page_title: Box corer
section_title: Alternate methods
hierarchical_section_title: Box corer / Alternate methods
caption_attribution_description: Multi box corer (spade corer) used to take nine undisturbed sediment samples from the ocean floor surface at the same time; developed at the Alfred Wegener Institute for comparative investigations of benthos in biology. The image shows the deployment of the corer off Spitzbergen from the research vessel Polarstern.
context_page_description: The Box corer is a marine geological sampling tool for soft sediments in lakes or oceans. It is deployed from a research vessel with a wire and suitable for any water depth. It is designed for a minimum of disturbance of the sediment surface by bow wave effects which is important for quantitative investigations of the benthic micro- to macrofauna, geochemical processes, sampling of bottom water or sedimentology.
context_section_description: The box corer underwent many alternative development with the advantages of other closing mechanisms, multiple sampling, and modest weight, size and cost (e.g. GOMEX box corer, Multi-Box Corer). The final version of the widely accepted (large) box corer has been used since the 1980s on research vessels around the world. It originates from the Reineck box corer and the USNEL box corer. The device was developed by R. Hessler, Professor of Biological Oceanography, and P.A. Jumars at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in collaboration with the United States Naval Electronic Laboratory (USNEL) in San Diego to determine the faunal composition at the abyssal floor.
  Simple predecessors of devices to take sediment samples from vessels which are still in use (e.g. in studies of freshwater sediments and benthic communities) include the Van Veen Grab Sampler and the Ponar grab. These devices have a variable penetration depth that depends on the type of sediment.
caption: Multi-Box Corer[1]
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