Sediments of Boston Harbor acquired in 1968 (MENCHER shapefile)

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title: Sediments of Boston Harbor acquired in 1968 (MENCHER shapefile)
Abstract:
A study was made of the composition, grain-size distribution, and organic content of grab samples collected from Boston Harbor. In general, the coarsest mean sizes occur in the channels scoured by dredging or tidal action, and the finest in areas where no dredging has occurred and where tidal velocities are at a minimum.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Poppe, Lawrence J., 2003, Sediments of Boston Harbor acquired in 1968 (MENCHER shapefile): Open-File Report 03-001, U. S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Poppe, L.J., Paskevich, V.F., Williams, S.J., Hastings, M.E., Kelley, J.T., Belknap, D.F., Ward, L.G., Fitzgerald, D.M., and Larsen, P.F., 2003, Surficial Sediment Data from the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and vicinity: a GIS Compilation: Open-File Report 03-001, U. S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: 1 CD-ROM
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -71.046330
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -70.930780
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.353610
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.272490
  3. What does it look like?
    http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-001/data/seddata/mencher/mencher-thumb.gif (GIF)
    Thumbnail image showing extent and distribution of data layer coverage.
    http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-001/data/seddata/mencher/mencher.gif (GIF)
    Image map showing extent and distribution of data layer coverage.
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 1968
    Currentness_Reference:
    publication date
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
  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):
      • Entity point (152)
    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 North American Datum of 1927.
      The ellipsoid used is Clarke 1866.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378206.400000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/294.978698.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    mencher.dbf
    Shapefile Attribute Table (Source: ESRI)
    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI) Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI) Coordinates defining the features.
    STATION
    Name assigned to each sampling site. (Source: Compiler)
    Range of values
    Minimum:BH-001
    Maximum:BH-159
    LONGITUDE
    Longitude coordinate of station (Source: Scientist)
    Range of values
    Minimum:-70.93078
    Maximum:-70.04633
    Units:Decimal Degrees
    Resolution:0.00001
    LATITUDE
    Latitude coordinate of sample location (Source: Scientist)
    Range of values
    Minimum:42.27249
    Maximum:42.35361
    Units:Decimal Degrees
    Resolution:0.00001
    MEAN
    Range within which the statistical mean of the sediment grain-size distribution falls. (Source: Scientist) Phi ranges
    LITHOLOGY
    Textural description of sample (Source: Compiler)
    ValueDefinition
    SANDsand content
    MUDmud content
    Character string containing the verbal description of sample lithology
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    Textural means, navigation, and identifiers for the data published in Mencher et al. (1968)
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Lawrence J. Poppe
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    Please view the cross reference for the data set credit to Mencher et al. (1968). Larry Poppe for entering the data from the source report and creating the ArcView shapefile.
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    Lawrence J. Poppe
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2314 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    lpoppe@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The purpose of this data layer is to release a digital version of the grain-size data released in the publication Mencher et al. (1968).

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    Information unavailable from original metadata. (source 1 of 1)
    Mencher, Ely, Copeland, R.A., and Payson, H., 1968, Surficial Sediments of Boston Harbor, Massachusetts: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology v. 38, no. 1, p. 79-86.

    Type_of_Source_Media: paper
    Source_Contribution:
    Interpretive maps were transposed into tabular data and subsequently converted into an ASCII file.
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 11-Sep-2002 (process 1 of 5)
    The navigation was digitized from maps in the original paper. The source information was manually entered into digital form and was imported from an ASCII text file to an ArcView table. The table was later converted to and event theme and saved as the final shapefile. Person who carried out this activity:
    Lawrence J. Poppe
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2314 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    lpope@usgs.gov
    Data sources used in this process:
    • mencher.txt
    Data sources produced in this process:
    • mencher.shp
    • mencher.dbf
    • mencher.shx
    Date: 02-Dec-2015 (process 2 of 5)
    Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.32 flagged. This is necessary to enable the metadata to be successfully harvested for various data catalogs. In some cases, this meant adding text "Information unavailable" or "Information unavailable from original metadata" for those required fields that were left blank. Other minor edits were probably performed (title, publisher, publication place, etc.). Minor fixes to the attribute format for some attributes was needed. The metadata date (but not the metadata creator) was edited to reflect the date of these changes. The metadata available from a harvester may supersede metadata bundled within a download file. Compare the metadata dates to determine which metadata file is most recent. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 20-Jul-2018 (process 3 of 5)
    USGS Thesaurus keywords added to the keyword section. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 18-Nov-2019 (process 4 of 5)
    Crossref DOI link was added as the first link in the metadata. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
    Date: 08-Sep-2020 (process 5 of 5)
    Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Mencher, Ely, Copeland, R.A., and Payson, H., 1968, Surficial Sediments of Boston Harbor, Massachusetts: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology v. 38, no. 1, p. 79-86..

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

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    All attributes were entered and checked by compilers in a consistent manner.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    No navigational methods are provided in the original report. Horizontal accuracy is unknown.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    Tides average about 3 m.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Sample locations, mean grain size, and station identifiers are provided for 159 stations.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    No additional checks for topological consistency were performed on this data.

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:
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as the source of this information.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    Lawrence J. Poppe
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2314 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    lpoppe@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?
    Although these data have been used by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data. 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?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: Five files (mencher.shp, mencher.dbf, mencher.shx, mencher.sbx, mencher.sbn) comprising the ArcView point shapefile components, 'prj' and 'avl' files, metadata text file and browse graphic. in format SHP (version 3.2) ESRI point shapefile Size: 0.05
      Network links: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/of03-001/data/seddata/mencher/mencher.zip
      Media you can order: CD-ROM (Density 650 Mbytes) (format ISO 9660)
      Note: The user must have a computer system with a CD-ROM available. To browse the information contained on this CD-ROM, the user must have a current WWW browser available. The user must also have software installed on their computer to unzip the archived file.
    • Cost to order the data: None

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These data are available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from ESRI at www.esri.com.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 16-Nov-2021
Metadata author:
Lawrence J. Poppe
U.S. Geological Survey
Geologist
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, MA
USA

(508) 548-8700 x2314 (voice)
(508) 457-2310 (FAX)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the metadata contact is no longer with the USGS or the email is otherwise invalid.
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/open_file_report/ofr2003-001/mencher.shp.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.50 on Tue Nov 16 10:06:29 2021