Soil water and chloride concentration profiles in 20 playas at the Jornada Basin LTER site in 2014

This data package contains soil water and chloride content data from cores collected in 20 playas in the Jornada Basin of southern New Mexico, USA. The objectives of this work were to assess the rates and controls of groundwater recharge through playas in the Southwestern USA. The twenty playas were cored to 5 meter depth and we used the chloride mass balance (CMB) approach to empirically estimate groundwater recharge beneath playa surfaces. The measured variables are gravimetric soil moisture (kg water/kg soil), soil bulk density (kg/m3), volumetric water content (m3/m3), and porewater chloride (mg/L). All data were taken from playa ecosystems. All measurements were taken in June 2014. This study is complete. For further information, refer to: McKenna, Owen P., and Osvaldo E. Sala. "Groundwater recharge in desert playas: current rates and future effects of climate change." Environmental Research Letters 13, no. 1 (2018): 014025. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9eb6