Geochemical characterization data of harbors dredged sediments in the Occitanie region (southern France).

ABSTRACT

Over the last 15 years, numerous analyses of sediment from the Mediterranean harbors of Occitanie (Southern France) has been made before dredging operations in order to assess geochemical quality of dredged sediment and define the extend of dredging project and the potential fate of dredged sediment (sea dumping vs management on land). However, these data are today scattered, printed and stored as archives, and not directly accessible. With time, those data are expected to be lost for the community whereas they constitute an irreplaceable and mobilizable knowledge base to address the challenges of the circular economy. Characterization data aid in developing regulations for better land-based management of dredged sediments. Existing data are also needed to define pollutant limits in sediments for different uses of marine resources. The collection of these data can thus offer a unique opportunity to assess the geochemical quality of dredged marine sediments and their determining factors. The dataset collected is composed of geochemical characteristics of 146 marine sediments wastes collected before dredging operations between 2010 and 2021. The sampling was designed to capture the large diversity of sediment distribution in harbors of southern France. The dataset contains a wide range of variability in the composition characteristics of dredged sediment (dry matter, organic matter, total nitrogen and phosphorus, sulphate, chloride, trace metals and organics elements). Because the dataset provides information about the characteristics defining the geochemical quality of dredged sediments, it can be used further for research, waste management or dredged sediment valorization, and represent a great interest to other researchers, harbors managers and stakeholders in search of references on the geochemical quality of dredged sediments for their reuse.