Salt Marsh Sediment Cores from Cape Cod with Age Models, 1900-2014

Sediment cores from 11 locations across four micro-tidal salt marshes on the south shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, collected in 2013 and 2014. The dataset reconstructs vertical accretion and carbon burial rates over the past century using lead-210 and cesium-137 age models. It was created by Meagan J Eagle of the United States Geological Survey.

Use Cases

• Modeling historical carbon burial rates based on reconstructed accretion history.
• Analyzing changes in vertical accretion rates over time based on the age models.
• Evaluating marsh surface elevation within the tidal frame using the RTK-GPS measurements.
• Studying sediment composition and organic matter contributions in protected embayments.

Strengths

• Age models for 11 sediment cores provide a temporal reconstruction spanning over a century.
• Data includes measurements from both low marsh (10 cores) and high marsh (1 core) vegetation zones.
• Marsh surface elevation was measured with RTK-GPS, providing precise spatial context.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

United States Geological Survey

Collection Method

Collection and analysis of sediment cores, with age dating using lead-210 and cesium-137 isotopes.

Time Range

1900 to 2014

Geography

Salt marshes on the south shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA