Micropaleontological Reference Centers (MRCs)
Donating Materials to the MRCs
Saving important legacy collections
The MRCs are committed to providing broad support for the paleontologic legacy of deep-sea drilling. As earlier generations of scientists retire and institutional priorities shift, sometimes important collections of microfossils become orphaned and are in danger of being lost to future generations of scientists.
Please contact an MRC curator if you want to send important orphaned DSDP, ODP, and IODP microfossil preparations to an MRC institution. Any accompanying documentation (ages, fossil abundance, sample depths etc, preferably electronic format) would facilitate curation of these samples.
Other DSDP, ODP or IODP materials such as unused samples should normally be returned to the appropriate core curation facility.