An optimized national facility for automated measurements and imaging of geological core samples

Sweden is a global leader in geoscientific research, hosting some of the world’s top research institutions.

Geoscience research in Sweden is supported by long-standing memberships in the International Ocean Discovery Program and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program.

Nationally, we are positioned to explore geological processes occurring in the subsurface through the drilling rig Riksriggen.

We are one of the most active countries in polar research, supported by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and the unique scientific capabilities of icebreaker Oden.

State-of-the-art facilities for analysing geologic rock and sediment cores is necessary to maintain our international excellence in geoscience research and capitalize on large research infrastructure investments.

Stockholm University’s Department of Geological Sciences hosts Sweden’s only facility for the automated analysis of sediment and rock cores.

Although this is not a formal national facility, it has acted as one by supporting research conducted by scientists from universities, research institutes and government agencies from across Sweden and abroad for over 20-years.

The core processing facility at IGV houses two expensive instruments used extensively for the analysis of sediment and rock cores.

These are the Multi-sensor core logger, for rapid, non-destructive measurements of the physical properties of cores, and an X-ray fluorescence scanner for detailing the chemical composition of rocks and sediments.

This proposal seeks to preserve the national capacity for continued geoscientific research in Sweden by upgrading these systems, and critically to advance research capabilities by adding two complementary analysis systems that are gaining widespread use in global geoscience research.

The two new instruments are an X-ray computed tomography system for rock and sediment cores, and a Hyperspectral infrared core scanner for automated mineral mapping of geological samples.