A Simple, Reliable, and Inexpensive Pore-Water Sampler

A simple technique for extracting pore water from sediment cores has been developed. The overall concept of this procedure is to gently pressurize and intact sediment subcore, forcing the pore fluids to be expelled through sampling ports located at specific depths in the core barrel wall. Although this technique does not necessarily improve the integrity of the sample obtained for most solutes, it is much easier to perform than previously reported procedures. Because this technique does not require the sediments to be sectioned into sampling intervals before pore-water extraction, it is rapid and eliminates the need for walk-in cold vans, specialized equipment such as sediment squeezers, high-speed centrifuges and gimbals, and glove bags (for sampling anoxic sediments).