Archive of Sediment Physical Properties and Grain-Size Data for Sediment Samples Collected Offshore of Assateague Island, Maryland and Virginia

This data release serves as an archive of sediment physical properties and grain-size data for surficial samples collected offshore of Assateague Island, Maryland and Virginia, for comparison with surficial estuarine and subaerial sedimentological samples collected and assessed following Hurricane Sandy (Ellis and others, 2015; Smith and others, 2015; Bernier and others, 2016). The sediment samples were collected by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office in Woods Hole, Massachusetts while aboard the motor vessel (M/V) Scarlett Isabella as part of a larger effort to map the inner continental shelf (Pendleton and others, 2016). Following field work, the sediment samples were shipped to the USGS Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, where they were renamed for consistency with a previously existing naming scheme and processed for bulk density, loss on ignition (LOI), and grain-size. The grain-size subsamples were processed on a Coulter LS200 particle-size analyzer for consistency regarding methods and output statistics with related data sets from Chincoteague Bay and Assateague Island. For more information regarding sample collection and site information or the related data sets, refer to USGS data release Pendleton and others, 2016; for more information regarding processing methods refer to USGS Open-File Report 2015-1219.