Soil or sediment samples for environmental studies are either surface samples
reflecting the recent state of pollution or archives used for reconstructing the pollution
history. Surface samples are just grabbed by simple procedures, but for subaquatic
sediments some technical devices have been developed, e.g. a Van Veen grab.
In principal the same technical applications as compared to fossil archives are
used for environmental archives. Since the time period covered by environmental
studies are much smaller (maximum of a few hundreds of years) the penetration
depth is shorter with core lengths from centimeters to at least 100 m. Therefore, the
drilling devices are often much simpler as compare to deep drilling techniques.
Examples are a vibracorer or a geoslicer (see Fig. 2.3). However, also here it is an
important precondition to obtain undisturbed cores or sample layers.
Fig. 2.3 Application and results of coring with a Geoslicer
2.1 Sampling Type and Techniques
9
reflecting the recent state of pollution or archives used for reconstructing the pollution
history. Surface samples are just grabbed by simple procedures, but for subaquatic
sediments some technical devices have been developed, e.g. a Van Veen grab.
In principal the same technical applications as compared to fossil archives are
used for environmental archives. Since the time period covered by environmental
studies are much smaller (maximum of a few hundreds of years) the penetration
depth is shorter with core lengths from centimeters to at least 100 m. Therefore, the
drilling devices are often much simpler as compare to deep drilling techniques.
Examples are a vibracorer or a geoslicer (see Fig. 2.3). However, also here it is an
important precondition to obtain undisturbed cores or sample layers.
Fig. 2.3 Application and results of coring with a Geoslicer
2.1 Sampling Type and Techniques
9