OCEAN SEDIMENTS IN GOOGLE EARTH: DISTRIBUTION OF SURFICIAL MARINE SEDIMENTS AND VIRTUAL VISITS TO “TYPE SECTION” LITHOLOGIC LOCATIONS ON THE SEAFLOOR

The types of marine sediments and the processes that result in their geographic distribution on the seafloor are essential topics in oceanography and marine geology courses. The most widely used and adapted global surficial sediment map of the seafloor was made by Davies and Gorsline in 1976 (Oceanic sediments and sedimentary processes, in Riley and Chester, Eds., Chemical Oceanography); adaptations of it are still used in oceanography textbooks today. However, fifty years of marine sediment coring by national and international research programs, and open online databases such as the National Geophysical Data Center Index to Marine and Lacustrine Samples (http://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/sample_index/), provide the opportunity to access marine lithologic data from the global ocean in a volume and format not possible when the Davies and Gorsline map was constructed. Therefore, such empirical data is now being plotted in Google Earth in order to create a digital map of the surficial lithology of the seafloor and associated teaching materials on marine sediments. This project is part of the NSF-funded GEODE program (http://geode.net/), which aims to use Google Earth to develop resources for geoscience education. The project also compliments an inquiry-based seafloor sediment exercise (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/intro/activities/29154.html), which is part of the NSF-funded Reconstructing Earth’s Climate History exercise suite. To date, the surficial lithology of 2000 sites have been plotted in Google Earth from DSDP, ODP, IODP, and WHOI research programs, and a preliminary map showing the North Atlantic seafloor distribution of terrigenous sediments, calcareous oozes, siliceous oozes, glaciomarine sediments, and red clays is under construction. Each site plotted is directly linked to the original lithologic descriptions and core images so that educators and students can explore the data further. In an associated Google Earth site tour, users are guided to compare “type sections” of each of the primary marine sediment lithologies, as well as examine site transects to address questions of sediment transport, ocean circulation, chemistry (e.g., CCD), and bioproductivity as influences on modern seafloor sedimentation.