This grant supports a fifteen month continuation of support for a national lacustrine core repository and initial core analysis laboratory at the University of Minnesota. This support formally merges activities of the initial core analysis laboratory (Limnological Research Center -LRC) with the national lacustrine core repository (LacCore). The LRC operates open laboratories to allow community access to specialized field and laboratory equipment and staff expertise for Initial Core Description (ICD) methods including non-destructive multi-sensor core logging and digital core photography. The LacCore facility stores core materials under refrigeration and maintains related data archives. These two facilities have operated symbiotically since the beginning of LacCore funding in 2000. The newly merged facility will retain the moniker LacCore and will continue to operate in support of the lake sediment community including both field and lab aspects of worldwide GLAD (Global LAkes Drilling) expeditions that collect hundreds to thousands of meters of sediment. The facility will serve the infrastructure needs of the limnological community for studies that contribute to our understanding of past climates, ecological systems, and biogeochemical dynamics on the continents. Broader impacts include the availability of a service-oriented, low-cost, centralized lake sediment core facility that provides significant benefits to scientists working at many institutions, and the training of undergraduate and graduate students in methods of core description and analysis. The facility will also expand a current workshop course as a unit for Native American middle- and high school environmental camps in Minnesota. ***
