruise research will be taken from the splice constructed by
hole-to-hole correlation of cores during the cruise. Such sampling will maximize integration and
impact of scientific results. Because it takes a few days to complete the composite depth section and
splice (and more time to prepare adequate sampling templates), such sampling will not be possible
during the cruise. The cores will be stored away and the laboratory busy with the cores from a
subsequent site. Sampling of the composite depth sections is therefore deferred to one or two
postcruise sampling party(ies) ~3-5 months postcruise in College Station, Texas.