A stainless steel coring tube with an inside diameter of 1 cm and a length of 10 cm will be used. Samples will be placed in ziploc plastic bags and preserved in buffered formalin with Rose Bengal stain. Samples will then be processed in our lab at Old Dominion University. Sampling strategy will be more precisely determined once we acquire surved elevations in Phillips Creek. Two transects will be established and tied to the benchmark in Phillips Creek. One will run from a creek and in an eastward direction along a steeper sloping marsh face. The other will run in a northerly direction along a more gentle sloping marsh face. I estimate that on the shorter (eastward) transect about 10 samples need to be taken and about 20 samples along the longer, more northerly transect. I am estimateing that samples will need to be taken four timees a year.