Abstract
<jats:p> Sediment successions recovered through scientific drilling are essential to reconstructing Earth's history of oceanographic and climatic change. With the retirement of the <jats:italic toggle="yes">Joides Resolution</jats:italic> , the palaeoceanographic community must turn to the extensive archive of cores collected by the International Ocean Discovery Program and its predecessors. Frequently, there were gaps in sediment recovery within individuals holes during drilling which were addressed by drilling parallel boreholes offset in absolute depth at the same site. Determining the depth and length of these gaps, and creating a composite section or splice from drill cores, is painstaking work that relies upon high-quality physical properties data. However, the archived physical properties data from early ocean drilling expeditions can be limited, hindering reconstructions of palaeoceanographic change. Here, we present Core Composite, a python library that enables generation of high-quality synthetic colorimetry data (L*, a*, b*, and % reflectance) from core photos, construction of new composite sections, and the automated alignment of off-splice core sections to the main composite section. We compare synthetic colorimetry data generated from Core Composite to shipboard measurements from several Ocean Drilling Program and International Ocean Discovery Program drill sites. We also demonstrate the automatic alignment of off-splice core materials to published composite sections created with physical properties data in marine sediments. We then use Core Composite to recreate the composite section from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 111 Site 677, a landmark site in geochronology with low-quality physical properties data and confusing composite stratigraphy. </jats:p>