National Core Repository for Continental Drill Cores

On 28 September 2012, the national core repository for continental drill cores was opened in the Berlin-Spandau branch of the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources). Together with the national drill core repository for research drilling at sea located at MARUM, the Center for Marine Environment Science in Bremen, the core repository is aimed at providing science, industry and authorities in Germany with excellent access to drill cores from research drillings. By doing this, both core repositories guarantee long-term and high-quality curation of valuable drill cores. By establishing this core repository, BGR and Marum responded to an initiative of the German Research Drilling Consortium GESEP e.V..

In Berlin-Spandau’s core repository, old and new research drillings from Germany and other countries are stored. The core repository is also a possible storing location for drillings which are given away for capacity reasons by industrial companies and geological agencies, which could possibly be of great scientific and economic value for generations to come.

The most modern equipment for non-destructive analysis (Multi-Sensor Core Logger, XRF-Scanner) allows the core repository users to carry out an important part of their studies on site. Many of the drillings are of economic interest and therefore also meet the needs of users coming from industrial companies who deal with questions on the search for raw material and the geological storage of CO₂.

The core repository offers space for up to 60 km of drill cores on a surface of about 1200 m².

The BGR’s national drill core repository in Berlin-Spandau Source: BGR

With the National Polar Sample Archive (NAPA) another important sample repository is located in Berlin-Spandau. It was set up for long-term storage of rock samples, which were collected primarily during Arctic and Antarctic geoscientific projects carried out by universities.