The multicorer

The Multicorer is used to take undisrupted sediment samples from the surface of the seabed. It consists of a system to which a series of tubes measuring about 4 cm in diameter are attached. Above the system, a weight is mounted and this falls down onto the assembly system when the multicorer touches the sediment. The falling weight drives the tubes into the sea bed so that when they are raised again each of them contains a drilling core with sediment from the sea floor. When studying the benthic communities, scientists then take account of the depth at which these tiny creatures were found below the sea floor.

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