Two sediment depth cores were collected from a mud sediment patch at the sea floor of the Irish Sea. Cores were collected by the University of Manchester. Cores were sliced at 1 cm intervals from 0 - 10 cm, and at 2 cm intervals thereafter. Slicing was performed in an anaerobic bag. Samples were transferred to Newcastle University for DNA extraction. A total of 21 samples were extracted for core 1, and 23 samples extracted for core 2.