Kochi Core Center Provides New Information Services

During the last four decades of scientific drilling of seafloor all over the world, an enormous amount (~360,000 m)of marine cores has been collected. These cores are being curated in the three Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) core repositories located in Germany, Japan, and the U.S.A.. The IODP core repository in Japan is housed in the Kochi Core Center (KCC), Kochi on the island of Shikoku. The total amount of IODP core currently being curated in the KCC is about 93,000 m. These cores were collected from the Indian and west Pacific Oceans, and they consist of a diverse range of geological material. Detailed description of the core material is available in preliminary reports of each drilling expedition. This report details three new services being offered through the KCC website (www.kochi-core.jp): Core Summary, Routine Microbiological Sample (RMS),and Virtual Core Library (VCL).