Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

MSH-GCEL-2506

Research Theme:

Marsh Ecology (Research Study)

Contributors:

Lori Sutter, Deepak Mishra, M.B. Fleming, Rajneesh Sharma

Title:

Georgia Salt Marsh: Soil Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, Bulk Density, Moisture, and Texture

Abstract:

As part of project predicting soil carbon at depth from that found at the surface using remote sensing, 28 soil cores were taken from six salt marshes along the Georgia coastline. Cores were taken as deep as possible (25 - 165 cm) and sectioned into 5 cm depths. Soils were analyzed for organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (N), bulk density (BD), and particle size (by horizon). Stable carbon isotopes were obtained in three marshes on Sapelo Island; a subset was also analyzed for radiocarbon.

DOI:

(not assigned)

Key Words:

GCE, LTER, marshes, salt marshes, Sapelo Island, Sediment Monitoring, soils

LTER Core Area:

Organic Matter

Research Themes:

Marsh Ecology

Study Period:

01-Mar-2021 to 16-Jun-2025

Study Sites:

GCE6 -- Dean Creek, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
CentralCst -- Central Georgia Coast, Georgia, USA
Sapelo -- Sapelo Island, Sapelo Island, Georgia
S_Newport -- South Newport River, Georgia, USA

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Downloads:

Data Table: MSH-GCEL-2506 (Main data table for data set MSH-GCEL-2506, 495 records)

Access: Protected (data embargoed pending analysis or publication; GCE Member release on 16-Jun-2026)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [68.45kb], Text File [65.07kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [52.21kb], MATLAB (Variables) [53.72kb], Text Report [90.80kb]

Column List:(display)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Site	none	string	Geographical designation
2	Marsh	none	string	Marsh name
3	Core	none	string	Replicate Number
4	Elevation	m	floating-point	Surface elevation at core location
5	Distance	m	floating-point	Distance from core to nearest creek bank
6	SampleID	none	string	Sample identifier
7	Depth	cm	floating-point	Refers to the bottom of the sample depth (eg 0-5 is -5cm)
8	Moisture_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent moisture, correction factor
9	LOI	percent	floating-point	Loss on ignition calculated organic matter percent
10	BD	g/cm3	floating-point	Bulk density
11	Clay_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent clay
12	Silt_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent silt
13	VFS_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent very fine sand
14	FS_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent fine sand
15	MS_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent medium sand
16	CS_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent course sand
17	VCS_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent very course sand
18	Sand_Percent	percent	floating-point	Percent sand (sum of all bins)
19	Nitrogent_Percent	percent	floating-point	Nitrogen percent
20	Carbon_Percent	percent	floating-point	Carbon percent

Data Table: MSH-GCEL-2506_compaction (Soil compaction data, 28 records)

Access: Protected (data embargoed pending analysis or publication; GCE Member release on 16-Jun-2026)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [1.35kb], Text File [0.95kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [22.46kb], MATLAB (Variables) [24.05kb], Text Report [21.39kb]

Column List:(display)

Zip archive (ancillary data): MSH-GCEL-2506_PlotLocations (Zip archive containing figure showing plot locations in marsh)

Access: Protected (data embargoed pending analysis or publication; GCE Member release on 16-Jun-2026)

Metadata: XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Zip archive [325 kb]

Citation:

Sutter, Lori. 2025. Georgia Salt Marsh: Soil Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, Bulk Density, Moisture, and Texture. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. https://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/data/MSH-GCEL-2506

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