A marine and salt marsh sediment organic carbon database for European regional seas (EURO-CARBON)

Academic article

Year of publication: 2025
Journal: Data in Brief
External websites: Cristin; Doi; Arkiv
Involved from NIVA: Hege Gundersen; Gunhild Borgersen; Kasper Hancke; Juan Carlos Farias Pardo; Helene Frigstad
Contributors: Anna Elizabeth Løvgren Graversen, Christian Lønborg, Anna Maria Addamo, Sidsel Gurholt Pedersen, Silvia Chemello, Irene Alejo, Eugenia T. Apostolaki, Maria E. Asplund, William E.N. Austin, Dimitar Berov, Stefano Bonaglia, Gunhild Borgersen, Tjeerd Bouma, Mark John Costello, Martin Dahl, Elena Diaz-Almela, Panagiotis D. Dimitriou, Carlos M. Duarte, Carmen Leiva Dueñas, Pavlos T. Efthymiadis, Ines Mazarrasa Elosegui, Maria Recio Espinosa, Helena L. Filipsson, Marcos Fontela, Stein Fredriksen, Helene Frigstad, Karine Gagnon, Catalina A. Garcia-Escudero, Michele Giani, Anne Grouhel-Pellouin, Roberta Guerra, Martin Gullström, Hege Gundersen, Kasper Hancke, Claudia Majtényi-Hill, Corallie Hunt, Karina Inostroza, Ioannis Karakassis, Ventzislav Karamfilov, Stefania Klayn, Katarzyna Koziorowska, Karol Kulinski, Paul Lavery, Wytze K. Lenstra, Ana I. Lillebø, Ella Logemann, Paolo Magni, Núria Marbà, Candela Marco-Mendez, Marcio Martins, Miguel Angel Mateo, Briac Monnier, Peter Mueller, Joao M. Neto, Nafsika Papageorgiou, Carlos Eduardo de Rezende, Juan Pardo, Jose Antonio Juanes De La Peña, Gérard Pergent, Nerea Piñeiro-Juncal, Joanne Preston, Federico Rampazzo, Gloria Reithmaier, Thorsten B.H. Reusch, Sarah Reynolds, Aurora M. Ricart, Rui Santos, Carmen B. de los Santos, Isaac R. Santos, Eduard Serrano, Oscar Serrano, Caroline P. Slomp, Craig Smeaton, Montserrar Soler, Ana I. Sousa, Timo Spiegel, Angela Stevenson, Jonas Thormar, Hilde Cecilie Trannum, Niels A.G.M. van Helmond, Sarah Paradis, Salvatrice Vizzini, Emma A. Ward, Yvonne Y.Y. Yau, Rym Zakhama-Sraieb, Imen Zribi, Olga M. Zygadlowska, Dorte Krause Jensen

Summary

Marine and salt marsh sediments contain large amounts of organic carbon (OC) and are therefore important in the global carbon cycle. Here, we collated previously published and unpublished measurements of sediment OC in marine and salt marsh sediments in European regional seas (EURO-CARBON; available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14905489). To the extent possible the OC data were complemented by variables such as sediment porosity and dry bulk density. The EUROCARBON dataset holds 61306 individual data entries of sediment OC content from different regions of European regional seas. Around three quarters (76%) were collected in Coastal and deep sea bare sediments, 18% from salt marshes, 7% from seagrass habitats, and 0.03% from macroalgal habitats. For all habitats and sediment depth layers the OC content varied between <0.1 and 41.56 % (avg.: 2.47 ± 3.37 %; median: 1.39 %), with the content generally decreasing in the following sequence: salt marsh (5.01 ± 5.96 %; 3.03 %) > seagrass (2.37 ± 5.96 %; 3.03 %) > bare sediment (1.88 ± 2.03 %; 1.20 %). The EURO-CARBON dataset will serve as a basis for future work, and it will be an important resource for researchers, managers, and policymakers working towards protecting sediment OC pools