Collaborative Research: GEO OSE Track 2: Building a multiscale community-led ecosystem for crustal geology through the integration of Macrostrat and StraboSpot

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Understanding the form and structure of the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust provides a window into Earth’s evolution and a structural framework in which to situate measurements of its properties and past environment. Macrostrat and StraboSpot are two software platforms and data systems that provide tools for tracking crustal rocks. Macrostrat provides a broad framework in which to integrate crustal stratigraphy (rocks organized by age) and mapping (rocks in spatial context) into a multiscale descriptive model of the crust. StraboSpot provides mobile apps and tools to collect field- and sample-based datasets, and a data system in which to store and access them. The platforms are complementary in their aims and function: Macrostrat lacks effective tools for users to input geologic maps and stratigraphic columns, and StraboSpot lacks a framework for synthesizing data from many researchers. This project integrates the two data systems to build user-facing functionality for data ingestion and contextualization, allowing data collected by individual researchers to contribute to integrative crustal models. Such synthesized results will contribute to a publicly accessible data framework that is used by hundreds of thousands of geologists and enthusiasts each year. Macrostrat and StraboSpot are established geoscience data systems that each support a broad community ecosystem of users. Macrostrat has revolutionized the digital delivery of geologic maps by integrating hundreds of isolated map publications into a single harmonized multiscale product. The StraboSpot app and data infrastructure supports the capture of new geologic data while preserving documentation elements (e.g., photos, measurements) that have not been previously carried through the mapping pipeline. This project integrates these data systems by building data pipelines from StraboSpot to Macrostrat for geologic maps, stratigraphic columns, and geological cross-sections. The software teams and approaches that contribute to these platforms will also be integrated, increasing efficiency and reducing duplicate work. Linking the data-capture capabilities of StraboSpot with Macrostrat’s sophisticated geological framework will harness the output of geological field studies to produce multiscale models of Earth’s crustal framework. This integration will address the fundamental data limitation of crustal research, which inhibits characterizing the upper crust in four dimensions (3 spatial dimensions and time) and impacts the effectiveness of geological process modeling. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.