THE USGS FOSSIL REPOSITORY: DYNAMIC CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH DATA AND A LAND MANAGEMENT RESOURCE

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Denver Paleontology Repository is a remarkable, yet overlooked, data resource for studying the dynamics of Paleozoic (Early Cambrian) to late Mesozoic climate history. These invertebrate and vertebrate collections were amassed by research geologists of the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch (P&S Branch, 1894 to 1995), geologic mappers, and energy and mineral resource geologists. The Repository also houses a number of collections that originated from our USGS Menlo Park and Washington D.C. centers. The USGS Denver Paleontology Repository houses over 1000 Smithsonian fossil cases that contain, in total, an estimated quarter million fossil specimens. The remarkable abundance and diversity of the Repository’s collections also indicates that it represents one of the most comprehensive database of climate change for Paleozoic and Mesozoic time.

Staff at the Denver Paleontology Repository are presently converting analog locality and special registries, catalogs, and E&Rs (Examine and Report’s were in-house paleontological reports based on fossils submitted to the P&S Branch for analyses by other research geologists) into a digital database. This time-consuming, labor intensive work includes drawer-by-drawer inventories that contain the species lists for each collection and the physical location within the Repository. The authors also have conducted an inventory of all Paleozoic fossil collections from Oklahoma and work is underway to determine how these collections were used in the naming and dating of numerous formations by early 20^th century geologists. Specifically, this initial four-month study focused on 47 Oklahoma fossil cases that contain over 14,000 identified fossil species. The second phase of this study has included the georeferencing of each locality in GIS ArcMap. In addition to being primary research data for a variety of Federal and State Agencies that oversee and manage their lands, this study also represents one of the first attempts by USGS geologists to convert static “legacy” data into a dynamic research tool that traces the origins of the paleontologic data to ongoing geologic map and structural studies.