The design and performance of a new box corer for collecting undisturbed samples of soft subaquatic sediments

The Baikal sediment box corer represents an innovation in design of the closing mechanism and involves a single, thin, and flexible stainless steel blade rather than closing jaws. With this light-weight box corer only a relatively small cross-sectional area is offered to the sediment, allowing easier penetration. The closure blade is propelled smoothly across the base of the box in a downwardly convex path by a set of constant force springs. Depending on choice of blade-release mechanisms, the corer can either be triggered immediately as the support cable slackens, after a delay of a few seconds, or immediately upon retrieval. The box corer has been used successfully to sample poorly consolidated sediments in freshwater lakes over a depth range of 8 to 1624 m. Cores of deep-water surficial sediment from Lake Baikal were tested for representativity and replicability by profiling natural and artificial radioisotopes and lithostratigraphic features.