Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

HYD-GCED-2310

Research Theme:

Hydrography/Hydrology (Directed Study)

Contributor:

Christopher B. Craft

Title:

Comparing vertical accretion, organic carbon (C) sequestration, and nitrogen burial between a natural, never diked tidal salt marsh and a hydrologically restored tidal salt marsh on Sapelo Island, Georgia.

Abstract:

Restoration of tidal marshes throughout the 20th century have attempted to bring back important functions of natural tidal systems. In this study, vertical accretion, organic carbon (C) sequestration, and nitrogen burial were compared between a natural, never diked tidal salt marsh and a hydrologically restored tidal salt marsh on Sapelo Island, Georgia to examine the impacts of restoration years later. On Sapelo Island there are two marshes near the University of Georgia Marine Institute, one of which is a natural marsh, and one of which is a restored marsh. The restored marsh had been diked in 1948, and the dike was breached, allowing for the marsh to be restored, in 1956. Soil cores were collected from both marshes, and the sediments were analysed for Nitrogen and Carbon concentrations and bulk density. This analysis was used to determine accretion rates for the two marshes as well as changes in the restored marsh since the dike was breached. Nitrogen burial, carbon sequestration, and soil accretion in the restored marsh as compared to the natural marsh were the focus of this study.

DOI:

10.6073/pasta/dcca1b753317960ae1642f4d7fb47c1d

Key Words:

accretion, carbon, carbon cycling, nitrogen cycling, salt marshes, Sapelo Island, UGA

LTER Core Area:

Organic Matter

Research Themes:

Hydrography/Hydrology, Marsh Ecology

Study Period:

01-Jan-2020 to 16-Nov-2022

Study Sites:

Sapelo -- Sapelo Island, Sapelo Island, Georgia

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Research Protocols:

SALTEx - CHN Anaysis (Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER)

Downloads:

Data Table: HYD-GCED-2310 (Main data table for data set HYD-GCED-2310, 166 records)

Access: Public (released 02-Oct-2024)

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

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [17.05kb], Text File [15.46kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [27.54kb], MATLAB (Variables) [NaNkb], Text Report [32.53kb]

Column List:(hide)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Site_ID	none	string	Natural or restored marsh
2	Core_ID	none	string	Name of Core
3	Latitude	degrees	floating-point	Latitude of core sample
4	Longitude	degrees	floating-point	Longitude of core sample
5	Depth_range	cm	string	Depth range of core section
6	Bulk_Density	g/cm3	floating-point	Density of the soil
7	Organic_C	percent	floating-point	Percent of carbon in the soil
8	Total_N	percent	floating-point	Percent of N in the soil
9	Depth_Increment	cm	integer	Increment used to separate the soil core for analysis
10	Carbon	g/g	floating-point	Carbon measured g/g
11	Nitrogen	g/g	floating-point	Nitrogen measured g/g
12	Carbon.Density	g/m2	floating-point	Total carbon mass per unit area
13	Nitrogen.Density	g/m2	floating-point	Total nitrogen mass per unit area

Statistics:

Generate script code to retrieve data tables for analysis in: MATLAB, R, SAS, SPSS

Citation:

Craft, Christopher B. 2023. Comparing vertical accretion, organic carbon (C) sequestration, and nitrogen burial between a natural, never diked tidal salt marsh and a hydrologically restored tidal salt marsh on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. http://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/dcca1b753317960ae1642f4d7fb47c1d

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