COMMUNICATING 'EXPLORABLE' GEOSCIENCE WITH BIG PICTURES OF SMALL THINGS

The Mid-Atlantic Geo-Image Collection, initiated in 2010, consists of 1660 gigapixel-resolution images, of which ~600 are images of hand samples (rocks, fossils, and sediment), as of the end of 2016. The images are constructed using the GIGAmacro and Magnify² imaging systems at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus. Each final image, hosted on the gigapan.com website, is a composite of hundreds to tens of thousands of input images shot in a three-dimensional grid. Averaging ~1.0 gigapixels in size, the resulting images may be viewed on stand-alone webpages, embedded in other webpages (with or without details such as title or “snapshots”), or in Google Earth. The medium is ideal for contextualizing small-scale details with larger-scale patterns. No other group is producing macro-scale gigapixel-resolution of geologic subjects. All of our images are available for educators to use free of charge either as digital objects or in printed form.

Examples to be shared include:

• Virtual field experiences for many locations
• Samples from all of Virginia’s physiographic provinces
• Suites of fossil specimens from the Virginia Museum of Natural History
• Samples from the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa
• Samples collected in key geologic sites in Iceland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland
• Samples of Coastal Plain fossils paired with “Aquapod” derived coastal outcrop imagery
• Unrelated samples “remixed” into putatively related suites of images to create “fake field trips”
• Thin sections in plane- and cross-polarized light
• Scanning electron micrographs of minerals, sediments, and foraminifera

Advances to be showcased include:

• The addition of thin section and scanning electron micrographs to our repertoire
• The integration of macro images with outcrop-scale or regional contexts
• Altering imagery to remove photographic artifacts, add durable annotations, or “improve” a specimen for teaching purposes
• Integration of 3D models to convey shape with the higher-resolution GIGAmacro images