Global Climate Dollar

Belowground soil and organic sampling

Belowground soil and organic sampling

Welcome to part two of, “Global Climate Dollar and the Common Carbon Content Sample Collection.”

For the belowground soil and organic sampling.

  1. For the below ground soil and organic sampling, collect a soil sample directly beneath where the organic material sample was taken.
  2. Using soil sampling auger or pick and shovel, gather a perpendicular to surface soil sample to a depth of 1 m.
  3. As you dig the hole, place the soil in order along the length of your clean flat surface. 
  4. For example, the soil that came out of the hole closest to the surface should be on the left-hand end of the clean flat surface, ending with the soil that came out of the bottom of the hole to the far right-hand side, and all of the soil in between should be kept as close as practical to the order that it came out of the hole.
  5. Your goal here is to create a representative sample by collecting small amounts of soil from the top to the bottom of the hole that you are digging.
  6. While collecting your belowground samples you may encounter stony or rocky ground, this may prevent the collection of a complete sample to a depth of 1 m. 
  7. In this situation place The Groovy Sample Stick into the hole to measure from the bottom of the hole to the top.
  8. Place a straight edge across the hole and then move your rubber band to the depth achieved and record the achieved depth by writing “Sample depth” and your achieved depth in millimetres, on the outside of the sample collection container or bag and on your data collection sheet or tablet.
  9. Now place your Groovy Sample Stick on your clean flat board next to the soil you have removed from the hole.
  10. Make sure that all of the soil is confined within the distance from 0 to the depth achieved all the way up to 1 m.
  11. If the depth achieved was 750 mm you would confine all of your soil between zero and 750 mm.
sampling-auger-or-pick-and-shovel-2

12. Now using your fingers or a small tool, collect samples of soil all the way along the pile and press them firmly into The Groovy Sample Stick groove, directly adjacent to where the sample was collected from the pile until the groove is full, but not overfull.

13. Pick up The Groovy Sample Stick and place it to one side, careful not to lose any of the soil sample.

14. Return the remaining soil on the clean flat surface to the hole that it came out of, this may be an opportunity for you to plant some seeds or a tree if you want to.

15. Once the board is clean, return The Groovy Sample Stick to the clean flat surface and tip it on its side and remove the soil sample, it may be necessary to use a stick or a tool to dig the soil out of the groove.

16. Then place sample in container or bag.

17. Weigh sample using digital scales, record weight on the outside of sample bag/sample container and on paper or printable data sheet.

18. Then seal bag or container with tape, put your signature on it using a permanent marker, label sample container or bag, with the following information in this order, longitude, latitude, day, month, year, and the map sample location number, then photograph sample.

19. Cover disturbed ground with surrounding leaf litter, returning it to close as practical to its original state upon arrival. 

20. If the samples require drying to prevent decay, then the sample must not leave the sample bag/sample container, take photo of bag at new location then cut tape only and open.

21. Dry sample through evaporation or low temperature drying only.

22.Once dry, reseal bag with tape, re-sign across tape with permanent marker, take photo of signature and record new weight of bag or container on the outside of the sample bag/sample container, take and add photos to records. 

Repeat sample collection at all Common Carbon Content Sample Collection locations marked on your representative sampling map.

The last thing you must do is to take a selfie of the person or people doing the job, this needs to be uploaded with all the other photos.

Next you need to deliver all samples to a soil laboratory for “Organic Carbon Content Testing” ONLY! These testing results along with, all photos and the selfies are to be uploaded to Global Climate Dollars’ webpage at the GC-landowner’s or a GC-worker’s earliest convenience. 

These photos and laboratory testing results are used to validate the GC-landowners and GC-workers claim for Global Climate Dollars.

Congratulations, this is the end of Common Carbon content sample collection.

Thank you for helping to save our planet.