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CT scans of H.M.S. Challenger sediments

This represents the ct scan dataset from a paper entitled "Assessing the HMS Challenger collection as a late 19th Century physicochemical surface ocean indicator using computed X-ray microtomography" by Stergios Zarkogiannis, Thomas Wood, C. Giles Miller, Stephen Stukins, Brett Clark and Rosalind Rickaby. Plankton tow samples that were collected during the HMS Challenger expedition between 1872 and 1876 have the potential to provide a unique window to the physicochemical conditions of the water column during the late 19th century. Challenger sediment collections have previously been assessed and compared to modern plankton collections but questions remain as to whether some of the samples possibly represent the state of the late Holocene ocean. In the present study we use X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) to examine 21 samples labelled as ‘tow-net at dredge’, ‘weights’ or ‘trawl’ in the Ocean Bottom Deposits (OBD) collection at the Natural History Museum, London. We find in most of the samples the presence of benthic foraminifera shells, and high concentrations of foraminiferal fragments and detrital quartz grains; while the rest of the samples are sedimentary material barren of calcareous microfossils. We confirm that these samples are from tow-nets at the deeper parts of the sampling lines that were attached to the trawl and dredge; they are a capture of resuspended bottom sediments incorporating specimens of possible late Holocene age and may not solely reflect pelagic conditions during the 1870s. This study highlights the use μCT in the non-destructive analysis of sediment collections without the need for washing and wet sieving.

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Cite this as

Stergios Zarkogiannis; Thomas Wood; Giles Miller; Stephen Stukins; Brett Clark (2024). CT scans of H.M.S. Challenger sediments [Data set]. Natural History Museum. https://doi.org/10.5519/xuspw960
Retrieved: 01:23 13 Oct 2024 (UTC) BibTeX

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Giles Miller
Primary contributors
Zarkogiannis, Stergios ( 0000-0001-7441-5506);
Wood, Thomas ( 0009-0004-9178-7343);
Miller, Giles ( 0000-0001-9111-2136);
Stukins, Stephen ( 0000-0003-3551-8283);
Clark, Brett
Other contributors
Last updated 12 September 2024
Last resource update 12 September 2024 (Station-22-348.zip)
Created 9 August 2024
License Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike