J Paleolimnol (2015) 53:433–436
DOI 10.1007/s10933-015-9830-x
NOTE
The rail-cutter: a simple, cheap and compact system
for opening sediment cores in the lab and field
Graeme N. D. Rogers • Karen I. Bonner •
Jamie R. Wood • Janet M. Wilmshurst
Received: 25 September 2014 / Accepted: 30 January 2015 / Published online: 4 February 2015
Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract Sediment cores are important archives for
paleolimnological, paleooceanographic and paleoeco-
logical research. Rigs for splitting lake sediment cores
that have been collected in PVC or polycarbonate
tubes are often large, bulky, and require a permanent
setup that takes up valuable laboratory space. Here we
describe a new, compact, cost-effective apparatus for
splitting sediment cores collected in PVC or polycar-
bonate tubing. This portable setup is relatively simple
to construct and use, and is ideal for use in the
laboratory, in the field, or on board research vessels at
sea.
Keywords Methods
Lake sediments

Paleoecology
Paleolimnology
Sediment cores

Techniques
Tools
G. N. D. Rogers
Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln 7640,
New Zealand
K. I. Bonner
J. R. Wood
J. M. Wilmshurst (&)
Long-term Ecology Lab, Landcare Research,
PO Box 69040, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand
e-mail: wilmshurstj@landcareresearch.co.nz
J. R. Wood
e-mail: woodj@landcareresearch.co.nz
J. M. Wilmshurst
School of Environment, The University of Auckland,
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Sediment cores are routinely collected for paleo-
limnological, paleooceanographic and paleoeco-
logical research. They provide valuable temporal
archives of changes in local sedimentation as well as
geochemical and biological proxies. Although a wide
variety of coring devices are used to collect sediment
cores (e.g. gravity corers, piston interface corers)
many corers designed for lakes retrieve sediment in
PVC or polycarbonate tubing. Many researchers
choose to sub-sample the core by pushing the
sediment column through these tubes (Verschuren
1993) while they are held in a vertical orientation.
Sections of determined thickness are extruded into
labelled plastic bags or petri dishes. This is undesir-
able in many cases because of the increased potential
for contamination from smearing along the sides of
the core barrel, or from dragging of shells, large
seeds or twigs through the sediments (though this
may have also occurred during core collection). This
‘push and slice’ sub-sampling system also has the
disadvantage of precluding high-resolution sampling
subsequent to initial sub-sampling, and makes it
impossible to analyse the stratigraphy, detect defor-
mation of strata caused by coring (e.g. Cumming
et al. 1993), or keep half of the core as an intact
archive. An alternative method, horizontal extrusion
(Glew et al. 2001), also has associated problems,
including increased risk of core deformation and
breakage.
A more practical and useful method of sub-
sampling sediment cores is to first split the core
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lengthwise to provide two semi-circular sections, one
of which can be kept as an archive, while the other
serves as the primary source of sub-samples for
multiple analyses. Lengthwise splitting of cores also
offers the added benefit of being able to perform
continuous measurements along the core length, such
as those made by Geotek core loggers. Surface
sediments, i.e. near the sediment/water interface,
however, are often unconsolidated and require partial
extrusion, using the ‘push and slice’ approach, before
the remainder of the core can be cut lengthwise. A
freeze corer (Huttunen and Meriläinen 1978) is a
better option if high-resolution sampling of such
uppermost sediments is desired.
Many of the rigs currently used for cutting core
tubing are large, bulky, and require permanent setup in
the laboratory. In this note we describe a new
apparatus for cutting core tubing that can be used in
smaller laboratories where space is limited. Because it
is portable, the tube cutter can also be used in the field,
with a small invertor and battery to power the cutting
device, or at sea, aboard a research vessel.
The apparatus (Fig. 1a) consists of two main parts:
Fig. 1 Design of the core slicer: a an overview of the concept,
an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene top section with
cutting device attached, which slides along a heavy aluminium
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1. The rail is a heavy aluminium alloy base in which
the core tube sits securely while being cut. The
length of this can be selected accordingly, but
should be slightly longer than the cores being cut.
The exact dimensions of the system (Fig. 1b)
should be designed for the maximum diameter of
the core tubing commonly used by the research
group. Different size inserts, i.e. wooden or plastic
blocks, can be used to hold the tubing in position,
depending on the tubing diameter. The long and
narrow shape of the base section means it can be
stored lying flat, for instance along a wall, or
upright, e.g. in the corner of a room.
2. The cutter is an an ultra-high-molecular-weight
polyethylene (UHMW PE) section that sits upon
(Fig. 1c) and slides along the base, and onto which
a cutting device is attached. This part is pre-
machined by a plastics engineer and allowed to sit
and de-stress before being machined to its final
dimensions. The UHMW PE was selected as the
ideal material to use for this part because of its low
friction coefficient, rigidity, and the fact that it is
hard-wearing and doesn’t absorb moisture. The
alloy base that holds the core tube; b cross-section dimensions of
the core slicer, showing how the two sections fit together; c cross
section view of how the core opener works
J Paleolimnol (2015) 53:433–436
Fig. 2 Opening a lake sediment core using our apparatus:
a operating the cutter. Note the base is clamped to a table, and
the ends of the core are secured by blocks of wood to prevent it
from moving during cutting; b a sharp craft knife is used to
complete the cut if required; c once the first cut is made, it is
compact size and shape of the cutter, and the fact it
is not attached to the base, means that it can easily
be stored for transport, for instance in a plastic
tub.
For the cutting device we selected the Dremel
SM20, with a carbide blade. The base plate of this is
bolted directly onto the UHMW PE section.
The process of opening a sediment core using the
apparatus is as follows:
1. The base section is firmly attached to a benchtop
using G-clamps. These should not be clamped
435
sealed with tape before the core is rotated and the second cut is
made; d when both cuts have been made, the end caps of the core
are removed; e the core is split using a thin metal sheet; f the core
is rotated 90° and the core sections are separated
directly onto the aluminium base, but onto
wooden blocks that abut the end of the core
tubing to prevent the core from sliding lengthways
while cutting, and to prevent the cutter from
possibly cutting into the G-clamp.
2. Once the core tubing is firmly secured in the base,
any gaps that may cause the tubing to flex can be
filled using small inserts. Next, a marker pen is
used to trace lines along the two sides of the core
tubing where it touches the top of the aluminium
base. These lines will allow the core to be rotated
later to make the second cut.
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3. The cutter is placed upon the aluminium alloy
base, making a snug fit. The height of the blade on
the cutter is then adjusted so that it will cut
through the tubing to the desired depth. It can be
set to minimally penetrate the sediment, or to
leave a thin skin of PVC/polycarbonate tubing that
can be cut later with a sharp craft knife.
4. The top section, sliding on the base, is then pushed
gently, not forcibly, letting the cutter do the work,
along the length of the core, thereby making the
cut (Figs. 1a, 2a).
5. The depth of the cut may vary along the length of
the PVC/polycarbonate tubing if the core tube
flexes, which can be prevented by using inserts, or
if the tubing is of non-uniform diameter. In such
cases, the tube can be cut again, after adjusting the
depth of the cutter blade, or using a sharp craft
knife (Fig. 2b).
6. Duct tape is used to seal the first cut (Fig. 2c),
after which the core is rotated 180°, or another
rotation angle to yield split sections of desired
sizes. Steps 3 and 4 are repeated.
7. The core is then removed from the base and end
caps, if present, are removed (Fig. 2d).
8. A thin metal sheet, at least the length of the core, is
placed into one of the cuts in the PVC/polycar-
bonate tubing, and pressed down to split the
sediment core in two (Fig. 2e). The metal sheet is
then rotated 90° and the two halves of the core are
separated by sliding the cores off the sheet
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(Fig. 2f). Any dragging of sediment during slicing
with the metal sheet is parallel to the stratigraphy,
as opposed to some wire-slicing methods, which
may drag sediment along the length of the core.
Nevertheless, it is advisable to scrape clean the
surface of the newly exposed sediments (De
Vleeschouwer et al. 2010), from side to side,
using a scalpel, prior to subsampling the core.
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