THE MONTANA GEOSCIENCE DATA PROJECT: A PRE-EARTHSCOPE RESOURCE IN FOUR DIMENSIONS FOR INTEGRATING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

In anticipation of deployment of EarthScope instrumentation in the northern Rocky Mountains, we have created a GIS-based, on-line resource to help researchers plan future projects, and to facilitate integration of geoscience research and education. A digital elevation map (DEM) with 90 meters/ pixel resolution, constructed from the NASA/JPL Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), serves as the base at a scale of 1: 500,000. The DEM coverage includes all of Montana and adjacent areas north to Lethbridge, AB, west to Spokane WA, south to the Snake River Plain and east to the N. Dakota border. Geologic data are currently focused on the State of Montana, and derive from the State Geologic Mapping Program conducted by the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology and the USGS. Individual GIS layers show the distribution of: Archean basement, Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic (Belt Supergroup) rocks, Cretaceous and Tertiary plutons and volcanic fields, major structures (lineaments, and Laramide, Sevier, and Basin-and-Range faults), basins, landforms, and glacial coverage. We are also compiling a comprehensive geochronological database with separate layers representing different geochronometers and thermochronometers such as U-Pb detrital zircon, U-Pb primary zircon, Ar-Ar hornblende, biotite, and muscovite ages, etc. The geochronology database will be expanded as new data become available. In the near future we will be adding geophysical data (gravity, aeromagnetics, and heatflow). The GIS data layers may be accessed via an FTP site for researchers to use at their home institutions, and we will be implementing an internet map server so that users can generate on-line maps in real-time. Users are encouraged to use and contribute to this database. http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/mtgeodata/index.html