THE "M.A.G.I.C."AL GROWTH OF AN ONLINE GIGAPAN REPOSITORY FOR GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION

The Mid-Atlantic Geo-Image Collection (M.A.G.I.C.) is a growing repository of gigapixel-resolution geologic imagery intended as a tool for geoscience professionals, educators, students, and researchers. It is located online at http://gigapan.com/groups/100/galleries. The GigaPan medium provides a unique combination of context and detail, with images that maintain a high level of resolution through every level of magnification. Using geological GigaPans, physically disabled students can participate in virtual field trips, instructors can bring inaccessible outcrops into the classroom, students can zoom in on hand samples without expensive microscopes, and professionals in different locations can virtually “share” samples. Because GigaPan images permit detailed visual examination of geologic features on a computer screen comparable to what can be seen in the field or in the lab, M.A.G.I.C. is particularly suitable for use in online geology courses.The images are free to use, print, and tag, and are instantly accessible online.

M.A.G.I.C. currently includes suites of images related to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, Eocene insect fossils from Florissant fossil beds, a robust collection of Precambrian rocks, sediment samples from around the world, many folded and faulted outcrops from the fold and thrust belts of both the Valley and Ridge Province and the Canadian Rockies, physical geology rock and mineral specimens, and a set of destroyed/extinct outcrops of Miocene strata on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. Additional suites of thematically related GigaPans will be added over the coming years.