LITHOLOGICAL AND STRATIGRAPHICAL DATA WAREHOUSE INFORMATION SYSTEM

Over the last years we have observed growing interest and common goal of the research community dedicated to geology to support their fieldwork with automated information systems. This ongoing work deals with the design and implementation of a data warehouse information system that seek to support the data management requirements to store, classify, manage, retrieve and represent lithological and stratigraphical information .

This paper explores the implementation of an information system to support some of the activities in the field of geological studies performed by the Faculty of Engineering, U.A.Ch. The prototype system will be the basis of information infrastructure to support the research project "PERMIAN MAGMATIC ARC RELATED TO OUACHITA SUTURE ZONE, IN CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO", which requires a storage system, information management and report generator.

To support decision making in the research conducted in the geology field, historical information is required, while typically it is not retained in transactional databases. In this context, information on transactional databases, although abundant, is usually far from enough to support decision making. Using a data warehouse with a data cube allow data to be modeled and viewed from multiple perspectives, which can be adjusted to the user needs. So far, the system focuses on fact tables related to measurable proprieties associated to lithological and stratigraphical characteristics, allowing to deliver excellent query performance, even for complex analytic queries consisting of abstract questions like " where's the location from the rock samples with certain kind of physical characteristic?".

The design and implementation of this prototype was established in three phases: characterization, modeling and application. The development of this model will help to contribute to settle a precedent in designing lithological and stratigraphical data stores, building new ways to display information fitting to the needs of the moment.