Comma-delimited Text File of the Porewater Salinity Values of Cores Collected August, 2006 in the Nauset Marsh Area of Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Metadata also available as - [Outline] - [Parseable text]

Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Comma-delimited Text File of the Porewater Salinity Values of Cores Collected August, 2006 in the Nauset Marsh Area of Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Abstract:
In order to test hypotheses about groundwater flow under and into estuaries and the Atlantic Ocean, geophysical surveys, geophysical probing, submarine groundwater sampling, and sediment coring were conducted by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists at Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) from 2004 through 2006. Coastal resource managers at CCNS and elsewhere are concerned about nutrients that are entering coastal waters via submarine groundwater discharge, which are contributing to eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. The research carried out as part of the study described here was designed, in part, to help refine assumptions required by earlier versions of models about the nature of submarine groundwater flow and discharge at CCNS. This study was conducted in four phases, with a variety of field techniques and equipment employed in each phase. Phase 1 consisted of continuous resistivity profiling (CRP) surveys of the entire study area conducted in 2004. Phase 2 consisted of CRP ground-truthing via resistivity probe measurements and submarine groundwater sampling from hydraulically-drive piezometers using a barge in the Salt Pond/Nauset Marsh area in 2005. Phase 3 consisted of supplemental detailed CRP surveys in the Salt Pond/Nauset Marsh area in 2006. Finally, Phase 4 consisted of sediment coring and porewater extraction in the Salt Pond/Nauset Marsh area later in 2006 to supplement the 2005 sampling.
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Bratton, John F. , 2008, Comma-delimited Text File of the Porewater Salinity Values of Cores Collected August, 2006 in the Nauset Marsh Area of Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Open-File Report 2006-1169, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Cross, VeeAnn A. , Bratton, John F. , Crusius, John, Colman, John A. , and McCobb, Timothy D. , 2008, Submarine Hydrogeological Data from Cape Cod National Seashore: Open-File Report 2006-1169, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -69.972178
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -69.963460
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.835817
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.830567

  3. What does it look like?

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

    Calendar_Date: 11-Aug-2006
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

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

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: spreadsheet

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

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

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

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    These core pore water salinity measurements are related to the coreloc_2006 shapefile by the common field "Site". Porewater was extracted from the core samples in the laboratory using a hydraulic press and sediment squeezer. Salinity was measured by refractometer due to small sample volumes.

Who produced the data set?

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

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    John F. Bratton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598

    (508) 548-8700 x2254 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jbratton@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

To supply the written core pore water salinity measurements for the cores collected in the Nauset Marsh area in 2006 in a format compatible with ArcGIS to be used as a relate table. A relate table is necessary when establishing a one-to-many relationship. In this case, the one-to-many relationship is between coreloc_2006.shp and the pore water information contained in core_porewater.csv. The common related attribute between the two files is "site".

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: 2006 (process 1 of 3)
    Salinity of extracted pore water was measured with an optical refractometer calibrated to deionized water.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    John F. Bratton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598

    (508) 548-8700 x2254 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jbratton@usgs.gov

    Date: 2006 (process 2 of 3)
    Handwritten pore water salinity measurements were transferred to an excel spreadsheet.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    John F. Bratton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598

    (508) 548-8700 x2254 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jbratton@usgs.gov

    Data sources produced in this process:
    • core_porewater.xls

    Date: 2007 (process 3 of 3)
    This excel spreadsheet was then modified so that column headers were compatible with ArcGIS. In addition, the site attribute was extended to populate every row of the table with the appropriate value. A salinity value of -9999 was used as a nodata value in places with no salinity values where the grain size of the samples was too coarse to permit pore water extraction. This table was then exported as a comma-delimited text file.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    VeeAnn A. Cross
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598

    (508) 548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov

    Data sources used in this process:
    • core_porewater.xls

    Data sources produced in this process:

    • core_porewater.csv

  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?

    This dataset is complete inasmuch as all measured core porewater salinities from this study are represented.

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

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

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

Access_Constraints: None.
Use_Constraints:
The U.S. Geological Survey must be referenced as the originator of the dataset in any future products or research derived from these data.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    John F. Bratton
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598

    (508) 548-8700 x2254 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jbratton@usgs.gov

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

    Downloadable Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

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

    These data are available as a generic ASCII formatted text file. The user must have a software program capable of reading the comma delimited data file.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 25-Feb-2008
Metadata author:
VeeAnn A. Cross
U.S. Geological Survey
Marine Geologist
384 Woods Hole Rd.
Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598

(508) 548-8700 x2251 (voice)
(508) 457-2310 (FAX)
vatnipp@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
Metadata extensions used:

Generated by mp version 2.8.6 on Tue Jul 08 11:19:14 2008