Database of Sediment Accretion and Elevation Change Rates for Coastal Marshes of Northeastern United States, Derived from Studies Published from 1975 through 2022

Vertical accretion and elevation change of marshes is a critical factor controlling marsh survival and adaptability to rising sea levels. A wide variety of existing methods have been employed to measure accretion and elevation change in marshes on time scales ranging from weeks to centuries on many individual marshes located throughout the coastal northeastern United States. This dataset is a compilation of marsh accretion and elevation change rates compiled from a total of 27 published studies and 3 data sets published from 1975 through 2021, yielding a total of 292 individual estimates of marsh accretion or elevation change. The database includes: measurements of marsh surface elevation change from repeat surveys at 24 Sediment Elevation Table (SET) stations; 64 accretion rates derived from repeat surveys of established marker horizons; 18 millennial scale scale accretion rates derived from radiocarbon based chronologies of marsh sediment cores; and 163 multi-decadal to centennial scale accretion rates determined from sediment cores dated using short-lived radioisotopes (Pb-210, Cs-137), pollen stratigraphies, and/or pollution stratigraphies. Compiled accretion rates ranged from 0.5 mm/yr to 17.1 mm/yr. Median rates were 0.85 mm/yr for radiocarbon based estimates; 3.1 mm/yr for estimates based on Pb-210, Cs-137, pollen stratigraphy, and/or pollution stratigraphy; 3.0 mm/yr based on marker horizons; and 2.5 mm/yr based on SET stations.