Dataset: Nutrient properties of coastal wetland soil cores collected in June 2018 from Barataria Bay, Louisiana

Nine coastal wetland soil cores were collected in June 2018 from Barataria Bay, Louisiana, a shallow open water basin located west of the Mississippi River Delta.  Soil cores were collected along three transects, roughly 1 meter apart, that consisted of three points:  the coastal fringe (0 m inland), 1 meter inland, and 2 meters inland. Soil cores were collected in polycarbonate tubes via the push core method to a depth of 150 cm, and field-extruded into 15 separate 10-cm intervals. Soils were stored  in polyethylene bags on ice and immediately transported back to the laboratory, where they were kept at 4 °C until sample analysis was complete.  

This dataset includes analyses of nutrients.

Samples of 2.5 grams of wet soil (both from the field and from the bottle incubation) were placed into 40 mL centrifuge tubes to which 25 mL of 2 M KCl was added.  Samples were then shaken continuously on an orbital shaker for 1 hour at 25 °C and 150 rpm, then centrifuged for 10 minutes at 10 °C and 5000 rpm. Following the centrifuge step, samples were immediately filtered through Supor 0.45 μM filters and acidified with double distilled H2SO4 to a pH of < 2 for preservation. Extractable nutrients (nitrate, soluble reactive phosphorus, and ammonium) were then analyzed with an AQ2 Automated Discrete Analyzer (Seal Analytical, Mequon, WI) and using EPA methods 231-A Rev.0, 210-A Rev.1, and 204-A Rev.0.