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[<MNHPB007@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

To Paleonet subscribers:

ƯA home page for the JOIDES DSDP/ODP Micropaleontological
Reference Centers (MRCs) has just been posted at "http://www-
odp.tamu.edu/mrc/mrcpage.HTML".  The home page includes an
overview of the purpose, collection holdings, and facilities of
the MRCs, names, addresses, phone and fax numbers of the MRC
curators and spreadsheet listings (including sample level, age
and fossil zone) of the foraminifer and diatom samples stored
at the MRCs.  Listings of the radiolarian and calcareous
nannofossil MRC collection samples will be posted soon.  These
listings can easily be downloaded directly into spreadsheet or
database format.  The following is copied from the home page to
inform subscribers of the purpose and locations of MRC
facilities:

"Located at sites around the world, the Micropaleontological
Reference Centers (MRCs) provide scientists with an opportunity
to examine microfossils of various geologic ages and
provenance.

The collections cover four microfossil groups--calcareous
nannofossils, foraminifers, radiolarians, and diatoms--selected
from sediment cores obtained from the Deep Sea Drilling Project
(DSDP) and its successor, the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP).
Material has so far been chosen from Legs 1-144, with each
Center carrying identical sample sets.

MRC institutions with complete or nearly complete MRC
collections include: Smithsonian Institution (Washington,
D.C.), Ocean Drilling Program (College Station, Texas), Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (La Jolla, California), Moscow
Institute of the Lithosphere (Russia), Institute of Geological
& Nuclear Sciences, Ltd. (Christchurch, New Zealand), Basel
Natural History Museum, (Switzerland), and Tokyo National
Science Museum, (Japan).  Institutions with MRC collections of
one or two microfossil groups include: Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory (New York), University of Nebraska (Lincoln,
Nebaraska), and California Academy of Sciences (San Fransisco,
California).


PURPOSE

Since 1968 the Glomar Challenger and her successor, the JOIDES
Resolution, have recovered sediment cores from all the major
ocean basins. This wealth of deep-sea material is providing
scientists with important information on global history and
giving paleontologists a great amount of new biostratigraphic
data. Because critical levels from the cores will eventually be
sampled out of existence, it is the primary goal of the Centers
to preserve such prime reference material for both present and
future investigators. The MRCs have also been designated by ODP
as the locations where research material from DSDP/ODP cruises,
when no longer required or being worked on, can be deposited
alongside the collections, and be made available for future
workers instead of being lost or inaccessible to the research
community.

Some applications of MRC collection research include:

   1. enable researchers to compare prepared material with the
reports and illustrations published in DSDP Initial Reports and
ODP Proceedings volumes, which will help to stabilize taxonomy
and the review of biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental
problems;

   2. provide the opportunity for scientists to familiarize
themselves with material prior to participation in a cruise, or
subsequent to a cruise, to compare their own material witht
that from the same or other regions;

   3. enable greater precision in the planning for sample
requests to ODP by revealing the quality of sample
preservation, the relative abundance of fossil constituents,
and the presence/absence of key marker taxa;

   4. aid to regional or global surveys of microfossil
distributions with respect to depth, biogeographic province, or
age.


 FACILITIES

All of the Centers maintain identical sets of microfossil
preparations. Subloan institutions maintain subset MRC
collections according to the micropaleontologic expertise of
their research staff. The following are materials and equipment
available for visitors to use:

     binocular and transmitted light microscopes
     personal computer (at most MRCs)
     secure storage, display and work areas
     complete set of DSDP/ODP volumes
     microfossil collections:
        1.~5000 foraminiferal preparations (through ODP Leg
144)
        2.~3000 nannofossil preparations (through DSDP Leg 39)
        3.~3000 radiolarian preparations (through DSDP Leg 96)
        4.~2000 diatom preparations (through DSDP Leg 94)
        5.~3000 lithological smear slides (through DSDP Leg 39)

For more information about any Reference Center, or to schedule
a visit, contact the Supervisor at the locations listed on the
MRC home page."


Brian Huber
Lead Curator of JOIDES
Micropaleontological Reference Centers