Coastal ecosystems are ecologically fragile but provide important ecosystem services and are often understudied. Physical sampling methods such as coring and well installation provide direct information but are limited in spatial and temporal resolution. Moreover, the disturbance caused by drilling or coring may damage fragile sediment structures causing ecological harm. In addition, these conventional sampling methods are time and cost consuming.

As part of a DOE-funded Phase 2 SBIR proposal, Vista Clara and University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) conducted in-situ measurements of soil hydrogeology in a salt marsh system (Figure 1) using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology.