HR: 0800h
AN: GP21A-0114 [Abstracts]
TI: Uploading, Searching and Visualizing of Paleomagnetic and Rock Magnetic Data in the Online MagIC Database
AU: * Minnett, R
EM: rminnett@ucsd.edu
AF: University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, IGPP, 8800
Biological Grade, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225, United States
AU: Koppers, A
EM: akoppers@coas.oregonstate.edu
AF: Oregon State University, College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences, 104 COAS Admin
Bldg., Corvallis, OR 97331-5503, United States
AU: Tauxe, L
EM: ltauxe@ucsd.edu
AF: University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, GRD 300, C Ritter
Hall, La Jolla, CA 92093-0220, United States
AU: Constable, C
EM: cconstable@ucsd.edu
AF: University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, IGPP, 8800
Biological Grade, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225, United States
AU: Donadini, F
EM: fdonadini@ucsd.edu
AF: University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, IGPP, 8800
Biological Grade, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225, United States
AB:
The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) is commissioned to implement and maintain an online portal to
a relational database populated by both rock and paleomagnetic data. The goal of MagIC is to archive all
available measurements and derived properties from paleomagnetic studies of directions and intensities, and for
rock magnetic experiments (hysteresis, remanence, susceptibility, anisotropy).
MagIC is hosted under EarthRef.org at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/ and will soon implement two search nodes, one
for paleomagnetism and one for rock magnetism. Currently the PMAG node is operational. Both nodes provide
query building based on location, reference, methods applied, material type and geological age, as well as a
visual map interface to browse and select locations. Users can also browse the database by data type or by data
compilation to view all contributions associated with well known earlier collections like PINT, GMPDB or PSVRL.
The query result set is displayed in a digestible tabular format allowing the user to descend from locations to
sites, samples, specimens and measurements. At each stage, the result set can be saved and, where
appropriate, can be visualized by plotting global location maps, equal area, XY, age, and depth plots, or typical
Zijderveld, hysteresis, magnetization and remanence diagrams.
User contributions to the MagIC database are critical to achieving a useful research tool. We have developed a
standard data and metadata template (version 2.3) that can be used to format and upload all data at the time of
publication in Earth Science journals. Software tools are provided to facilitate population of these templates within
Microsoft Excel. These tools allow for the import/export of text files and provide advanced functionality to manage
and edit the data, and to perform various internal checks to maintain data integrity and prepare for uploading. The
MagIC Contribution Wizard at http://earthref.org/MAGIC/upload.htm executes the upload and takes only a few
minutes to process tens of thousands of data records. The standardized MagIC template files are stored in the
digital archives of EarthRef.org where they remain available for download by the public (in both text and Excel
format). Finally, the contents of these template files are automatically parsed into the online relational database,
making the data available for online searches in the paleomagnetic and rock magnetic search nodes.
During the upload process the owner has the option of keeping the contribution private so it can be viewed in the
context of other data sets and visualized using the suite of MagIC plotting tools. Alternatively, the new data can be
password protected and shared with a group of users at the contributor's discretion. Once they are published and
the owner is comfortable making the upload publicly accessible, the MagIC Editing Committee reviews the
contribution for adherence to the MagIC data model and conventions to ensure a high level of data integrity.
UR: http://earthref.org/MAGIC
DE: 1521 Paleointensity
DE: 1525 Paleomagnetism applied to tectonics: regional, global
DE: 1540 Rock and mineral magnetism
DE: 1594 Instruments and techniques
DE: 1599 General or miscellaneous
SC: Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism [GP]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting