Table 3. Summary of intertidal soil salinity data in several southern 

 California marshes. 



Data in Salt Concentrations 



Purer (1942) sampled within the 

 marsh at 1 location (habitat not 

 given) once a month for 12 mo. 

 during 1939-1940 (a relatively 

 wet period). Data are ppt , obtained 

 by collecting water from soil pits. 



Data in Conductivity Units 



Mclntyre (1977) sampled with the 

 Salicornia v irginica marsh at the 

 San Diego River from winter through 

 summer 1976. Data are soil paste 

 conductives from the top 15 cm 

 of soil, expressed as mmhos/cm. 



Wetland 



Min. 



Max. 



(Maxima are from summer & fall) 



Eilers (1981) sampled several 

 stations with the marsh 7 times 

 between fall 1977 and summer 1978. 

 Data are ppt , from ref ractometer 

 readings of interstitial water in 

 the upper 5 cm of soil. 



Season 



and depth of core 



Winter 



Spring 



Summer 



1-15 cm 



1-5 cm 

 6-15 cm 



1-5 cm 

 6-15 cm 



Average in 

 control plots 



12.9 



15.8 

 10.8 



39.3 

 28.2 



Zedler (1977) sampled 3 transects 

 across the elevation gradient at 

 Tijuana Estuary marsh in winter and 

 late summer 1974. Data are soil 

 paste conductivities from the top 

 10 cm of soil, expressed as mmhos/cm. 



Season 

 Winter 

 Summer 



Range 



0.8-24.5 



14.9-38.8 



Wetland Min. Max. 



Sweetwater Marsh 20 121 



Los Penasquitos Lagoon 8 125 



Upper Newport Bay 9 90 



Bolsa Chica (non-tidal) 7 54 



(Maxima are from summer except 

 for Los Penasquitos where max. 

 values occurred prior to lagoon 

 closure caused by a sand bar.) 



(The higher summer values were 

 from the lower elevations.) 



Soil salininity data in mmho/cm are 

 not converted to ppt, because water 

 is added to dry soils in preparing 

 soil pastes for conductivity measure- 

 ments. A useful reference point is 

 15 mmho/cm, which approximates a soil 

 saturated with sea water (34 ppt) 

 (see Zedler 1977) . 



11 



