DEVELOPMENT OF A GOOGLE EARTH™ GEOLOGIC DATABASE: ST. FRANCOIS MOUNTAINS, MISSOURI

The St. Francois Mountains of southeastern Missouri are of interest to geologists because the region is home to the largest exposure of igneous rock in the central United States. This igneous complex is approximately 1.2 billion years old and is believed to have been part of an extensive, subduction-related volcanic arc during the Precambrian. Many of the characteristic bedrock knobs of the region expose the remnants of eroded caldera-complexes (parental epizonal, granitic plutons and associated rhyolitic volcanics (lavas and ash-flow tuffs)). The northern and central regions of the St. Francois Mountains have been well-mapped and studied. For over twenty years, Dr. Vernon (Max) Brown and his graduate students at the University of Toledo performed extensive work on the igneous rocks of the central and south-central St. Francois Mountains, much of which remains unpublished. Recently, upon the retirement of Dr. Brown, all of the materials associated with the University of Toledo research group were donated to the Department of Geosciences at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. These materials include rock samples, thin sections, geochemical samples and analyses, geologic maps, research theses, and research literature. In 2008, work was initiated on a website that will utilize Google EarthTM to organize and provide access to all of the donated research materials. The website will include information on samples (locations, pictures, petrography, geochemistry, and age dates), maps and map overlays (geologic, aeromagnetic, and gravity), stratigraphic columns, and other miscellaneous data. Google Earth™ KMZ files that contain much of the data also will be posted on the website for users to download. These files will permit users to view research from this region in a creative and interactive way. Google EarthTM represents a promising new format in which to store and retrieve unpublished geologic data that might otherwise be discarded or lost over time.