Sampling soil and sediment depth profiles at a fine resolution with a new device for determining physical, chemical and biological properties : the Fine Increment Soil Collector (FISC)

Purpose Many environmental investigations (empirical and modelling) and theories are based on reliable information onthe depth distribution of physical, chemical and biological properties in soils and sediments. However, such depth profilesare not easy to determine using current approaches, and, consequently, new devices are needed that are able to samplesoils and sediments at fine resolutions. Materials and methods We have designed an economic, portable,hand-operated surface soil/sediment sampler-the FineIncrement Soil Collector (FISC)-which allows for the close control of incremental soil/sediment sampling and for easyrecovery of the material collected by a simple screw-thread extraction system. This innovative sampling system was developedoriginally for the beryllium-7 (7Be) approach in soil and sediment redistribution research. To ensure reliable estimatesof soil erosion and sediment deposition from 7Be measurements, the depth distribution of this short-lived fallout.