Smithsonian Institution Master Sediment Data File

Frequently-anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How should this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

What does this data set describe?

1. How should this data set be cited?

   Institution, Smithsonian, Unpublished material, Smithsonian Institution Master Sediment Data File: Smithsonian Insitution, Washington, D.C..

   Other_Citation_Details:

   These data represent digitized data from paper data sheets from the National Ocean Service (NOS) archived at the Smithsonian Institution. In 2001, the digital data were archived at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. The data as used in usSEABED are from NGDC in 2001.

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -170.68861

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -056.20944

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 61.24000

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 14.27889

3. What does it look like?

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Beginning_Date: 19630807

   Ending_Date: 10-Sep-1997

   Currentness_Reference: collection date

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: digital

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Point (60003)

   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.00028. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.00028. Latitude and longitude values are specified in decimal degrees.

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   Point

   SDTS point (Source: Source report)

   Smithsonian identifier

   Non-unique identifying number (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	14
   Maximum:	41163
   Units:	unitless
   Resolution:	1

   Project number

   NOS project number (Source: Smithsonian Insitution)

   Alpha numeric code

   Ship

   Ship name (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Project_ref

   Project reference number (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Alpha numeric code

   Date_collected

   Date of sample collection (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Alpha numeric code

   Country_Ocean

   Country or ocean where sample was collected (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   State_sea

   State or sea where sample was collected (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Specific_locality

   Specific locality where sample was collected (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Station

   sampling station identification (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Alpha numeric code

   Marsden square

   Location information (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   numeric code

   latdeg

   degree of latitude (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0
   Maximum:	85
   Units:	degree
   Resolution:	1

   latmin

   latitude minute (Source: source report)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0
   Maximum:	59
   Units:	minute
   Resolution:	1

   latsec

   latitude second (Source: source report)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0
   Maximum:	59
   Units:	second
   Resolution:	1

   latns

   latitude north south (Source: source report)

   Value	Definition
   N	North
   S	South

   londeg

   degree of longitude (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0
   Maximum:	175
   Units:	degree
   Resolution:	1

   lonmin

   longitude minute (Source: source report)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0
   Maximum:	59
   Units:	minute
   Resolution:	1

   lonsec

   longitude second (Source: source report)

   Range of values
   Minimum:	0
   Maximum:	59
   Units:	second
   Resolution:	1

   lonew

   longitude east west (Source: source report)

   Value	Definition
   E	East
   W	West

   Collector

   Collector (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   Text

   Navigation_control

   Navigational technique (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Sounding_method

   sounding method (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Bottom_description

   description of sea floor (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Sample_device

   Sampler (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Sediment_type

   Sediment description, including biota (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

   text

   Core

   Core (Source: source report)

   text

   Depth_of_core

   subsample depth (Source: source report)

   text

   core_length

   length of core (Source: source report)

   alpha numeric text

   remarks

   remarks (Source: source report)

   text

   analysis

   type of analysis performed on sample (Source: source report)

   text

   lat_precision

   best precision of latitude position (Source: Source report)

   Value	Definition
   D	degree
   M	minute
   S	second

   lon_precision

   best precision of longitude position (Source: Source report)

   Value	Definition
   D	degree
   M	minute
   S	second

Who produced the data set?

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • Smithsonian Institution

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

   National Geophysical Data Center archived the data as used here (2001)

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
   National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
   c/o Anna Weitzman
   10th St. and Constitution Ave., NW
   Washington, D.C. 20560
   

   202-633-0846 (voice)
   

Why was the data set created?

The data were collected during dozens of cruises by the National Ocean Service to investigate the sediment type and water depths of areas of interest in United States waters.

How was the data set created?

1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

   Date: 1998 (process 1 of 1)

   The data are in raw descriptive form from on-board logsheets.

   Person who carried out this activity:
   

   National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
   c/o Anna Weitzman
   10th St. and Constitution Ave., NW
   Washington, D.C. 20560
   

   202-633-0846 (voice)
   

   Data sources produced in this process:

   • Smithsonian

3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

1. How well have the observations been checked?

   Statistical data was digitized by hand at the Smithsonian Institution. At the USGS, the data were viewed in a GIS to determine samples with unlikely locations. In addition, at the University of Colorado, data were passed through a velocity filter to identify samples with notable distances between sequential data points; these samples were tagged. Each tagged sample was manually corrected as possible by comparing the degree and/or minute of location to those within the same cruise ID and day; this affected about 700 samples. Approximately 4300 samples have no location, nonspecific location information, or unresolvable inconsistent locations. These data are not included in the outputs of usSEABED. Where appropriate, data were tested for completeness using MS Excel.

2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

   Navigational techniques not recorded in report; latitudes and longitudes given in degrees, minutes, seconds.

3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

   Water depth determination technique not noted in report. Water depths given in meters.

4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

   Data are incomplete, as some are missing sampler information and probably not all data have been digitized by the Smithsonian.

5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

   Some data do not pass the location test.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: Data are available at the Smithsonian Institution.

Use_Constraints:

Cite the National Ocean Service and the Smithsonian Institution as originators of the data.

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
   National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
   c/o Anna Weitzman
   10th St. and Constitution Ave., NW
   Washington, D.C. 20560
   

   202-633-0846 (voice)
   

2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

   NOS sediment data

3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

   Although this dataset has been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data. Users of the data should be aware of limitations of the data due to possible imprecision due to navigational inaccuracies and digitization errors.

4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	text in format ASCII Size: 23.6 MB
     Media you can order:	Unknown (format Unknown) Note: Unknown

   • Cost to order the data: Unknown

5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

   Unknown

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:

Last modified: 2005

Metadata author:

U.S. Geological Survey
c/o Jane A. Reid
Geologist
400 Natural Bridges Drive
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

831-427-4727 (voice)
jareid@usgs.gov

Contact_Instructions: email preferred

Metadata standard:

CSDGM Version 2 (FGDC-STD-001-1998)