GEOLOGISTS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

A global geology website has been built that is both an archive of stratigraphic information and a portal to the geology of the world. Like a cross between Google Maps and Wikipedia, globalgeology.com, uses a geological map of the world (1:10,000,000) as an interface to help users locate and enter geological information. This information includes not only stratigraphic descriptions, but also digital images of outcrops and stratigraphic sections, and links to supporting earth science websites. The information stored at global geology.com comes in small part from legacy databases such as the Paleogeographic Atlas Project Lithologic database, the Paleobiology database, and the PALEOMAP Project Lithologic Indicators of Climate database (over 250,000 combined entries). The bulk of the information, however, comes from the worldwide community of geologists, and like Wikipedia, the global geology website is an editable, community effort.

The concept is simple and is based on the premise that every geologist has a favorite outcrop or intimately knows the geology of a few special places. After selecting the appropriate time interval from an international stratigraphic time chart, a geologist can enter information about this patch of geology using an interface made up of check-boxes, drop-down menus and text-boxes. This information is stored in an SQL database and the geological map of the world and the stratigraphic time chart are updated indicating that new data has been archived. If another visitor to the global geology website selects the same time-patch, he can review the geological information on-line, download the information, or enter an updated record. As the number registered users increases and as more geological information is entered, the individual patches of geological information will merge to form a nearly complete four-dimensional map and database describing the geology of the world through time. The global geology website can be accessed at www.globalgeology.com, or through the PALEOMAP Project portal at www.scotese.com.