At this time Joan may have as many as seventy samples from places around the world.
Most samples are about a quart.
Many are smaller, and a few are two to four gallons. Some were a third of a cup, and are gone. Cycles of experimentation, observation, and evaluation precede success. The ocean floor may be covered with these muds, but most are from one to two and a half miles down. Scientists usually split the cores, use half for research, and archive the remaining half for future use.