Colour reflectance measurements on sediment core PS72/396-5

This data set comprises colour reflectance measurements conducted with a hand-held spectrophotometer (Minolta CM 2002, lens diameter 8mm, field of view 0.8 cm2) at wave lengths from 400 to 700 nm, connected to a Macintosh Powerbook 5300C. Output files are the L*a*b* colour space that is also referred to as CIELAB space (Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage L*a*b colour space 1976), the chroma, hue and value of the Munsell Colour Chart (http://www.munsell.com), the percentage value of the spectrum at 10 nm steps from 400 to 700nm, and the colour values x,y and z that are defined according to the RGB colour space (CIE 1931). Lightness L* (grey scale) is recorded from 0 % (black) to 100% (white), the red-green colour space a* from -4 (green) to 16 (red), and the yellow-blue colour space b* from 0 (blue) to 40 (yellow). The spectral reflectance was measured at cm intervals on freshly split core surfaces that were covered with transparent foil. Every core section was measured separately, and a white calibration first without and then with foil was conducted before and after each core section to identify a possible drift of the spectrophotometer measurements. The raw spectral photometer data were edited by removing obvious outliers e.g. unrealistic values due to uneven core surfaces and erroneous measurements