Chemical and physical properties of marine sediments sampled during the Thala Valley Long Term Monitoring (TV-LTM) 2014-15 field season

This data set contains chemical and physical parameters determined for marine sediment samples collected in the 2014-15 summer field season as part of the Thala Valley Long Term Monitoring (TV-LTM) project. The aim of this project was to examine changes in marine sediment chemistry in the vicinity of Casey station following the clean-up of the abandoned Thala Valley waste disposal ('tip') site in 2003-04.The chemical and physical parameters are:(1) 1 M hydrochloric acid-extractable metals by inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES);(2) water-extractable nutrients by flow injection analysis (FIA);(3) petroleum hydrocarbon fractions and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) – polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) – by gas chromatography - flame ionization detection / electron capture detection / mass spectrometry (GC-FID, GC-ECD, GC-MS), respectively;(4) loss on ignition at 550 degrees Celsius (LOI, a measure of total organic matter) and dry matter fraction (DMF) by gravimetric analysis;(5) grain size distribution: standard sieve data and laser diffraction particle size data. The laser particle size data are presented as % volume distribution within 100 size ‘bins’ over the range 0.02 µm to 2.00 mm diameter (histograms) and the % volume distribution below defined sizes (cumulative volume distribution). The former data are used to calculate % volume distribution in the 11 Wentworth (1922) size categories, from clay to very coarse sand. Additional geochemical parameters are also included in this data set: % carbonate, % biogenic silica and % aluminium; and sediment properties determined by pyrolysis using the ROCK-EVAL6 (RE6) analyser. The RE6 parameters are compared to the LOI and TPH data.Data sets 1, 3, 4 and 5 were obtained for composite samples prepared from the 0-5 cm section of 51 marine sediment cores collected by SCUBA divers from impacted (contaminated) and control (pristine) locations around Casey. Data set 2 was obtained for a subsample of the surface section (0-1 cm) of each of 74 marine sediment cores collected during the same sampling campaign.Sample locations:* Brown Bay (BB) - inner, mid and outer sites* Casey Wharf* McGrady Cove* O'Brien Bay (OB) - OB1, OB2, OB3 sites* Shannon Bay* Wilkes (adjacent to abandoned station)Analytical labs involved:* Wild Lab, AAD, Kingston, Tasmania (data sets 1 and 4; sample preparation for data set 2)* Analytical Services Tasmania (AST), New Town, Tasmania (data set 2)* Analytical Services Unit (ASU), Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (data set 3)* Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT (data set 5)Information concerning analytical quality (method reporting limits, accuracy and precision of data) are included with each data set. Analytical method details are available in a separate summary document.Data sets (1) to (4) are grouped within the spreadsheet:4180_TV-LTM_CHEM_metals-nutrs-tph_POPs-LOI_Metadata.xlsxData set (5) is in a separate spreadsheet:4180_TV-LTM_grain size and geochem_Metadata.xlsx