SEDIMENTARY VOCABULARY FOR AN INTEGRATED FIELD GEOLOGY DATA SYSTEM

Sedimentary geologists must find ways to integrate field data into digital databases to keep our science competitive and relevant. The path forward must involve the diverse community and leverage existing resources. Through a NSF EarthCube project, we build on the StraboSpot data system (initially developed for structural geology). Multidimensional data are handled by the “Spot” concept, and multiple interpretational layers and relationships are handled by the “Tag” concept. The first step is coming up with a consensus on common terminology for sedimentary fieldwork. A preliminary workshop of experts focused on an organized vocabulary list to be programmed into the data system. This work was refined in the subsequent months. A common vocabulary is a necessary step towards integrating our science into a data management system, and is a teaching tool for students in the field. The vocabulary focuses on capturing the majority of features for clastics, carbonates, and evaporites, in both outcrop and core.

The second step is coming up with a consensus on logical workflow to facilitate the diverse aspects of sedimentary geology fieldwork. Some of the biggest challenges arose from how field data is often very personalized. Further, collected field data is connected to group observations and interpretations in many non-linear ways. Our current focus is to develop a new mapping mode to facilitate input data as a stratigraphic column. We will continue to solicit feedback from the sedimentary geology community on this iterative process, to ensure that we can capture the complex and multiple scale data.