High resolution seabed sedimentology data for the Firth of Clyde

High quality quantitative maps of seabed sedimentary physical and geochemical properties have numerous research and conservation applications, including habitat and ecosystem modelling, marine spatial planning and ecosystem service mapping. However, such maps are lacking for many ecologically and economically important marine areas. Using legacy data supplemented by measurements from recent benthic surveys, modelled hydrodynamic variables and high resolution bathymetry, quantitative maps for the top 10 centimetres of seabed sediment were generated via a combination of statistical and machine-learning techniques for the Firth of Clyde, a semi-enclosed coastal sea on the west coast of Scotland. The maps include sediment fractions of mud, sand and gravel, whole-sediment median grain size, sediment permeability and porosity, rates of natural seabed abrasion, and sediment particulate organic carbon and nitrogen content. Properties were mapped over an unstructured grid, so that very high resolutions were achieved close to the coastlines, where sediments may be expected to be spatially heterogeneous.