Field Supplies and Accessories

The CSD Facility maintains a large inventory of specialized field supplies to support researchers collecting core samples. Purchase from the Facility or direct from the vendors noted. Materials include:

  • Polycarbonate tube: for core liners. Available sizes:
    • ~7 cm (2.75 inch) outer diameter, 1.6 mm (1/16 inch) wall thickness, lengths up to 3 m (10 feet) — for use with hand-operated soft sediment coring devices. 
    • 6.3 cm outer diameter, 1.7 mm wall thickness, 1.5 m lengths — for use in Uwitec 63mm coring devices.
    • 6.6 cm (2.6 inch) outer diameter, 1.3 mm (0.05 inch) wall thickness, lengths to 1.5 m (5 feet) — for use in HQ3 wireline diamond coring systems. 
  • ABS/black plastic or PVC pipe: secondary liner for cores extruded from Livingstone corers. 5-, 7.6-, or 10.1 cm (2-, 3-, or 4 inch) inner diameter, schedule 40 pipe (~5 mm / 0.2 inch wall thickness), split in half lengthwise, paired.
  • Endcaps: Polyethylene slip caps for polycarbonate tube, ABS pipe, and several other tube diameters. Purchase from https://www.caplugs.com/sleeve-caps-sc
  • Zorbitrol: sodium polyacrylate absorbent powder to stabilize water above unconsolidated surface sediment cores.
    • Based on the publication by Tomkins et al. (2008), the CSD Facility recommends Zorbitrol polymer gel as the best option in most cases to stabilize the watery surface interfaces of lake sediment cores for handling and transport. Zorbitrol is a convenient alternative to extruding the top of the core in the field (though field extrusion is still required for certain types of cores and analyses). 
    • Zorbitrol is used in the health care industry as a bodily fluid spill absorber. Please read the MSDS (available online) and particularly Tomkins et al. (2008) for caveats about its use, including incompatibility with saline water. Zorbitrol is available from online suppliers, or you can purchase small quantities from the CSD Facility stock.
  • Floral Foam: Floral foam is the best option to stabilize the core sediment-water interface in saline waters, which are incompatible with Zorbitrol. Be sure to purchase wet floral foam, which will absorb the surface water (dry floral foam will displace the water).

Field Equipment Sales and Rentals

The CSD Facility rents and sells several systems for coring soft sediment. Available equipment includes:

  • Freeze Corer
  • Gravity Corers, medium and heavy
  • Peat Corer
  • Vibracorer
  • Surface Corer
  • Bolivia / Livingstone repeat-drive corer
  • Nesje / Percussion Corer
  • Kullenberg Corer

Additional details are available on our Coring and Drilling Equipment page.

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