IODP

doi:10.2204/iodp.sp.325.2009

Sample Allocation Committee and sample requests

The IODP Sample, Data, and Obligations policy is available on the IODP Web site (www.iodp.org/program-policies/) and will apply to Expedition 325. This documents the policy for distributing IODP samples and data and defines the obligations that sample and data recipients incur. A primary obligation is that all members of the scientific party must conduct expedition-related scientific research and publish their results by the determined deadline.

Scientists are required to submit their research plans using the Sample/Data Request online system available at smcs.iodp.org ~3 months prior to the expedition. Access to data and core samples for specific research purposes during the expedition and the subsequent 1 y moratorium must be approved by the Sample Allocation Committee (SAC). The moratorium for Expedition 325 will extend 12 months from the completion of the expedition, which in the case of MSP expeditions is defined as the end of the OSP.

All sample frequencies and sizes must be justified on a scientific basis and will depend on core recovery, the full spectrum of other requests, and the expedition objectives. Some redundancy of measurement may be unavoidable, but minimizing the duplication of measurements among the Scientific Party (which may include approved shore-based collaborators) will be a factor in evaluating sample requests.

Based on research requests (sample and data) submitted, the SAC will work with the Scientific Party to formulate a formal expedition-specific sampling and data-sharing plan for shipboard and onshore activities (both at OSP and at scientists' laboratories for individual postexpedition projects). This plan will be subject to modification depending upon the actual material/data recovered and collaborations that may evolve between scientists before and during the expedition. Modifications to the sampling plan (i.e., new plans, research objectives, new collaborations, etc.) during the expedition and postcruise moratorium require the approval of the SAC.

Sampling to acquire essential ephemeral data types, to describe and characterize the recovered section, and to achieve essential sample preservation will be conducted during the expedition. Although some sampling for individual scientist's postcruise research may be conducted during the offshore phase of the expedition, the majority of sampling will be deferred to the OSP. The SAC has agreed that the detailed review of sample requests will be deferred until after the offshore operations are completed, so that sample requests can be reviewed within the context of the known core recovery and lithology.

For Expedition 325, it is presumed that all drilled intervals will be unique, and therefore it is expected that all intervals will be designated as permanent archives. It should be stressed that the availability of archive halves for sampling depends on the presence of equivalent sedimentary sequences in adjacent holes that can be directly correlated and thereby identified as duplicate material. In the drilling of corals, similar to the situation in hard rock environments, the paucity of replicate material may severely limit the availability of nonpermanent archive-half material.

The Sample Allocation Committee (SAC) is composed of

Jody Webster: Co-Chief Scientist

Yusuke Yokoyama: Co-Chief Scientist

Ursula Röhl: ESO Curation Manager/IODP curator (or shipboard representative)

Carol Cotterill: ESO Staff Scientist