IFREMER seafloor samples repository

IFREMER is responsible for curating and preserving an extensive collection of marine sediment cores and rock samples located in its centre of Brest (France).

Created in 1975, this repository houses marine geological samples collected by IFREMER teams and its regional and national partners. Today, the IFREMER Seafloor Samples repository contains more than 50000 samples

  • at least 17 km of sediment cores
  • 20000 rock samples.

This collection continuing to grow, the storage capacity has been extended by a new building in 2017 (CREAM - Centre de Ressources en Échantillons et Archives Marins) which offers an extensive storage space :

  • for sediment cores : 450 m2 in refrigerated space (+4°C), 76000 cases, storage capacity: 38 km
  • for marine rocks : 700 m2 under ambient conditions. 

The repository is managed by the IFREMER Marine Geoscience research unit.

Different tools are available:

Outils_CREAM

Since 2018, IFREMER uses IGSN identifiers on sample labels (QRCode and bar code) and use IGSN in scientific publications. All the samples stored in the IFREMER seafloor samples repository are uniquely identified and labelled and associated with a permanent landing page. Currently, allocation of IGSN done on land after the ship expedition. In the future, we plan to register newly collected samples during the ship expedition.