LIMNOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND RELATED CURATORIAL ISSUES

Kerry Kelts presented a comprehensive overview of the status, goals, and curatorial issues surrounding lake coring and paleolimnological research. Funding for lake research is increasing as concerns of fluctuating global climates gain international attention. He noted the similarities and differences between lake and marine sediments and biota and approaches to their study. Lake deposits can provide annual sediment records, thus very high resolution. But, owing to the wide diversity of chemical, lithologic and biological environments, each lake presents a different complex set of interactions complicating their interpretation, "power with confusion."

Numerous geological questions are being addressed by lake coring. Lake study aids the correlation of worldwide continental events, including history of continental break-up and high-resolution worldwide correlation of non-marine species, and the paleohydrology of past continents. Abandoned rift basins are targets for petroleum exploration, as they often comprise organic carbon, overlain by porous sandstone, capped with impermeable shale. Moreover, sulfide accumulations in restricted basins often lead to development of ore deposits. Extreme lake environments offer the opportunity to study end members of biological and chemical systems. Moreover, rapidity of evolution in extreme and isolated (lake) environments give rise to a variety of new forms which may then be introduced to marine environments, possibly accounting for sudden appearance of forms in marine environments without apparent predecessors. Types and distribution of ancient lakes also indicate which parts of the globe were dry and which parts were wet. This allows for fascinating correlation of climatic events to events in human history, as well as to correlation to synchronous climatic events in other parts of the globe.

Study of lake sediments offers enormous scientific potential, "a lot of science for a "few" bucks." Efforts to increase international cooperation in continental drilling are underway and lake drilling should be an integral part of the effort.

To ensure best cooperative preservation, conservation, and utilization of these cores, (as well as others collected earlier on), Kerry is committed to developing curatorial policies and procedures similar to those in place in the marine community.

Historically, paleolimnologists have a tradition of "private core ownership" and no tradition of cooperative effort. At the Limnological Research Center, Kelts is developing a core-research facility to serve as a role model for lake-core curation. Cores collected with NSF funds are, after all, in the public domain and the DSDP/ODP program has demonstrated the many benefits of proper curation and cooperative study. He solicits the help from the marine-coring community in his efforts to ensure a similar program for handling the highly useful lake cores.

(Kelts also distributed handouts describing his smear-slide description techniques and sediment classification system for lake deposits. The handout is a part of a guide he is preparing for "optical determination of major components in lake sediments" which he hopes to have completed by the next meeting.)

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