THE NATIONAL GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL DATA PRESERVATION PROGRAM

Current geological and geophysical data preservation in the United States comprises disparate facilities, of variable effectiveness, with no national standards, and little coordination. Some facilities are excellent; however it is more common for inadequately cataloged materials to reside in overfilled and unorganized storage not originally designed as data repositories. Preserving and maintaining geoscience data and collections has not kept pace with the growing need for information. Geological and geophysical data preservation will provide access to samples and related data from the Earth to improve science and decision making now and in the future.

The National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program Act of 2005, provides an unprecedented opportunity to make available important collections and data. They will be preserved through a national network of cooperating geoscience materials repositories and data archives. Early efforts of the new program include creating a National Catalog and developing minimum standards and best practices for preservation and archiving various geologic data and collections.