PALEODATA, PROGRESS OF THE PALEONTOLOGIC DATABASE OF THE NATIONAL GEOLOGIC MAP DATABASE PROJECT

The Paleodata database is the congressionally mandated national paleontologic database. The prototype of the database features most of the paleontologic information for the Guadalupe Peak 1:100,000 Quadrangle, West Texas. As part of the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) Project, Paleodata is necessarily map oriented and indexed to the 1:100,000 USGS quadrangles of the US. Many of the clients, specifically land managers dealing with fossil preservation, need only accurate fossil localities with just the coarsest of fossil information, i.e., whether the collection consists of vertebrate, invertebrate, plant, or trace fossils. Much of the information, but not all, is legacy data, contained in museum records, USGS field notes, and USGS informal reports (known as “E&R’s”). For instance, the majority of fossil localities for the Guadalupe Peak prototype are well located (King, 1948, plate 2), but do not include fossil information. All of that information was found on a single set of index cards, handwritten, in pencil, by George H. Girty from 1924-1935, located in a dark corner of the Smithsonian Institution. That data now has been digitized and incorporated in the database.

The goal of Paleodata is to deliver the information referenced to the publication format utilized (formal or informal) so that it is available to the public for them to decide whether or not to pursue the information further. It strives to preserve as much legacy information as possible before that data is lost. Paleodata does not deal with synonymies or taxonomic dictionaries. However, because paleontologists tend to collect and recollect from the “good” sites, following the identification of fossil collections from the same site can resolve many taxonomic questions.

Additional parts of the Paleodata prototype that are in production are the Manhattan 1:100,000 Quadrangle, Kansas, and all the informal mollusk reports from California of Warren Addicott, but soon to be expanded to all his reports that cover material from all the West Coast, Alaska, Mexico, and scattered collections around the Pacific Rim. Paleodata may be accessed through the NGMDB website, http://ngmdb.usgs.gov.