Lithologic Descriptions of Bottom Sediments for the New England coast and the Gulf of Maine region (SMITHSONIAN shapefile)

These data, which comprise part of the Smithsonian Institution Master Sediment data file, were abstracted by the staff of the Smithsonian Institution from materials submitted for archival by various groups and individuals. Most of the data in this set were collected by the National Ocean Service (NOS, formerly the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey) for the purpose of charting the coastal waters and navigable waterways of the United States. Prior to 1985, the NOS data were released as part of the National Ocean Surveys Hydrographic Database. After 1985, sediment samples collected by NOS during surveys were transferred to the Smithsonian for archival and textural analysis. All of the data in this set were collected post 1985 and have been processed by the Smithsonian. These data were supplied by the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), but this data set contains fields that are only a subset of those fields available in the full Smithsonian data set. For example, the data have been clipped to eliminate those stations that were not from the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, or the shelf and slope off southeastern New England. Last update of this file was July, 2001.

本数据集为史密森学会（Smithsonian Institution）主沉积物数据文件的组成部分，由史密森学会工作人员从各团体及个人提交归档的材料中提取得到。本数据集的绝大多数数据由美国国家海洋服务局（National Ocean Service, NOS，前身为美国海岸与大地测量局）采集，用于绘制美国沿海水域及通航河道的海图。1985年之前，NOS采集的数据作为《国家海洋调查水文数据库》的组成部分对外发布。1985年之后，NOS在调查中采集的沉积物样品被移交至史密森学会，用于归档与沉积物结构分析。本数据集收录的全部数据均采集于1985年之后，并已由史密森学会完成处理。本数据集由美国国家地球物理数据中心（National Geophysical Data Center, NGDC）提供，但仅包含完整史密森学会数据集的部分字段。例如，本数据集已通过数据裁剪剔除了来自缅因湾、乔治浅滩以及新英格兰东南部外陆架与陆坡以外区域的测站数据。本文件最后更新时间为2001年7月。