Cesium-137 isotope activity measured in sediment cores collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California during field activities 2022-643-FA and 2023-681-FA

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Cesium-137 isotope activity measured in sediment cores collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California during field activities 2022-643-FA and 2023-681-FA
Abstract:
This dataset presents specific activities of cesium-137 in picoCuries per gram from sediment cores collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California on June 21, 2022, and December 14, 2023. The cores were collected with hand driven push cores to assess sediment accumulation on the marsh.
Supplemental_Information:
Cores were collected, analyzed, and archived by USGS, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Information about the data collection field activities can be found at: http://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2022-643-FA http://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2023-681-FA
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Joanne C. T. Ferreira, and Nowacki, Daniel J., 20240711, Cesium-137 isotope activity measured in sediment cores collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California during field activities 2022-643-FA and 2023-681-FA: data release DOI:10.5066/P15AORBR, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Joanne C. T. Ferreira, Nowacki, Daniel J., and SeanPaul M. La Selle, 2024, Sediment core data collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California during field activities 2022-643-FA and 2023-681-FA: data release DOI:10.5066/P15AORBR, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested Citation: Ferreira, J.C.T., Nowacki, D.J., and La Selle, S.M., 2024, Sediment core data collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California during field activities 2022-643-FA and 2023-681-FA: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P15AORBR.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.13863
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.13845
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 37.59074
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 37.58864
  3. What does it look like?
    cargill_cores_overview.png (PNG)
    Side by side comparison of depth referenced linescan images, color-enhanced CT images, and plots of Cesium-137 isotope activity for all cores.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 21-Jun-2022
    Ending_Date: 14-Dec-2023
    Currentness_Reference:
    Ground conditions at time data were collected
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: CSV format tabular data
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Point data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • Point (64)
    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 0.00001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.00001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.2572236.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Depth_System_Definition:
      Depth_Datum_Name: Local surface
      Depth_Resolution: 1.0
      Depth_Distance_Units: centimeters
      Depth_Encoding_Method: Attribute values
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    2022-643-FA_CAR-RC02.csv, 2023-681-FA_CAR-RC03.csv, 2023-681-FA_CAR-RC04.csv
    Comma separated value text file with core identifier in the title containing location within the core of each 2 cm thick sample and the values of cesium 137 activity and uncertainty. (Source: Producer defined)
    top_depth_cm
    depth at top of sample with reference to the surface (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:95
    Units:centimeters
    bottom_depth_cm
    depth at bottom of sample with reference to the surface (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:2
    Maximum:97
    Units:centimeters
    Midpoint_depth_cm
    midpoint depth of sample with reference to the surface (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:96
    Units:centimeters
    137Cs_activity_dpm_per_g
    Activity of Cesium-137 (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.00
    Maximum:0.44
    Units:disintegrations per minute per gram (dpm per g)
    Resolution:0.01
    137Cs_uncertainty_dpm_per_g
    Measurement uncertainty of Cesium-137 activity at the 99.7 percent confidence interval estimated from: detector efficiency, background correction, and three standard deviations of the counting error; -9999 is assigned when no activity was measured. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.00
    Maximum:0.21
    Units:disintegrations per minute per gram (dpm per g)
    Resolution:0.01
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview: The first line of the csv file is a header line.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: Producer defined

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Joanne C. T. Ferreira
    • Daniel J. Nowacki
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

Laboratory measurements of cesium isotope concentrations in Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California, to characterize marsh sedimentation history.

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: 2023 (process 1 of 2)
    Sediment cores were collected from the marsh environment on Cargill Marsh in Eden Landing Environmental Reserve, Alameda County, California using a Russian corer (a hand-held, side-filling peat auger). At each core site, two adjacent cores holes were used to sample sediment in 50 cm intervals with a 10 cm overlapping section resulting in undisturbed sediment cores of 90 cm length. Cores were transported back to the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center for imaging, and subsequently sectioned in two cm samples for Cesium-137 analyses. Not all segments of the cores were analyzed.
    Date: 2023 (process 2 of 2)
    Radionuclide activities: Prior to quantification of short-lived radionuclide activities, bulk sediment was oven-dried at 60 degrees Celsius, ground by hand in a mortar and pestle and packed into 10 milliliter graduated polystyrene vials. Vials were capped and sealed to prevent gas exchange, then left to equilibrate for at least 21 days. Samples and reference materials with the same geometry were counted for 24 hours in a high purity, low background germanium (HPGe) well detector at the USGS PCMSC Radiochemistry Lab. Cesium-137 activities were counted at 661 kiloelectron volts (keV).
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Joanne C. T. Ferreira, and Nowacki, Daniel J., 2024, Information on sediment cores collected from Cargill Marsh, South San Francisco Bay, California during field activities 2022-643-FA and 2023-681-FA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Core location information for these CS-137 measurements have been published in a separate section in this data release
    Joanne C. T. Ferreira, Lacy, Jessica R., McGill, Samantha C., WinklerPrins, Lukas T., Nowacki, Daniel J., Stevens, Andrew W., and Tan, Angela C., 2023, Hydrodynamic and sediment transport data from Whale's Tail South marsh and adjacent waters in South San Francisco Bay, California 2021-2022.

    Online Links:

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

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    Quality control of attribute accuracy was conducted during field data collection and processing workflows. No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    A RTK GPS system was used for obtaining latitude and longitude point locations during the field activity with centimeter accuracy. As each core site required two adjacent cores to complete the 90 cm length, the horizontal position accuracy of 50 cm is reasonable.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Core depth values are relative to the top of sediment surface at the time of core collection. Coring-induced compaction, if any, was not determined. No formal vertical accuracy tests were conducted.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    No formal logical consistency tests were conducted.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints No access constraints. Please see 'Distribution Info' for details.
Use_Constraints USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator(s) of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - CMGDS
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA
    United States

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Cesium 137 measurement information is provided in comma separated value (CSV) text files. File names correspond to the names of the cores within each scan. For example, ‘2022-643-FA_CAR-RC02_137Cs.csv' corresponds core segments collected during field activity 2022-643-FA,'CAR' refers to the Cargill Marsh, 'RC02' to the core location within the marsh and '_137Cs' indicates the file contains measurements of cesium 137 activity. Location information for these cores are available in a separate section of this data release.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: File contains table in .csv format in format comma-delimited text Size: 0.001
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.5066/P15AORBR
    • Cost to order the data: None.

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    CSV files can be viewed with any standard table editing software (for example, excel, numbers).

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 11-Jul-2024
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA

831-427-4747 (voice)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/CMGDS_DR_tool/DR_P15AORBR/cargill_marsh_cs137_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Thu Jul 18 15:07:15 2024