The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS): Sample Once, Use Many Times

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) is a long-standing, community designed and maintained resource that enables researchers to discover and access (i) digital geological data gleaned from seabed and lakebed geological samples collected worldwide as well as (ii) the actual physical samples underlying the digital data and curated at partner institutions. As of July 2023, the IMLGS database contains data and information from 228,785 samples submitted over the years by 30 entities representing the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Using an agreed upon metadata, including a controlled set of vocabularies, Curators submit data and information to NCEI, whereupon sample data, after passing through a series of quality control measures, are ingested into the IMLGS database. Data are subsequently made discoverable and accessible to the public through the web-accessible IMLGS map viewer, which presents a map interface that enables users to find, preview, and download data from the IMLGS database, and other linked resources if available. The IMLGS map viewer provides the user four main approaches for querying the database: (i) selecting an individual sample on the map interface; (ii) conducting a search through the sample control panel; (iii) drawing a bounding box around a group of samples on the map interface; and (iv) selecting the “Table View” feature for a tabular list of sample information. These four main approaches for querying the database can be combined in a number of ways at the preference of the user, ultimately landing the user at a sample's Sample Detail page, where all data and information about a sample can be evaluated. If the user determines they would like access to a physical sample(s) for their own research, the user can then locate the contact information of the repository curating the sample(s) of interest from the “Repository” link on Sample Detail page and request access.