Brittnie - Sediment Samples

    This morning at 11:45 a.m., I went to the beach by the Sunglow Pier where I got my two sediment samples. I took my samples by the dunes, where the elevation is about 1. 049 meters or 3.44 feet high. My first sediment sample has 0 to 25 percent of vegetation, I would estimate that my plant took about 7 percent of the meter squared area. While my control sediment sample had no vegetation.

    Before leaving I gather my materials: measuring cup, tape measure, markers (or in my case chopsticks), two labeled plastic bags, my field notebook and pencil.

    When I found a meter squared area with 0 to 25 percent vegetation, I put my first marker next to the plant and started measuring meters, marking each corner around the plant. Then I took my measuring cup and scraped the top layer of the surface, making sure to get two full cups and put them in my plastic bag, labeled “BH/Sunglow Pier Dunes/S”. After that I measured a meter squared area with no vegetation, scraped two cups of sediment off the surface, and then put it into my plastic bag labeled “BH/Sunglow Pier Dunes/C”.

    The sediment is sand size and well sorted, and I’m pretty sure that the one plant in my area, is Salt Grass or Distichlis Spicata, which has high salt tolerance and needs moist soil. That would be the reason why it’s so close to the beach.