U.S. Geological Survey East Coast Sediment Texture Database (2014, ECSTDB2014.SHP)

Surficial sediment data from February 2011 through March 2014 were recorded in an Excel (version 2003) spreadsheet. This spreadsheet was appended to ecstdb2011.xls. Errors found in the ecstdb2011.xls data were corrected for approximately 500 samples and numerous no data values of -9999 in the phi percentages and gravel/sand/silt/clay percentages were replaced with 0s. No data values were replaced with 0s where it looked like a portion of either the fine or coarse fraction of the sample was analyzed and the original blanks should have been 0s. However, for instance, in some cases it looked like only the coarse fraction was analyzed and any sediment in the fine fraction was recorded as 5 phi, the finer phi sizes remained as no data values in this case. No data values were not changed to 0 in samples that were not analyzed at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sediment Lab, or in samples in groups 1 or 2. Samples where the phi weight percents did not equal the appropriate gravel, sand, silt, and/or clay percents were normalized and run through GSSTAT. The Excel file was edited and a comma-delimited text file was generated. The Excel file was imported into ArcMap 9.3 to create a table with the Add XY Data tool.

The table was then converted to an ArcGIS shapefile (Data, Export Data) to be used as a GIS data layer using ArcMap 9.3.

Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.46 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.). Reordered the links in the identification section so a landing page link is first. Attempted to modify http to https where appropriate. The source information was incomplete and had to be modified to meet the standard. Added additional information to a cross-reference. Attribute format had to be modified to meet the standard. 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.

Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword.