Volumetric soil water content measured by thermogravimetric analysis (oven drying) for 120 point locations within limestone cedar glades at Stones River National Battlefield near Murfreesboro, Tennessee

This dataset contains data collected within limestone cedar glades at Stones River National Battlefield (STRI) near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This dataset contains measurements of volumetric soil water content at certain quadrat locations (points) within 12 selected cedar glades. All soil water content measurements in this file were performed by thermogravimetric analysis (oven-drying) using the following procedure. First, soil samples were obtained using a brass cylinder of height 5 centimeters (cm) and interior diameter 4.9 cm. The cylinder was partially inserted into the soil, using a hammer if necessary, to a depth of roughly 2 to 3 cm. Soil adjacent to the inserted cylinder was removed and a flat plastic spatula was inserted under the cylinder, allowing an intact core to be removed. The soil core, still in the cylinder, was placed inside an aluminum canister (height 2.5 cm, interior diameter 6.3 cm) and four depth measurements were taken from the upper rim of the cylinder to the soil surface. These four measurements were used to calculate the volume of the soil core. All the soil in the interior of the cylinder was then scraped into the canister and the canister was immediately sealed with a tight-fitting screw-top lid. Oven drying was performed according to Topp (1993) and Topp and Ferre (2002), using a Binder ED-23 drying oven set to 105 degrees Celcius (degrees C) for 24 hours. Gravimetric soil water content calculations (field-moist weight minus oven-dry weight, divided by oven-dry weight) were then converted to volumetric equivalents using bulk density calculations based on volume estimations of soil cores (volumetric soil water content equals gravimetric soil water content times bulk density). Three soil samples were obtained per point for thermogravimetric analysis, and the values in the fields of this dataset represent means of those three measurements. Missing values indicate points which were not sampled on a given day, or points for which the method of soil water content determination was not thermogravimetric, and are represented by the value -99999. Please note that this dataset can be used in conjunction with two associated datasets: STRI_Glades_Soil_Water_Content_TDR.shp, which contains soil water content measurements obtained using a portable time-domain reflectometery moisture meter, and STRI_Glades_Soil_Water_Content_ALL.shp, which contains soil-water-content measurements obtained by both time-domain reflectometery and oven-drying methods wherein time-domain reflectometery measurements have been transformed to oven-drying-method equivalents using a calibration curve. For details on this calibration procedure to compare soil water content measurements obtained by the two methods, see the metadata section for the file STRI_Glades_Soil_Water_Content_ALL.shp.Detailed descriptions of experimental design, field data collection procedures, laboratory procedures, and data analysis are presented in Cartwright (2014).References:Cartwright, J. (2014). Soil ecology of a rock outcrop ecosystem: abiotic stresses, soil respiration, and microbial community profiles in limestone cedar glades. Ph.D. dissertation, Tennessee State University.Cofer, M., Walck, J., and Hidayati, S. (2008). Species richness and exotic species invasion in Middle Tennessee cedar glades in relation to abiotic and biotic factors. The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society, 135(4), 540–553.Topp, G. (1993). Chapter 51, Soil Water Content. In M. R. Carter (Ed.), Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis. Canadian Society of Soil Science.Topp, G., and Ferre, P. (2002). The Soil Solution Phase, 3.1, Water Content. In J. Dane and G. Topp (Eds.), Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 4: Physical Methods(SSSA Book .). Madison, WI: Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Tags: environment, geoscientificinformation, usgs-55afd13be4b09a3b01b51f94
Organization: Department of the Interior