HR: 16:30h
AN: IN44A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: EarthChem: International Collaboration for Solid Earth Geochemistry in Geoinformatics
AU: * Walker, J D
EM: jdwalker@ku.edu
AF: Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 United States
AU: Lehnert, K A
EM: lehnert@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964 United States
AU: Hofmann, A W
EM: hofmann@mpch-mainz.mpg.de
AF: Max Planck Institut fuer Chemie, Postfach 3060, Mainz, 55020 Germany
AU: Sarbas, B
EM: sarbas@mpch-mainz.mpg.de
AF: Max Planck Institut fuer Chemie, Postfach 3060, Mainz, 55020 Germany
AU: Carlson, R W
EM: carlson@dtm.ciw.edu
AF: Dept. of Terrestrial Mag., Carnegie Inst. of Washington, Washington, DC 20015 United States
AB: The current on-line information systems for igneous rock geochemistry - PetDB, GEOROC, and NAVDAT - convincingly demonstrate the value of rigorous scientific data management of geochemical data for research and education. The next generation of hypothesis formulation and testing can be vastly facilitated by enhancing these electronic resources through integration of available datasets, expansion of data coverage in location, time, and tectonic setting, timely updates with new data, and through intuitive and efficient access and data analysis tools for the broader geosciences community. PetDB, GEOROC, and NAVDAT have therefore formed the EarthChem consortium (www.earthchem.org) as a international collaborative effort to address these needs and serve the larger earth science community by facilitating the compilation, communication, serving, and visualization of geochemical data, and their integration with other geological, geochronological, geophysical, and geodetic information to maximize their scientific application. We report on the status of and future plans for EarthChem activities. EarthChem's development plan includes: (1) expanding the functionality of the web portal to become a `one-stop shop for geochemical data' with search capability across databases, standardized and integrated data output, generally applicable tools for data quality assessment, and data analysis/visualization including plotting methods and an information-rich map interface; and (2) expanding data holdings by generating new datasets as identified and prioritized through community outreach, and facilitating data contributions from the community by offering web-based data submission capability and technical assistance for design, implementation, and population of new databases and their integration with all EarthChem data holdings. Such federated databases and datasets will retain their identity within the EarthChem system. We also plan on working with publishers to ease the assimilation of geochemical data into the EarthChem database. As a community resource, EarthChem will address user concerns and respond to broad scientific and educational needs. EarthChem will hold yearly workshops, town hall meetings, and/or exhibits at major meetings. The group has established a two-tier committee structure to help ease the communication and coordination of database and IT issues between existing data management projects, and to receive feedback and support from individuals and groups from the larger geosciences community.
UR: http://www.earthchem.org
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 1000 GEOCHEMISTRY
SC: Earth and Space Science Informatics [IN]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005