I don’t like removing these sticky labels; it always pulls my skin! As you can imagine, many cores are brought into the lab and it would be easy to mix them up if a labeling system wasn’t used. As soon as the cores are brought inside, a label is printed and attached.

The label contains lots of information (see photos below). The first number is the name of the expedition (329 for us), the next number is the site (U1367F), the letter is the hole at site U1367, this is followed by the core number and the letter is the type of coring tool used (2R), then the section within the core (3), and finally followed by a "W" or an "A" to indicate if the split core is the working halve or the archieve halve. At first, it looks and sounds very confusing, but after you have worked with the cores for awhile it becomes very easy to understand the designations and the reason for them.

The labeled cores can easily be laid out end to end, in the correct order, even years after they were collected.