Repositories
USGS Science Centers across the United States are managing scientific collections, preserving them, and making these samples available for future research. Here are a few of the Science Centers and repositories across the Survey managing scientific collections.
The USGS Core Research Center, Denver, Colorado
The Core Research Center (CRC) was established in 1974 by the U.S. Geological Survey to preserve valuable rock cores for use by scientists and educators from government, industry, and academia. The cylindrical sections of rock are permanently stored and available for examination and testing at the core storage and research facility in Denver, Colorado. The CRC is currently one of the largest and most heavily used public core repositories in the United States. The CRC encourages use of its facility by all interested parties. Tours of the facility are available by appointment.
The USGS Geological Materials Repository, Denver, Colorado
The Geological Material Repository is a centralized USGS repository located on the Denver Federal Center in Colorado. It has three sectors: the USGS Core Research Center, the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility, and the Geological Materials Working Collections, which stores materials from numerous Science Centers and Mission Areas across the Survey.
The Menlo Park Refrigerated Core and Sample Archive Facility, Menlo Park, California
The U.S. Geological Survey's Menlo Park Marine Geology Sample Repository is a United States government-funded facility that houses a national archive of marine bottom samples in the offices of the Western Region's Coastal and Marine Geology (CMG) team.
The Mercury Core Library and Data Center, Henderson, Nevada
The USGS Core Library and Data Center at Mercury, Nevada, was established as a repository for geologic, hydrologic, and geophysical data and materials collected in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) defense and environment programs at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), formerly Nevada Test Site (NTS).
Meteor Crater Sample Collection at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, Arizona
The Meteor Crater Sample Collection is an invaluable resource that makes available geologic samples from the Meteor Crater ejecta blanket. These samples were obtained during the 1970’s by USGS Astrogeology researcher Dr. David J. Roddy, who conducted a program of rotary drilling on the rim and flanks of the crater. The geologic samples in this collection were documented and curated by the USGS and are now available to the planetary science community for scientific research.
The National Index of Borehole Information, Virtual
The National Index of Borehole Information (NIBI) is a centralized index of public subsurface resources created to advance search, discovery, access, and re-use of these assets. NIBI indexes public borehole information providing the connection back to the holding repositories for full access. This access facilitates multidisciplinary research in areas such as geology, climate, carbon sequestration, hydrogeology, and energy and minerals resources leading to improved understanding of the subsurface.
The National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility, Denver, Colorado
The National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility (NSF-ICF) is a facility for storing, curating, and studying meteoric ice cores recovered from the glaciated regions of the world. NSF-ICF provides scientists with the capability to conduct examinations and measurements on ice cores, and it preserves the integrity of these ice cores in a long-term repository for future investigations.
The Registry of Scientific Collections (ReSciColl), Virtual
ReSciColl promotes discovery and reuse of scientific assets. ReSciColl includes metadata records describing geological, geophysical, and biological collections and data managed by state geological surveys and the U.S. Geological Survey. These collections include rock samples, thin sections, field notebooks, photographs, maps, datasets, and more. Collections are described using metadata elements that assist users in discovering, understanding, accessing, and using physical collections.
The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Since 2002, the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center’s Samples Repository has been supporting research by providing secure storage for geological, biological, and geochemical samples; maintaining organization and an active inventory of these sample collections; as well as by providing access to these collections for study and reuse.
Additional Repositories
Please see the Directory of Public Repositories of Geological Materials for additional repositories. Arends, H., Dahl, D., Dejarnett, B.B., Harrison, W.B., III, Honey, J., Johnson, M.R., and KunleDare, M., 2021, Directory of Public Repositories of Geological Materials: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9JMGRB3