ABSTRACTWe collected samples from peat layers in the Beverly Swamp, over three summer periods, to document variations in the water content of the soil. The normally adopted practice of multiplying in situ bulk density by the sample weight ratio of water to solid produced unreasonable results, however. Realistic results were obtained from an alternative method that determines the ratio of water in the sample to total sample volume. The success of the latter method suggests that it is much less sensitive to disturbance caused by the sampling procedure.
We collected samples from peat layers in the Beverly Swamp, over three summer periods, to document variations in the water content of the soil. The normally adopted practice of multiplying in situ bulk density by the sample weight ratio of water to solid produced unreasonable results, however. Realistic results were obtained from an alternative method that determines the ratio of water in the sample to total sample volume. The success of the latter method suggests that it is much less sensitive to disturbance caused by the sampling procedure.
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