We recorded a total of 296 disturbed patches within our study site, which contained an otherwise continuous salt marsh meadow of area 7,275 m2 (equivalent to the area of a soccer field). The average area of these disturbances was 7.5 ± 2.3 m2 (mean m2 ± SE). C stocks in the top 0-15 cm were 23.76 ± 1.02 Mg C ha-1 in disturbed plots and 29.81 ± 1.76 Mg C ha-1 in undisturbed plots. Dry bulk density was consistent in both disturbed and undisturbed plots (Figure 2a), showing a slight (~30%) decline from 0–1 cm to 1-3 cm, but then remaining relatively constant throughout the rest of the core. Sediment organic C content in disturbed and undisturbed areas of salt marsh both showed a similar ‘hump’ shaped distribution in their organic C content with depth (0–15 cm, Figure 2b), reaching a peak in the 3–5 cm zone (undisturbed - 5.1 ± 1.0%; disturbed 3.9 ± 0.6%; mean ± SE). Sediment organic C content was best explained by an interaction between plot type (disturbed vs. undisturbed) and sediment depth (Figure 2b Table 1): undisturbed plots had higher sediment organic C than disturbed plots, but only at depths of 1–5 cm (Table 1).