ITR (EAR): Electronic Library of Lithospheric Imagery from deeP Seismic Exploration (ELLIPSE)

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

EAR-0219069 Larry D. Brown The seismic reflection method, developed primarily by the oil exploration industry, is arguably geophysics' most versatile and powerful tool for mapping the earth's lithosphere. It has been increasingly applied over the past 25 years to a wide variety of scientific problems associated with the earth's crust and upper mantle by a diverse mixture of individual, institutional, national and international programs. The results from these efforts have revolutionized, and continue to advance, our understanding of the Earth's interior. Yet until now there has been no central guide to the results of those efforts. A comprehensive, global, electronic library of deep seismic reflection surveys past and present is being developed in this project as a major new resource for both research and teaching. This catalog, in the form of a GIS database with user-friendly cartographic interface, will serve as an internet portal to a metalibrary of deep reflection data that is derived from the physical libraries that are now globally dispersed and heterogeneously maintained. A core component of this metalibrary, and a proposed template for organizing comparable physical collections worldwide, are the COCORP (US), INDEPTH (Tibet) and URSEIS (Russia) datasets currently archived at Cornell. These datasets are not only of considerable continuing scientific value in their own right; they typify the range of data characteristics of the larger global collection. The catalog includes expanded digital access to both raw and processed data in the Cornell holdings, as well as supporting documentation, field photos, corollary datasets and published interpretations. The facility greatly facilitates quantitative syntheses, evaluation of seismic techniques, and planning of future seismic geophysical experiments. Of special interest with respect to the latter is the EARTHSCOPE initiative in the U.S., for which the COCORP dataset in particular is a fundamental resource. Organized electronic publication will aid not only the serious researcher but also the non-specialist who finds the final product useful for synthesis with other data, the classroom instructor who needs an easily comprehensive form of the results for the general student, or the earth science student who simply wants to browse the earth's interior for inspiration. This global catalog, along with the revamped Cornell holdings, is being integrated with related programs in the U.S. and around the world.