SURFICIAL SEAFLOOR SEDIMENT DATABASE OF THE PUERTO RICO INSULAR SHELF
by
Kathryn M. Scanlon
Jana L. DaSilva
Justin M. Reynolds
This database includes texture analyses and descriptions of over 3500
surficial seafloor sediment samples from the insular shelf of Puerto Rico. The data are
compiled from more than 35 separate published and prevously unpublished sources, such as
Master’s and PhD theses and USGS databases. It is the most comprehensive database of
marine sediments from the Puerto Rico shelf available.
The database contains the following fields:
numero (a consecutive and unique ID)
location (general geographic region, e.g., SE shelf)
our ID (?)
institution ID (given by the institution collecting the sample)
other ID (e.g., given by lab doing analyses)
latitude DD (latitude in decimal degrees)
latitude (latitude in degrees, minutes, decimal minutes)
longitude DD (longitude in decimal degrees)
longitude (longitude in degrees, minutes, decimal minutes)
institution (affiliation of person collecting the sample)
ship (name of vessel used for sample collection)
cruise (identifier given by institution)
type (sampling equipment used, e.g. grab sampler)
water depth (meters)
recovery (quantity of sediment collected)
date (date sample was collected)
reference (source of information)
sed decript (description of the sample)
% CaCO3 (determined by dissolution with HCl)
% insoluable residue (opposite of %CaCO3)
grain size notes (various comments on analyses, where needed)
% gravel (<-1 phi)
% sand (-1 to 3 phi)
% silt (4 to 8 phi)
% clay (>8 phi)
% mud (>4 phi, that is, mud equals silt plus clay)
mineralogy? (yes indicates that mineralogical data is available)
comments (various, where needed)
Because these data are compiled from numerous unrelated sources, there is
variability in the type of data collected. Therefore, not all fields have entries for all
samples. Short references are included in the database, with full references in the
References section below. Scanlon and others (Offshore sediments and sand and gravel
resources on the insular shelf of Puerto Rico) discuss the data in this database. |
