MACROSTRAT: AN INTEGRATIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR LEVERAGING GEOLOGICAL MAPS AND LINKED DATA RESOURCES

Bedrock and surficial geologic maps are models for the spatial distribution and ages of materials in Earth’s upper crust. As such, geologic maps are an integrative geological data product that can be used in wide range of academic, industrial, and governmental capacities. A large number of digital geologic maps, compiled at multiple different spatial scales, are available for many regions of the world. However, maps are distributed from multiple data providers and they are heterogeneous in digital format and in conventions used when representing data. This state makes it difficult to interrogate large numbers of geological maps and to deploy the full range of map-derived data in scientific and educational applications. In this forum, we provide a high-level overview of the Macrostrat geospatial database and summarize how we have combined >2M polygons from over 135 separate geologic map sources to produce a single interactive online geological data resource. Our objective is not to make maps more discoverable or convey them in original form. Instead, we integrate core map data into a common database for use and provide links to original sources. Stratigraphic lexicons, sample-based data, subsurface geological columns, and the published literature are linked together seamlessly. The primary benefits of integrating diverse geological datasets (beyond providing a uniform method for remote data access within custom applications like the Rockd and Flyover Country mobile Apps) is that information can be combined in a way that leverages the strengths of each data type. The clearest example is the improvement of the age constraints on geological map units using the chronostratigraphically-focused column data in Macrostrat, and the reciprocal improvement of the spatial footprint of Macrostrat units using the constraints provided by geologic maps. Fully leveraging existing geologic maps by making the entire range data and knowledge within them uniformly accessible opens up many avenues for improving scientific workflows and facilitating the flow of data and knowledge from academia and government into industrial and societal applications. Macrostrat highlights the importance of and need for the best possible geologic maps globally and provides a vehicle for quantitatively interrogating Earth’s upper crust.