British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility

BOSCORF is the UK national deep sea core repository, set up by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to store marine sediment cores collected by NERC ships and NERC-funded researchers.

Deep sea sediment cores are an expensive and unique resource of immense scientific value. BOSCORF provides specialised facilities for the long-term storage and curation of cores with the aim of making the material available to scientists, and to promote secondary useage amongst the scietific community. BOSCORF provides specialist non-destructive logging facilities and cores entering the repository are routinely logged. BOSCORF maintains databases of its collections, and these can be searched online through the Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples online database maintained by the National Geophysical Data Center.

BOSCORF also provides office and microscope facilities for visiting researchers. The BOSCORF laboratory at NOC provides computing facilities for BOSCORF users. Core descriptions, cruise reports and accessory datasets may be consulted.