EARTHCHEM & GEOFRAME: SUPPORTING NEW SCIENCE WITH ADVANCED ACCESS TO PETROLOGICAL DATA OF THE DEEP LITHOSPHERE

Investigation of fundamental problems regarding the nature and evolution of the earth's systems often involves a multidisciplinary approach and requires global geochemical data. EarthChem (www.earthchem.org) is an ongoing NSF-funded project that will dramatically advance access to geochemical data by establishing a data portal to a federation of interoperable databases, such as PetDB, NAVDAT, GEOROC, SedDB, PaleoStrat, and USGS geochemical datasets, incorporating data compilations into a format that follows standard protocols for data and metadata. The continued development of the EarthChem data holdings is guided by an ongoing dialogue with the community to assess the needs of researchers and educators and to complement the goals of other large scale projects. Discussions with members of the GeoFrame initiative have led to the development of a new EarthChem dataset of deep lithosphere geochemical data. GeoFrame's goal is to systematically integrate geologic knowledge with the unprecedented Earth imaging to be collected under the USArray program of EarthScope. EarthChem's new Deep Lithosphere dataset contains published and unpublished xenolith data compiled from discrete databases provided by contributors, and was created in response to the community's need for a comprehensive collection of data from samples of the Earth's mantle. Inclusion of analytical data from ultramafic suites and granulite terranes is underway. The database links geochemical data for bulk rocks, minerals, and melts inclusions with a wide array of information about the samples and analytical procedures. The data model and the interactive, web-based user interface have been adopted from the PetDB database (www.petdb.org). The interface allows users to search data by a number of parameters, including sample name, location, rock type, and author, in addition to major element, trace element, and isotopic composition. EarthChem will demonstrate the new dataset at its booth in the 2006 GSA Annual Meeting Exhibit and at the EarthChem workshop that will be held in conjunction with the meeting, sponsored by GSA's Geoscience Education Division to help students and interested faculty develop knowledge and expertise in the use of geochemical databases, and geoinformatics, relational databases, and data reporting in general.