Compilation of radionuclides, mercury contaminations, and ln(Zr/Rb) ratios, together with mean grain size and organic carbon data records, obtained from sediment sequences of the south-eastern North Sea region

In this context, robust chronologies are crucial for the reconstruction of salt-marsh depositional processes in the past. However, salt-marsh sediments from the highly dynamic North Sea coast often lack a reliable stratigraphy due to the combined influences of natural processes and human activities, causing a reworking and re-deposition of the sediments.

Here, a combination of absolute and relative dating methods was applied in order to establish an integrated stratigraphic framework for active foreland salt marshes along the south-eastern North Sea coast. This stratigraphic framework is based on radionuclides (210Pb, 137Cs, 14C) and mercury (Hg) contaminations, together with ln(Zr/Rb) as a grain-size proxy for additional inter-correlation between the sites. The studied salt marshes encompass different environmental settings concerning the inundation frequency and intensity, and anthropogenic influences.