the core box resulting from overpenetration. Thus, the overpenetration 

 does not cause the core sample to be contorted or compacted. 



On deck, excess material above the core box top was struck 

 off level (Figures 2 and 3) . Then two procedures for sample storage 

 were followed. One of the box cores from each site was capped with 

 a flat plate and then wrapped tightly in three separate sheets 

 of 10-mil pol3n/inyl chloride (PVC) sealed with tape (Figure 4). 

 Each of these packages, weighing about 59 kg (130 lbs), was immersed 

 in seawater in a 30-gallon trash can. The second box core from 

 each site was cored six times using a piston from a modified Ewing 

 corer and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) thinwall tubing (see 

 Figure 5). Tubing size is about 59mm I.D. and 62mm O.D. (2-5/16- 

 in. and 2-7/16-in. respectively). These tubes were trimmed flush 

 with the enclosed sample, capped with snug fitting pipe caps, the 

 caps sealed with electrical tape, the entire tube exterior sealed 

 using a spray paint designed for that purpose, and the ends of 

 the tubes waxed. Water content, Atterberg limit, and grain size 

 samples were taken at three depths in the remaining material. The 

 box cores in seawater, the tube samples, and the index property 

 samples were all stored in the ship scientists' chill locker at 2 C 

 (360F). 



In order to transport the two plastic-wrapped, box core samples 

 by air as perishable cargo, a cargo weight limit per piece had 

 to be met, requiring the removal of the immersing seawater from 

 the trash cans. This action permitted the pore water of the box 

 cores to drain into the space between the stainless steel box and 

 the enclosing plastic wraps. The resulting change in sample stress 

 state, in turn, caused the sediment to consolidate in the vertical 

 direction as shown by the following data. 



The 59-mm-diameter x 460-mm-long tube samples, transported 

 vertically throughout, had lost no water but the solid material 

 had settled 5.7 mm average, apparently due primarily to vibration 

 in transit. The 0.20 x 0.30 x 0.46-m-high box samples on the other 

 hand had no free water on their tops (for that water can drain 

 out of the box between the side walls and the bottom cover) and 

 had settled 10.6 mm and 15.5 mm (Figure 6). Further, faint ''ripple 

 markings'' were noted in the core top surface suggesting that some 

 of the sediment settlement occurred in the ship's chill locker 

 before the immersing seawater was removed. 



For the purposes of this study, the calcareous ooze samples, 

 as received in the shore laboratory, have proved satisfactory because 

 they have fulfilled the primary sampling requirement of providing 

 a large number of test specimens of near-identical nature. The 

 vibration densif ication and consolidation which occurred during 

 transport, while undesirable, have not compromised this study of 

 material behavior. The above volume change results have been detailed 

 for the benefit of other persons whose object it may be to measure 

 in-situ properties on core samples; such measurements on calcareous 



