Physical and biogeochemical measurements of belowground biomass and carbon content from Scottish salt marshes, 2021

The dataset comprises of physical and biogeochemical measurements of belowground (root) biomass from across four Scottish saltmarshes. Sites were chosen to represent contrasting habitats types in Scotland, in particular sediment types, vegetation and sea level history. The data provide a quantitative measure of belowground (root) biomass, organic carbon content and belowground (root) carbon. Samples were collected using a wide gauge gouge corer. The samples were processed to determine belowground (root) biomass, the organic carbon was quantified through elemental analysis and these two data sets were combined to calculate the belowground (root) carbon content. The data were collected to help create a detailed picture of saltmarsh carbon storage in surficial soils across Scotland.

The work was carried out under the NERC programme - Carbon Storage in Intertidal Environment (C-SIDE), NERC grant reference NE/R010846/1