Compilations of previous studies provide researchers with a source of valuable secondary data for re-analysis, an access route to identify relevant literature and an opportunity to systematically evaluate the research which is conducted and published. Recently Suggitt et al. (2015 Veg Hist Archbot 24, 743–747) presented a valuable compilation of core records for England. Here we present an extended version of this English Sediment Core Meta-database which includes data for 100 additional cores and improves the consistency of presentation. Despite these additions there are clearly large gaps remaining. Maximising the value of such meta-databases requires a community effort and we hope that this contribution will be a first step towards achieving this

Andersen, Roxanne

Maclean, Ilya

Payne, Richard John

Ratcliffe, Joshua L.

Suggitt, Andrew

Woodhouse, Eleanor L.

White Rose Research Online

This is a repository copy of A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database.White Rose Research Online URL for this paper:http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/112629/Article:Woodhouse, Eleanor L., Ratcliffe, Joshua L., Andersen, Roxanne et al. (3 more authors) (2017) A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary. pp. 1-4. ISSN 2055-298X https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.30eprints@whiterose.ac.ukhttps://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/Reuse This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This licence allows you to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as you credit the authors for the original work. More information and the full terms of the licence here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. Woodhouse, E L et al, 2017 A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3: 2, pp. 1–4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.30DATA PAPERA Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core  Meta-DatabaseEleanor L. Woodhouse*, Joshua L. Ratcliffe†,‡, Roxane Andersen‡, Andrew Suggitt§,  Ilya Macleanǁ and Richard J. Payne*,¶* Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK † Science & Engineering, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, NZ‡ Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Castle Street, Thurso,  Caithness KW14 7JD, UK§ Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UKǁ	 Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK¶ Department of Zoology and Ecology, Penza State University, Krasnaya str. 40, 440026 Penza, RUCorresponding author: Richard J. Payne (richard.payne@york.ac.uk)Compilations of previous studies provide researchers with a source of valuable secondary data for re-analysis, an access route to identify relevant literature and an opportunity to systematically evaluate the research which is conducted and published. Recently Suggitt et al. (2015 Veg Hist Archbot 24, 743–747) presented a valuable compilation of core records for England. Here we present an extended version of this English Sediment Core Meta-database which includes data for 100 additional cores and improves the consistency of presentation. Despite these additions there are clearly large gaps remaining. Maximising the value of such meta-databases requires a community effort and we hope that this contribution will be a first step towards achieving this. Keywords: Meta-database; Palaeoecology; Core records; Palaeoenvironments; HoloceneFunding statement: This study was supported by the University of York Research Priming Fund, the Leverhulme Trust (grant RPG-2015-162) and the Russian Scientific Fund (grant 14-14-00891). (1) OverviewIntroductionCompilations of metadata for previous studies can provide a number of important benefits to Quaternary scientists. Such meta-databases can be an effective way for research-ers to identify relevant previous research and can provide a basis for secondary re-analysis of published datasets. Building such compilations also provides a useful oppor-tunity to evaluate the ‘state of the art’ and assess trends, biases and gaps in the research which is undertaken and published. Previous databases covering the United King-dom have focussed on specific environments such as lakes (Battarbee et al. 2011) or peatlands (Payne et al. 2016) or on specific methods such as pollen analysis (Fyfe et al. 2009) or tephra (Newton et al. 2007). Recently Suggitt et al. (2015a) presented an English Sediment Core Meta-database (ESCM) with the goal to ‘determine as many sedi-ment coring sites in England as possible’ with a particular focus on the Holocene. This is an ambitious aim given the range of sedimentary archives and proxies encompassed and the quantity of research conducted in England over the last 100+ years. The resulting dataset, presented in supplementary material to the published paper, includes records for 763 locations and is a valuable tool for anyone interested in the late-Quaternary development of the Eng-lish landscape. The scope of this compilation is very broad and the authors acknowledge that the resulting dataset is by no means exhaustive. Inevitably there are gaps in any such study and Tooley (2015) highlighted some data miss-ing from the original paper. However, as noted by (Suggitt et al. 2015b), not all of these studies may have met the original inclusion criteria.It is clear that there is more to be done and that the potential applications of the dataset will be maximised if it is as comprehensive as possible. Despite their value, substantive funding is rarely available for the assembly and maintenance of databases of this type. The Suggitt et al. (2015a) study was financed on a one-off basis by Natural England, and there is no funding for this to be further developed or updated with new research. The best possibility to maximise the value of the dataset is therefore for it to become a wider community project Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-DatabaseArt. 2,	page 2	of	4		with contributions from other researchers as and when possible. ContextSpatial coverageDescription: EnglandNorthern boundary: +55.8Southern boundary: +49.9Eastern boundary: +1.76Western boundary: –5.7Temporal coverage14270BP to present.(2) MethodsStepsHere we present a modest addendum to the original data-set based on recent work on peatland sites and new litera-ture searches. We make contributions from four sources:1) Firstly, to the published dataset we added data previously compiled by Payne et al. (2016) for peatland sites across Britain. This study identified 475 radiocarbon dated peatland sites of which 186 are in England. To be included the sites were required to have dates and sediment which could be confidently considered peat and the studies were required to have been published since 1970. We carefully cross-checked this dataset against the ESCM data and identified studies not included in the published dataset.2) Secondly, to identify more recent papers we conducted new searches of the journal databases Google Scholar and Web of Science for search terms used in the original paper focussing on papers published since 2014.3) Thirdly, we conducted additional searches using a variety of search terms not included in the original papers.4) Finally, we added any other papers of which we were personally aware which were not otherwise included. We also take the opportunity presented by adding these additional data to refine and improve the presentation of the dataset. Specifically, we:1) Add missing detail to the site entries when pos-sible. 2) Add missing information to the references and endeavour to improve the consistency of reference formatting wherever possible to make it easier for readers to identify the source material.3) Correct some minor errors which we noted in passing. We also removed some entries which were highlighted as duplicates by a reviewer of this manuscript. 4) Remove columns which we find not to be help-ful to the general user or which appear to be inconsistently or infrequently recorded, namely those headed: ID, Full/partial dataset, Title, Search terms, Search facility and Provenance (AJS/ZT). ConstraintsOur amendments both add a substantive body of new data and improve the consistency of presentation. However, with a task of this magnitude it is inevitable that there will be both omissions and most likely some errors. The database is clearly imperfect and biased in many ways and some of these may have been reinforced by the additions made here. The database is a work-in-progress. Repository locationOpen Quaternary Dataverse. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.7910/DVN/PETMGY (3) Dataset descriptionObject nameExtended English Sediment Core Meta-database.xls.Data typeSecondary data.Format names and versionsExcel spreadsheet.Creation datesLast updated October 2016. Dataset CreatorsThe dataset published here reflects the work of both the authors of this paper and that of the original publication (Suggitt et al. 2015a) which should remain the primary reference for anyone using this database. LanguageEnglish.LicenseCC0.Publication date12/10/2016.(4) Reuse potentialWe identified 100 site records not previously included in the ESCM dataset, representing an increase in the overall size of the database of 13% and bringing the total number of records represented to 849 after deletions. Given our own expertise a majority of these (~60%) are for peatland sites. Our additional data tend to reinforce the conclu-sions of Suggitt et al. (2015a) regarding the nature of the research conducted. The majority of our new records are from northern England (Figure 1), the majority are studies based solely or largely on pollen and the vast majority are for the Holocene, particularly the mid-to-late Holocene. Additions included some quite highly-cited papers which were previously not included (Barber et al. 1994; Hendon et al. 2001; Mauquoy and Barber 2002). It should be cau-tioned that the lack of representation of studies in the Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database Art. 2,	page 3	of	4Figure 1: Sites included in the extended English Sediment Core Meta-database.Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-DatabaseArt. 2,	page 4	of	4		database does not necessarily imply that studies have not been conducted; it may simply be the case that these have not been identified. Both the original database and our extended version have considerable biases, for instance, papers on coastal environments and the archaeological literature are clearly under-represented while freshwater peats are now quite well-represented. This bias may, for instance, mean that the impression that comparatively little research has been conducted in central England is misplaced. Minimising these biases requires contributions from researchers with a range of expertise from across Quaternary Science. Data sources such as radiocarbon date lists and databases, the Archaeological Data Service, thesis repositories and the institutional data holdings of organisations such as English Heritage and the British Geological Survey would doubtless reveal a wealth of fur-ther data which would reward investigation. Without any direct funding we propose that the best way to continue to build and extend this database is by individual members of the Quaternary Science commu-nity contributing data within their own areas of expertise. Data papers in this journal might be a useful way to facilitate this process although issues of consistency and quality control will require attention. We hope this may be the first of many such contributions bringing together knowledge from the research community to extend and refine this valuable database. AcknowledgementsWe thank the inter-library loans staff at the J.B. Morrell University Library in York and the University of Stirling Library for their assistance tracking-down many obscure publications.Competing InterestsThe authors have no competing interests to declare.ReferencesBarber, K E, Chambers, F M, Maddy, D, Stoneman, R and Brew, J S 1994 A sensitive high resolution record of late Holocene climatic change from a raised bog in northern England. The Holocene, 4: 198–205. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/095968369400400209Battarbee, R W, Morley, D, Bennion, H, Simpson, G L, Hughes, M and Bauere, V 2011 A palaeolimnological meta-database for assessing the ecological status of lakes. J Paleolimnol, 45: 405–414. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9417-5Fyfe, R M, de Beaulieu, J-L, Binney, H, Bradshaw, R H, Brewer, S, Le Flao, A, . . ., Gil-Romera, G 2009 The European Pollen Database: past efforts and cur-rent activities. Vegetation History and Archaeobot-any, 18: 417–424. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-009-0215-9Hendon, D, Charman, D and Kent, M 2001 Palaeohydro-logical records derived from testate amoebae analy-sis from peatlands in northern England: within-site variability, between-site comparability and palaeocli-matic implications. The Holocene, 11: 127–148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1191/095968301674575645Mauquoy, D and Barber, K 2002 Testing the sensitiv-ity of the palaeoclimatic signal from ombrotrophic peat bogs in northern England and the Scottish Borders. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 119: 219–240. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-6667(01)00099-9Newton, A J, Dugmore, A J and Gittings, B M 2007 Tephrabase: tephrochronology and the develop-ment of a centralised European database. Journal of Quaternary Science, 22: 737–743. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1094Payne, R J, Ratcliffe, J, Andersen, R and Flitcroft, C E 2016 A meta-database of peatland palaeoecology in Great Britain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatol-ogy, Palaeoecology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.05.025Suggitt, A J, Jones, R T, Caseldine, C J, Huntley, B, Stewart, J R, Brooks, S J, . . ., Larwood, J 2015a A meta-database of Holocene sediment cores for England. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 24: 743–747.Suggitt, A J, Jones, R T, Caseldine, C J, Huntley, B, Stewart, J R, Brooks, S J, . . ., Larwood, J 2015b A reply to ‘A meta-database of Holocene sediment cores for England: missing data’(Tooley 2015). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 6: 753–754. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-015-0531-1Tooley, M 2015 A meta-database of Holocene sediment cores for England: missing data. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany: 1–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/ s00334-015-0528-9How to cite this article:	Woodhouse,	E	L,	Ratcliffe,	J	L,	Andersen,	R,	Suggitt,	A,	Maclean,	L	and	Payne,	R	J	2017	A	Modest	Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3: 2, pp. 1–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.30Submitted: 12 October 2016         Accepted: 11 January 2017            Published: 20 February 2017Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.                           OPEN ACCESS Open Quaternary	is	a	peer-reviewed	open	access	journal	published	by	Ubiquity Press.

A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database

Andersen, Roxane

Payne, Richard J.

Northumbria Research Link

Citation: Woodhouse, Eleanor L., Ratcliffe, Joshua L., Andersen, Roxane, Suggitt, Andrew, Maclean, Ilya and Payne, Richard J. (2017) A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3. ISSN 2055-298X Published by: Ubiquity PressURL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/oq.30 <http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/oq.30>This  version  was  downloaded  from  Northumbria  Research  Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/40385/Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright ©  and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners.  Single copies of full items can be reproduced,  displayed or  performed,  and given to third parties in  any format  or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well  as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page.  The content must  not  be changed in any way. Full  items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without  formal  permission  of  the  copyright  holder.   The  full  policy  is  available  online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.htmlThis document may differ from the final, published version of the research and has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies. To read and/or cite from the published version of the research, please visit the publisher’s website (a subscription may be required.)Woodhouse, E L et al, 2017 A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3: 2, pp. 1–4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.30DATA PAPERA Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core  Meta-DatabaseEleanor L. Woodhouse*, Joshua L. Ratcliffe†,‡, Roxane Andersen‡, Andrew Suggitt§,  Ilya Macleanǁ and Richard J. Payne*,¶* Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK † Science & Engineering, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, NZ‡ Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Castle Street, Thurso,  Caithness KW14 7JD, UK§ Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UKǁ	 Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK¶ Department of Zoology and Ecology, Penza State University, Krasnaya str. 40, 440026 Penza, RUCorresponding author: Richard J. Payne (richard.payne@york.ac.uk)Compilations of previous studies provide researchers with a source of valuable secondary data for re-analysis, an access route to identify relevant literature and an opportunity to systematically evaluate the research which is conducted and published. Recently Suggitt et al. (2015 Veg Hist Archbot 24, 743–747) presented a valuable compilation of core records for England. Here we present an extended version of this English Sediment Core Meta-database which includes data for 100 additional cores and improves the consistency of presentation. Despite these additions there are clearly large gaps remaining. Maximising the value of such meta-databases requires a community effort and we hope that this contribution will be a first step towards achieving this. Keywords: Meta-database; Palaeoecology; Core records; Palaeoenvironments; HoloceneFunding statement: This study was supported by the University of York Research Priming Fund, the Leverhulme Trust (grant RPG-2015-162) and the Russian Scientific Fund (grant 14-14-00891). (1) OverviewIntroductionCompilations of metadata for previous studies can provide a number of important benefits to Quaternary scientists. Such meta-databases can be an effective way for research-ers to identify relevant previous research and can provide a basis for secondary re-analysis of published datasets. Building such compilations also provides a useful oppor-tunity to evaluate the ‘state of the art’ and assess trends, biases and gaps in the research which is undertaken and published. Previous databases covering the United King-dom have focussed on specific environments such as lakes (Battarbee et al. 2011) or peatlands (Payne et al. 2016) or on specific methods such as pollen analysis (Fyfe et al. 2009) or tephra (Newton et al. 2007). Recently Suggitt et al. (2015a) presented an English Sediment Core Meta-database (ESCM) with the goal to ‘determine as many sedi-ment coring sites in England as possible’ with a particular focus on the Holocene. This is an ambitious aim given the range of sedimentary archives and proxies encompassed and the quantity of research conducted in England over the last 100+ years. The resulting dataset, presented in supplementary material to the published paper, includes records for 763 locations and is a valuable tool for anyone interested in the late-Quaternary development of the Eng-lish landscape. The scope of this compilation is very broad and the authors acknowledge that the resulting dataset is by no means exhaustive. Inevitably there are gaps in any such study and Tooley (2015) highlighted some data miss-ing from the original paper. However, as noted by (Suggitt et al. 2015b), not all of these studies may have met the original inclusion criteria.It is clear that there is more to be done and that the potential applications of the dataset will be maximised if it is as comprehensive as possible. Despite their value, substantive funding is rarely available for the assembly and maintenance of databases of this type. The Suggitt et al. (2015a) study was financed on a one-off basis by Natural England, and there is no funding for this to be further developed or updated with new research. The best possibility to maximise the value of the dataset is therefore for it to become a wider community project Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-DatabaseArt. 2,	page 2	of	4		with contributions from other researchers as and when possible. ContextSpatial coverageDescription: EnglandNorthern boundary: +55.8Southern boundary: +49.9Eastern boundary: +1.76Western boundary: –5.7Temporal coverage14270BP to present.(2) MethodsStepsHere we present a modest addendum to the original data-set based on recent work on peatland sites and new litera-ture searches. We make contributions from four sources:1) Firstly, to the published dataset we added data previously compiled by Payne et al. (2016) for peatland sites across Britain. This study identified 475 radiocarbon dated peatland sites of which 186 are in England. To be included the sites were required to have dates and sediment which could be confidently considered peat and the studies were required to have been published since 1970. We carefully cross-checked this dataset against the ESCM data and identified studies not included in the published dataset.2) Secondly, to identify more recent papers we conducted new searches of the journal databases Google Scholar and Web of Science for search terms used in the original paper focussing on papers published since 2014.3) Thirdly, we conducted additional searches using a variety of search terms not included in the original papers.4) Finally, we added any other papers of which we were personally aware which were not otherwise included. We also take the opportunity presented by adding these additional data to refine and improve the presentation of the dataset. Specifically, we:1) Add missing detail to the site entries when pos-sible. 2) Add missing information to the references and endeavour to improve the consistency of reference formatting wherever possible to make it easier for readers to identify the source material.3) Correct some minor errors which we noted in passing. We also removed some entries which were highlighted as duplicates by a reviewer of this manuscript. 4) Remove columns which we find not to be help-ful to the general user or which appear to be inconsistently or infrequently recorded, namely those headed: ID, Full/partial dataset, Title, Search terms, Search facility and Provenance (AJS/ZT). ConstraintsOur amendments both add a substantive body of new data and improve the consistency of presentation. However, with a task of this magnitude it is inevitable that there will be both omissions and most likely some errors. The database is clearly imperfect and biased in many ways and some of these may have been reinforced by the additions made here. The database is a work-in-progress. Repository locationOpen Quaternary Dataverse. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.7910/DVN/PETMGY (3) Dataset descriptionObject nameExtended English Sediment Core Meta-database.xls.Data typeSecondary data.Format names and versionsExcel spreadsheet.Creation datesLast updated October 2016. Dataset CreatorsThe dataset published here reflects the work of both the authors of this paper and that of the original publication (Suggitt et al. 2015a) which should remain the primary reference for anyone using this database. LanguageEnglish.LicenseCC0.Publication date12/10/2016.(4) Reuse potentialWe identified 100 site records not previously included in the ESCM dataset, representing an increase in the overall size of the database of 13% and bringing the total number of records represented to 849 after deletions. Given our own expertise a majority of these (~60%) are for peatland sites. Our additional data tend to reinforce the conclu-sions of Suggitt et al. (2015a) regarding the nature of the research conducted. The majority of our new records are from northern England (Figure 1), the majority are studies based solely or largely on pollen and the vast majority are for the Holocene, particularly the mid-to-late Holocene. Additions included some quite highly-cited papers which were previously not included (Barber et al. 1994; Hendon et al. 2001; Mauquoy and Barber 2002). It should be cau-tioned that the lack of representation of studies in the Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database Art. 2,	page 3	of	4Figure 1: Sites included in the extended English Sediment Core Meta-database.Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-DatabaseArt. 2,	page 4	of	4		database does not necessarily imply that studies have not been conducted; it may simply be the case that these have not been identified. Both the original database and our extended version have considerable biases, for instance, papers on coastal environments and the archaeological literature are clearly under-represented while freshwater peats are now quite well-represented. This bias may, for instance, mean that the impression that comparatively little research has been conducted in central England is misplaced. Minimising these biases requires contributions from researchers with a range of expertise from across Quaternary Science. Data sources such as radiocarbon date lists and databases, the Archaeological Data Service, thesis repositories and the institutional data holdings of organisations such as English Heritage and the British Geological Survey would doubtless reveal a wealth of fur-ther data which would reward investigation. Without any direct funding we propose that the best way to continue to build and extend this database is by individual members of the Quaternary Science commu-nity contributing data within their own areas of expertise. Data papers in this journal might be a useful way to facilitate this process although issues of consistency and quality control will require attention. We hope this may be the first of many such contributions bringing together knowledge from the research community to extend and refine this valuable database. AcknowledgementsWe thank the inter-library loans staff at the J.B. Morrell University Library in York and the University of Stirling Library for their assistance tracking-down many obscure publications.Competing InterestsThe authors have no competing interests to declare.ReferencesBarber, K E, Chambers, F M, Maddy, D, Stoneman, R and Brew, J S 1994 A sensitive high resolution record of late Holocene climatic change from a raised bog in northern England. The Holocene, 4: 198–205. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/095968369400400209Battarbee, R W, Morley, D, Bennion, H, Simpson, G L, Hughes, M and Bauere, V 2011 A palaeolimnological meta-database for assessing the ecological status of lakes. J Paleolimnol, 45: 405–414. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-010-9417-5Fyfe, R M, de Beaulieu, J-L, Binney, H, Bradshaw, R H, Brewer, S, Le Flao, A, . . ., Gil-Romera, G 2009 The European Pollen Database: past efforts and cur-rent activities. Vegetation History and Archaeobot-any, 18: 417–424. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-009-0215-9Hendon, D, Charman, D and Kent, M 2001 Palaeohydro-logical records derived from testate amoebae analy-sis from peatlands in northern England: within-site variability, between-site comparability and palaeocli-matic implications. The Holocene, 11: 127–148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1191/095968301674575645Mauquoy, D and Barber, K 2002 Testing the sensitiv-ity of the palaeoclimatic signal from ombrotrophic peat bogs in northern England and the Scottish Borders. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 119: 219–240. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-6667(01)00099-9Newton, A J, Dugmore, A J and Gittings, B M 2007 Tephrabase: tephrochronology and the develop-ment of a centralised European database. Journal of Quaternary Science, 22: 737–743. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1094Payne, R J, Ratcliffe, J, Andersen, R and Flitcroft, C E 2016 A meta-database of peatland palaeoecology in Great Britain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatol-ogy, Palaeoecology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.05.025Suggitt, A J, Jones, R T, Caseldine, C J, Huntley, B, Stewart, J R, Brooks, S J, . . ., Larwood, J 2015a A meta-database of Holocene sediment cores for England. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 24: 743–747.Suggitt, A J, Jones, R T, Caseldine, C J, Huntley, B, Stewart, J R, Brooks, S J, . . ., Larwood, J 2015b A reply to ‘A meta-database of Holocene sediment cores for England: missing data’(Tooley 2015). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 6: 753–754. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-015-0531-1Tooley, M 2015 A meta-database of Holocene sediment cores for England: missing data. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany: 1–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/ s00334-015-0528-9How to cite this article:	Woodhouse,	E	L,	Ratcliffe,	J	L,	Andersen,	R,	Suggitt,	A,	Maclean,	L	and	Payne,	R	J	2017	A	Modest	Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3: 2, pp. 1–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.30Submitted: 12 October 2016         Accepted: 11 January 2017            Published: 20 February 2017Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.                           OPEN ACCESS Open Quaternary	is	a	peer-reviewed	open	access	journal	published	by	Ubiquity Press.

Ratcliffe, Joshua Lee

Research Commons@Waikato

Open Quaternary

A modest addendum to the english sediment core meta-database

Northumbria Research Link
Citation: Woodhouse, Eleanor L., Ratcliffe, Joshua L., Andersen, Roxane, Suggitt, Andrew, Maclean, 
Ilya and Payne, Richard J. (2017) A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. 
Open Quaternary, 3. ISSN 2055-298X 
Published by: Ubiquity Press
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/oq.30 <http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/oq.30>
This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/40385/
Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access 
the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the 
individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners.  Single copies of full items can be reproduced, 
displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or 
study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, 
title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata 
page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any  
format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder.  The full policy is available online: 
http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/pol  i cies.html  
This  document  may differ  from the  final,  published version of  the research  and has been made 
available online in accordance with publisher policies. To read and/or cite from the published version 
of the research, please visit the publisher’s website (a subscription may be required.)
                        
Woodhouse, E L et al, 2017 A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core 
Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3: 2, pp. 1–4, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/
oq.30
DATA PAPER
A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core  
Meta-Database
Eleanor L. Woodhouse*, Joshua L. Ratcliffe†,‡, Roxane Andersen‡, Andrew Suggitt§,  
Ilya Macleanǁ and Richard J. Payne*,¶
* Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK 
† Science & Engineering, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, NZ
‡ Environmental Research Institute, North Highland College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Castle Street, Thurso,  
Caithness KW14 7JD, UK
§ Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK
ǁ	 Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
¶ Department of Zoology and Ecology, Penza State University, Krasnaya str. 40, 440026 Penza, RU
Corresponding author: Richard J. Payne (richard.payne@york.ac.uk)
Compilations of previous studies provide researchers with a source of valuable secondary data for re-
analysis, an access route to identify relevant literature and an opportunity to systematically evaluate the 
research which is conducted and published. Recently Suggitt et al. (2015 Veg Hist Archbot 24, 743–747) 
presented a valuable compilation of core records for England. Here we present an extended version of 
this English Sediment Core Meta-database which includes data for 100 additional cores and improves the 
consistency of presentation. Despite these additions there are clearly large gaps remaining. Maximising 
the value of such meta-databases requires a community effort and we hope that this contribution will be 
a first step towards achieving this. 
Keywords: Meta-database; Palaeoecology; Core records; Palaeoenvironments; Holocene
Funding statement: This study was supported by the University of York Research Priming Fund, the 
Leverhulme Trust (grant RPG-2015-162) and the Russian Scientific Fund (grant 14-14-00891). 
(1) Overview
Introduction
Compilations of metadata for previous studies can provide 
a number of important benefits to Quaternary scientists. 
Such meta-databases can be an effective way for research-
ers to identify relevant previous research and can provide 
a basis for secondary re-analysis of published datasets. 
Building such compilations also provides a useful oppor-
tunity to evaluate the ‘state of the art’ and assess trends, 
biases and gaps in the research which is undertaken and 
published. Previous databases covering the United King-
dom have focussed on specific environments such as lakes 
(Battarbee et al. 2011) or peatlands (Payne et al. 2016) or 
on specific methods such as pollen analysis (Fyfe et al. 
2009) or tephra (Newton et al. 2007). Recently Suggitt 
et al. (2015a) presented an English Sediment Core Meta-
database (ESCM) with the goal to ‘determine as many sedi-
ment coring sites in England as possible’ with a particular 
focus on the Holocene. This is an ambitious aim given the 
range of sedimentary archives and proxies encompassed 
and the quantity of research conducted in England over 
the last 100+ years. The resulting dataset, presented in 
supplementary material to the published paper, includes 
records for 763 locations and is a valuable tool for anyone 
interested in the late-Quaternary development of the Eng-
lish landscape. The scope of this compilation is very broad 
and the authors acknowledge that the resulting dataset is 
by no means exhaustive. Inevitably there are gaps in any 
such study and Tooley (2015) highlighted some data miss-
ing from the original paper. However, as noted by (Suggitt 
et al. 2015b), not all of these studies may have met the 
original inclusion criteria.
It is clear that there is more to be done and that the 
potential applications of the dataset will be maximised 
if it is as comprehensive as possible. Despite their value, 
substantive funding is rarely available for the assembly 
and maintenance of databases of this type. The Suggitt 
et al. (2015a) study was financed on a one-off basis by 
Natural England, and there is no funding for this to be 
further developed or updated with new research. The 
best possibility to maximise the value of the dataset is 
therefore for it to become a wider community project 
Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-DatabaseArt. 2,	page 2	of	4		
with contributions from other researchers as and when 
possible. 
Context
Spatial coverage
Description: England
Northern boundary: +55.8
Southern boundary: +49.9
Eastern boundary: +1.76
Western boundary: –5.7
Temporal coverage
14270BP to present.
(2) Methods
Steps
Here we present a modest addendum to the original data-
set based on recent work on peatland sites and new litera-
ture searches. We make contributions from four sources:
1) Firstly, to the published dataset we added data 
previously compiled by Payne et al. (2016) for 
peatland sites across Britain. This study identified 
475 radiocarbon dated peatland sites of which 
186 are in England. To be included the sites were 
required to have dates and sediment which could 
be confidently considered peat and the studies 
were required to have been published since 1970. 
We carefully cross-checked this dataset against the 
ESCM data and identified studies not included in 
the published dataset.
2) Secondly, to identify more recent papers we 
conducted new searches of the journal databases 
Google Scholar and Web of Science for search 
terms used in the original paper focussing on 
papers published since 2014.
3) Thirdly, we conducted additional searches using a 
variety of search terms not included in the original 
papers.
4) Finally, we added any other papers of which we 
were personally aware which were not otherwise 
included. 
We also take the opportunity presented by adding these 
additional data to refine and improve the presentation of 
the dataset. Specifically, we:
1) Add missing detail to the site entries when pos-
sible. 
2) Add missing information to the references and 
endeavour to improve the consistency of reference 
formatting wherever possible to make it easier for 
readers to identify the source material.
3) Correct some minor errors which we noted in 
passing. We also removed some entries which 
were highlighted as duplicates by a reviewer of 
this manuscript. 
4) Remove columns which we find not to be help-
ful to the general user or which appear to be 
inconsistently or infrequently recorded, namely 
those headed: ID, Full/partial dataset, Title, Search 
terms, Search facility and Provenance (AJS/ZT). 
Constraints
Our amendments both add a substantive body of new data 
and improve the consistency of presentation. However, 
with a task of this magnitude it is inevitable that there 
will be both omissions and most likely some errors. The 
database is clearly imperfect and biased in many ways and 
some of these may have been reinforced by the additions 
made here. The database is a work-in-progress. 
Repository location
Open Quaternary Dataverse. DOI: https://doi.org/ 
10.7910/DVN/PETMGY 
(3) Dataset description
Object name
Extended English Sediment Core Meta-database.xls.
Data type
Secondary data.
Format names and versions
Excel spreadsheet.
Creation dates
Last updated October 2016. 
Dataset Creators
The dataset published here reflects the work of both the 
authors of this paper and that of the original publication 
(Suggitt et al. 2015a) which should remain the primary 
reference for anyone using this database. 
Language
English.
License
CC0.
Publication date
12/10/2016.
(4) Reuse potential
We identified 100 site records not previously included in 
the ESCM dataset, representing an increase in the overall 
size of the database of 13% and bringing the total number 
of records represented to 849 after deletions. Given our 
own expertise a majority of these (~60%) are for peatland 
sites. Our additional data tend to reinforce the conclu-
sions of Suggitt et al. (2015a) regarding the nature of the 
research conducted. The majority of our new records are 
from northern England (Figure 1), the majority are studies 
based solely or largely on pollen and the vast majority are 
for the Holocene, particularly the mid-to-late Holocene. 
Additions included some quite highly-cited papers which 
were previously not included (Barber et al. 1994; Hendon 
et al. 2001; Mauquoy and Barber 2002). It should be cau-
tioned that the lack of representation of studies in the 
Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database Art. 2,	page 3	of	4
Figure 1: Sites included in the extended English Sediment Core Meta-database.
Woodhouse et al: A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-DatabaseArt. 2,	page 4	of	4		
database does not necessarily imply that studies have not 
been conducted; it may simply be the case that these have 
not been identified. Both the original database and our 
extended version have considerable biases, for instance, 
papers on coastal environments and the archaeological 
literature are clearly under-represented while freshwater 
peats are now quite well-represented. This bias may, for 
instance, mean that the impression that comparatively 
little research has been conducted in central England is 
misplaced. 
Minimising these biases requires contributions 
from researchers with a range of expertise from across 
Quaternary Science. Data sources such as radiocarbon 
date lists and databases, the Archaeological Data Service, 
thesis repositories and the institutional data holdings of 
organisations such as English Heritage and the British 
Geological Survey would doubtless reveal a wealth of fur-
ther data which would reward investigation. 
Without any direct funding we propose that the best 
way to continue to build and extend this database is by 
individual members of the Quaternary Science commu-
nity contributing data within their own areas of expertise. 
Data papers in this journal might be a useful way to 
facilitate this process although issues of consistency and 
quality control will require attention. We hope this may 
be the first of many such contributions bringing together 
knowledge from the research community to extend and 
refine this valuable database. 
Acknowledgements
We thank the inter-library loans staff at the J.B. Morrell 
University Library in York and the University of Stirling 
Library for their assistance tracking-down many obscure 
publications.
Competing Interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
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How to cite this article:	Woodhouse,	E	L,	Ratcliffe,	J	L,	Andersen,	R,	Suggitt,	A,	Maclean,	L	and	Payne,	R	J	2017	A	Modest	
Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database. Open Quaternary, 3: 2, pp. 1–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/oq.30
Submitted: 12 October 2016         Accepted: 11 January 2017            Published: 20 February 2017
Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons 
Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, 
provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
 
                          OPEN ACCESS Open Quaternary	is	a	peer-reviewed	open	access	journal	published	by	Ubiquity Press.


A Modest Addendum to the English Sediment Core Meta-Database

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