Abstract
In response to the need for lightweight and affordable sediment coring and high-resolution structural documentation of unconsolidated sediment, we developed economical and fast methods for (i) recovering short sediment cores with undisturbed topmost sediment, without the need for a firmly anchored coring platform, and (ii) rapid epoxy-impregnation of crayon-shaped subcores in preparation for thin-sectioning, with minimal use of solvents and epoxy resin. The ‘Autonomous Gravity Corer’ (AGC) can be carried to remote locations and deployed from an inflatable or makeshift raft. Its utility was tested on modern unconsolidated lacustrine sediment from a ~21 m deep maar lake in Vietnam’s Central Highlands near Pleiku. The sedimentary fabric fidelity of the epoxy-impregnation method was demonstrated for finely laminated artificial flume sediment. Our affordable AGC is attractive not only for work in developing countries, but lends itself broadly for coring in remote regions where challenging logistics prevent the use of heavy coring equipment. The improved epoxy-impregnation technique saves effort and costly chemical reagents, while at the same time preserving the texture of the sediment.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 176 |
| Journal | Geosciences (Switzerland) |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgments: The early phase of development of rapid epoxy resin impregnation had been supported by U.S. National Science Foundation Marine Geology and Geophysics grant #0930829 “Collaborative Research ETBC: Combined experimental and theoretical study of the physical mechanisms underlying deposition, degradation and preservation of marine organic carbon” to A.S. Our manuscript benefited from H.N.’s NSF-supported training at the LacCore/CSDCO Drilling and Coring Summer Institute at the University of Minnesota in 2017. We are indebted to Thân Tạ-Văn from the Gia Lai Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Đỗ Văn Thạch, Đỗ Ngọc Điệp, Nguyễn Ánh Nguyệt and Đỗ Trọng Quốc for administrative, logistic, and practical support during coring. Juergen Schieber made available SEM and TEM images. Ingmar Unkel provided duct tape, practical advice and humor towards technical improvement of the AGC. The constructive feedback from two expert reviewers improved the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Core catcher
- Epoxy resin
- Gravity corer
- Impregnation
- Limnology
- Sediment corer
- Thin section
Continental Scientific Drilling Facility tags
- BHM