Plum Island Ecosystems LTER Database

Acceptance and utilization of LTER data requires that:

(1) The Principal Investigator be sent a notice stating reasons for acquiring any data and a description of the publication intentions.
(2) The Principal Investigator of the data set be sent a copy of the report or manuscript prior to submission and be adequately cited in any resultant publications.
(3) A copy of any resultant publications should be sent to:

Principal Investigator
Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Laboratory
7 MBL St.
Woods Hole, MA 02543

Dataset URLs:METADATA: HTML, Rich Text, XML(EML compliant)
DATA: Comma Delimited, Excel file with Metadata and data
Dataset ID:BEN-PR-Sediment.01
Dataset Title:Sediment porewater nutrient, sulfide, pH, and alkalinity, sediment redox, and bulk sediment carbon, nitrogen, chlorophyll a and phaeopigments.
Investigator 1: 
First Name:Anne
Last Name:Giblin
Address line 1:Ecosystems Center
Address line 2:MBL
Address line 3:7 MBLSt
City:Woods Hole
State:MA
Zip Code:02543
Country:USA
Investigator 2: 
First Name:Charles
Last Name:Hopkinson
Address line 1:Ecosystems Center
Address line 2:MBL
Address line 3:7 MBLSt
City:Woods Hole
State:MA
Zip Code:02543
Country:USA
Associate Investigators:Jane Tucker, Hap Garritt, Nat Weston, Josh Goldstein, Greg Peterson, Sam Kelsey, Dave Vasiliou, Ishi Buffam
Keywords:LTER, PIE, Plum Island Ecosystems, Massachusetts, Rowley River, Parker River, sediment, benthos, porewater, ammonium, nitrate, phosphate, sulfide, pH, alkalinity, redox, organic carbon, organic nitrogen, chlorophyll, phaeopigments
Abstract:
Contact: Plum Island Ecosystems LTER Information Manager
The Ecosystems Center
Marine Biological Lab
7 MBL St
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Phone (508) 289 7485
Email: pie_im@mbl.edu
Online URL: http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/PIE/
DATA FILE INFORMATION:
Data File URL http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/PIE/data/BEN/data/BEN-PR-Sediment.dat
Data File Name BEN-PR-Sediment
Beginning Date 6/15/1993
End Date 6/21/1999
Number of Data Records 1043
Other Files to Reference
Availability Status Type 1
Quality Control Information
Maintenance Description
Log of Changes:
 
RESEARCH LOCATION: Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 5 Site 6 Site 7 Site 8 Site 9 Site 10 Site 11 Site 12  
Geographic Description Parker R, ~22 km upstream of reference ParkerR, ~22 km upstream of reference, intertidal bank Pond above the Parker R. dam, or 24.2 km upstream of reference Parker R., ~24 km upstream of reference, just downstream of the Parker R. dam Parker R., ~14 km upstream of reference, just downstream of the mouth of the Mill R. Parker R., ~11 km upstream of reference, just downstream of the Route 1A Town Landing Parker R., ~5.5 km upstream of reference, at the mouth of the Rowley R; Hog Island Pt. Parker R.,~23.5 km upstream of reference Parker R.,~23.5 km upstream of reference, intertidal bank Eagle R., upstream fork of Rowley River, ~13 km from reference Eagle R., upstream fork of Rowley River, ~13.5 km from reference Eagle R., upstream fork of Rowley River, ~14 km from reference  
Location Bounding Box                          
West Bounding Coordinate                          
East Bounding Coordinate                          
North Bounding Coordinate                          
South Bounding Coordinate                          
OR if single point location                          
Latitude 42.74989 42.74989 42.74972 42.75085 42.75507 42.7613 42.72719 42.75138 42.75138 42.70736 42.70494 42.70264  
Longitude -70.91733 -70.91733 -70.9291 -70.92756 -70.8729 -70.83861 -70.81364 -70.92464 -70.92464 -70.86255 -70.86402 -70.86607  
Elevation                          
                           
                           
 
TAXONOMIC COVERAGE:
Taxonomic Protocols
Organisms studied
 
Methods:EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND METHODS:
Sediment cores were obtained in the field and transported to the laboratory for analysis within 24 hr.
For data that corresponds to a "INT TOP" and "INT BOT" entry, sediment cores for porewater extraction were sectioned by depth (in a glove bag under N2 for any samples that have HS-1 or PO4 -3 data). Porewater was removed from muddy sediments by centrifuging sections of mud for 15 minutes. At sandy sites it was necessary to use a "split" centrifuge tube with filter support. Centrifugation for 15 minutes forces porewater though the filter into the bottom of the tube. Nutrients, sulfides, pH and alkalinity in porewaters were analyzed (see ANALYTICAL METHODS).
For data that does not correspond to a "INT TOP" and "INT BOT" entry, porewater samples were obtained through the use of a whole-core squeezer. Teflon filter rods were inserted into holes drilled at intervals along the core tubing. Pressure was slowly applied (vertically), and water was extracted into syringes.
Sediment redox potential (Eh) was measured in separate cores using an Eh probe.
Portions of sediment were dried and analyzed on a Perkin Elmer Elemental Analyzer for carbon and nitrogen content, after acidifying samples to remove carbonates.
Portions of wet sediment were analyzed for chlorophyll a and phaeopigment concentrations after extraction with acetone and sonication (see ANALYTICAL METHODS).

Data Table

Variable Name Variable Description Units Measurement Scale Code Information Number Type DateTime Format Missing Value Code Missing Value Code Explanation
DATE date of sample collection   datetime     dd-mmm-yyyy   blank cell
STATION-CURRENT current name of sampling station, following naming protocol   nominal         blank cell
STATION-PREVIOUS name of sampling station prior to establishment of naming protocol   nominal         blank cell
River km kilometer distance, mid-channel, upstream from mouth of Plum Island Sound (RK= 0) kilometer interval   real     blank cell
STATE X x coordinates (meters) in MA state plane NAD 83 meter interval   real     blank cell
STATE Y y coordinates (meters) in MA state plane NAD 83 meter interval   real     blank cell
LAT Latitude in NAD 83 geographic coordinates (decimal degrees) degree interval   real     blank cell
LON Longitude in NAD 83 geographic coordinates (decimal degrees) degree interval   real     blank cell
INT TOP depth of top of sediment section (cm) centimeter interval   real     blank cell
INT BOT depth of bottom of sediment section (cm) centimeter interval   real     blank cell
DEPTH average depth of sediment increment of section sampled (cm) centimeter interval   real     blank cell
SAL salinity (ppt) partsPerThousand interval   real     blank cell
HS porewater hydrogen sulfide (mM-S) millimolesPerLiter ratio   real     blank cell
NH4 porewater ammonium (µM-N) microMolesPerLiter ratio   real     blank cell
EXCH NH4 exchangeable ammonium (µmole N cm-3 of sediment) microMolesPerCubicCentimeter ratio   real     blank cell
NO3 porewater nitrate + nitrite (µM-N) millimolesPerLiter ratio   real     blank cell
PO4 porewater soluble reactive phosphorus (µM-P) millimolesPerLiter ratio   real     blank cell
pH porewater pH dimensionless interval   real     blank cell
ALK porewater alkalinity (mEq) dimensionless ratio   real     blank cell
Eh redox potential (mV) millivolt ratio   real     blank cell
%C percent carbon of bulk sediment percent ratio   real     blank cell
%N percent nitrogen of bulk sediment percent ratio   real     blank cell
C/N carbon to nitrogen (atom) ratio of the bulk sediment dimensionless ratio   real     blank cell
CHLA chlorophyll a of the bulk sediment (µg CHLa cm-3) microgramsPerCubicCentimeter ratio   real     blank cell
PHAEO phaeopigment concentration of the bulk sediment (µg phaeopigment cm-3) microgramsPerCubicCentimeter ratio   real     blank cell
POR sediment porosity (g water cm-3) gramsPerCubicCentimeter ratio   real     blank cell
BD sediment bulk density (g dry sediment cm-3) gramsPerCubicCentimeter ratio   real     blank cell
COMMENTS information pertaining to individual data points   nominal         blank cell