Meanwhile, the stromatolite will sit on the geological samples table and will be picked up and examined and discussed, acquiring many fingerprints.

NEWYORKER: Stone Mattress

Among the effects found in Scott's tent were 35 kilograms of geological samples which had been faithfully carried for hundreds of miles from the South Pole to their final resting place, only 11 miles from One Ton Camp.

ECONOMIST: Letters

The Purdue team, assisted by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey, collected water samples containing Asian carp eggs in 2011 from sections of the river that were much shallower and narrower than had been considered necessary for spawning, Goforth said.

WSJ: Asian carp spawning areas wider than expected

To determine whether a deposit has enough of a mineral to merit mining, companies use air-based geological mapping and drill for core samples.

WSJ: Exhausting the Earth's Resources? Not So Fast

The team also hopes to take samples of mud from the bottom of the lake, to better understand the geological history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and Earth's past climate.

MSN: Mission to drill into buried Antarctic lake hits a snag