Smeaton, C.; Rees-Hughs, L.; Barlow, N.L.M.; Austin, W.E.N.

Sedimentological and organic carbon data from the Kyle of Tongue saltmarsh, Scotland, 2018

https://doi.org/10.5285/b57ef444-54d4-47f9-8cbf-3cfef1182b55 Cite this dataset

The dataset comprises of physical property and biogeochemical measurements of saltmarsh soil collected using the hammer coring technique from the Kyle of Tongue saltmarsh in the North of Scotland. The site was chosen to represent northern, loch head marshes and to test different coring techniques in organic rich soils. The data provides a quantitative measure of the dry bulk density, water content, porosity and organic carbon content present within the soils of the Kyle of Tongue saltmarsh. A total of 4 cores were collected, 39 samples were collected at 10cm intervals down the length of each core. The samples were processed for bulk density, water content, porosity and organic carbon content which was quantified through elemental analysis. The data were collected to help create a detailed picture of saltmarsh carbon storage in the soils of UK saltmarsh and test different coring approaches. The cores were collected by the data authors in November 2018.

The work was carried out under the NERC programme - Carbon Storage in Intertidal Environment (C-SIDE), NERC grant reference NE/R010846/1

Publication date: 2021-02-25

Where/When

Study area
Temporal extent: 2018-11-25 to 2018-11-25

Provenance & quality

Soil cores were collected using the hammer coring technique, where a PVC pipe was manually driven into the soil. The location of the cores was recorded using DGPS. Prior to analysis, the cores were split, the soil profile described using the Troel-smith scheme and fixed volumetric (4cm3) samples collected at 10cm intervals down the length of each core. Dry bulk density, water content, porosity and organic carbon data was produced using standard analytical procedures (detailed in the supporting documentation). All laboratory equipment were calibrated in accordance with the laboratory practises at the University of St Andrews. Results were recorded on to lab sheets and transferred into an Excel file. Results were exported as comma separated value (.csv) files for ingestion into the EIDC.

This dataset is included in the following collections

Sedimentological, ecological and physical data collected from UK saltmarsh sites by the Carbon Storage in Intertidal Environments (C-SIDE) project

Supplemental information

C-SIDE website

Smeaton, C., Barlow, N.L. and Austin, W.E., 2020. Coring and compaction: Best practice in blue carbon stock and burial estimations. Geoderma, 364, p.114180

Correspondence/contact details

Smeaton, C.

University of St. Andrews

cs244@st-andrews.ac.uk

Authors

Smeaton, C.

University of St Andrews

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4535-2555

Rees-Hughs, L.

University of Leeds

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4452-3984

Barlow, N.L.M.

University of Leeds

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2713-2543

Austin, W.E.N.