But to University of Otago geology PhD student Natalie-Jane Reid, they show what the world was like up to 1000 years ago.
Ms Reid is studying recently obtained core samples from the sea bed below the Ross Ice Shelf, to see the effect of global warming on Antarctica.
During the 2023-24 on-ice season, the Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to 2°C of Warming (SWAIS2C) team retrieved 10 sediment cores from the seafloor — the longest being 1.92m, a record for the Siple Coast.
Only a handful of cores have previously been collected from under the Ross Ice Shelf, making these new cores a very rare geological record.
Ms Reid said it was hoped research on the core samples would contribute information to help answer the key question of how the Ross Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet responded to the warming climate.
She and Victoria University of Wellington sedimentology PhD student Linda Balfoort are working together this week to examine and analyse the cores at the Otago Repository for Core Analysis (Orca), using largely non-destructive techniques, to provide initial information so members of the wider SWAIS2C international research team can plan their research and put in sampling requests.
Ms Reid said the samples would be studied in a wide range of research areas, from geochemistry, microfossil content, paleomagnetism, sediment composition, to radioisotopic dating and more.
"This is the first time I’ve worked with SWAIS2C core samples," she said.
"It’s such a privilege to work with them."
