CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SIERRA NEVADA DIGITAL EARTH SCIENCE ATLAS: DIGITAL COMPILATION OF ISOTOPIC AND FOSSIL AGES WITHIN THE SIERRA NEVADA

As part of the Sierra Nevada Digital Earth Science Atlas project, (SNDESA), the California Geological Survey, has compiled available isotopic and fossil geochronological data at 1:400,000 scale. In creating and compiling a spatial geodatabase, we captured and recorded the different methodologies previous authors have reported the spatial location of their data (e.g., map coordinates, geologic maps, and geologic units) and have recorded and assigned uncertainties. In addition to the spatial data, we added type of dating method used, sample lithology, the authors’ interpreted and the authors’ reported age uncertainty if any. In total, the database is composed of 1,896 data points from 108 publications, of these, 119 are fossil locations. The geodatabase can be queried by author, location, type of dating, geologic age, and rock type.

This geochronological geodatabase is only one component of the Sierra Nevada Digital Earth Science Atlas project and is hoped to serve as a main reference and to facilitate future research. This geodatabase is intended to be publicly available, and periodically updated by the CGS as subsequent data become available.