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Sediment Cores

An archaeologist arranges a deep-sea core.
(Wessex Archaeology, Flickr)

An archaeologist arranges a deep-sea core from off the coast of Britain. These cores are long cylinders of the earth's crust, drilled up from beneath the seafloor. When the cores shown here are arranged end-to-end, they show a glimpse of the Earth's past geology and climate. The oldest cores we have go back 65 million years! Learn more about climate change.