Weathering Enhancement Data for Early Vascular Plant Analogues: Selaginella and Equisetum species.

This dataset contains weathering enhancement factor (WEF) calculations and elemental composition data from experimental assays designed to quantify plant-driven silicate and phosphorus weathering by early vascular analogues. Two species were studied: Selaginella remotifolia and two Equisetum spp. (E. fluviatile and E. scirpoides). The Selaginella microcosm assay used sealed glass jars containing granite or basalt and 0.9 g of plant material, incubated for ~90 days at 23°C. The Equisetum column assay used open-system PVC columns filled with sand and igneous rock, planted with either E. fluviatile (6 g) or E. scirpoides (0.6 g), and maintained under high humidity. Both setups included abiotic controls. Following incubation, plant tissue and solution samples were analysed using LC-ICP-MS to determine concentrations of weathered phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium. WEFs were calculated from both plant uptake and solute concentrations, relative to abiotic controls. Included files: WEFs_Selaginella.xlsx: WEFs and tissue composition for S. remotifolia WEFs_Equisetum_and_barcharts.xlsx: WEFs for Equisetum spp. and chart-ready data Conor_data.csv: Formatted data for plotting relative biotic vs. abiotic weathering Conor_final.R: R script used to generate summary barcharts