Transcript Allister Rees/Arizona

FOSSIL AND SEDIMENTARY DATA
AND TOOLS DEVELOPMENT
Allister Rees and Karl Flessa, University of Arizona
GOAL:
To enable the scientific community to use fossil and sedimentary data to
examine how the evolution of the earth’s surface interacts with the evolution of life
APPROACHES:
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Interoperability of the Paleogeographic Atlas Project and Paleobiology databases
Incorporation with (e.g.) Utah EGI and Dinosauria databases
External collaboration (Chris Scotese PALEOMAP/CHRONOS)
Funding partners (Shell, Occidental)
EDUCATION/OUTREACH:
Develop instructional materials
http://www.geo.arizona.edu/~/rees/UAquestions.html
http://www.geo.arizona.edu/geo3xx/geo308/WebLab.htm
The Paleogeographic Atlas Project (PGAP) database: its status within GEON
Why develop interoperability of the PGAP and Paleobiology Databases,
and why integrate these with paleogeographic maps?
How does extinction and diversity vary with:
• time
• geography, tectonic setting
• climate
Beyond interoperability of two databases – some next steps
The Paleogeographic Atlas Project (PGAP) Database
Original PGAP User Interface…
PGAP in GEON…
Integrating Information:
Diversity, Geography and Climate
Fossil Plants:
Paleobiology Database
Late Jurassic
Sedimentary Rocks:
PGAP Database
Early Triassic
Paleogeography:
PALEOMAP Project
Early Carboniferous
The GEON Test Beds
Spatial-Temporal PGAP and Paleobiology data coverage
PGAP Database
Paleobiology Database
+ 19,655 Paleozoic fossil
genus occurrences
Integrating Information: Oil Industry Partnership
‘Paleogeography of Sedimentary and Oil source Rocks:
a Geoinformatics Approach’
(Lithofacies Databases and ArcGIS Maps)
Shell
Occidental
PGAP Lithofacies
PGAP Climate Sensitive
Sediments
Oil Source Rocks
Research Partnership
Chris Scotese
The Spatial-Temporal Information
Matrix (STIM Cube): An Efficient Way
To Store Geological Information
(Scotese & Rees, GSA 2004)
Integrating Information
Identifying the different sources of variation in diversity curves
through time…
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sampling
geography
climate
evolution
…provides much deeper understanding of how the evolution
of the earth’s surface interacts with the evolution of life