Request Samples

LDEO has long had an open-policy toward sample requests from academic researchers world-wide. Most core descriptions and original images are in the Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) database described below. Materials for educational purposes and museum displays may be made available in limited quantities when requests are adequately justified. We request that material provided not be used for work other than the stated purpose (unless follow-up permission is granted), and that sub-samples of the material not be sent to other investigators (again, unless permission is granted). We also request that you send an electronic copy of all publications resulting from the use of the requested material. This helps us to document the importance of the repository to the scientific community and justify the funding we receive.

Download the sample request forms: Sample request form p.1, Sample request form p.2. Please read the Sample Request Guidelines before submitting your request.

Search Collection

Search with an Interactive Map

Search with Dropdown Menus and Key Words

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS - linked above) allows you to search the sample holdings of participating institutions by institution, ship, sampling device, and all other available metadata. In addition, they recently extended their search criteria to include geologic province, geologic age, cruise Principle Investigator, type of storage, IGSN number, and a “Search String” field that is keyed to the megascopic descriptions (among other things). All of LDEO’s samples can be found in the database as well as links to sample history, megascopic descriptions, core photos and other, miscellaneous data for various cores.

In addition, you can create a '.kml' file of our samples which can be opened with Google Earth.

GeoMapApp - GeoMapApp includes data/sample sets from many institutions as well as other search engines and the ability to customize the visualization of the mapped data results. You will need to download the app before using it.