T160 EARTHTIME: From Developing Tools to Teaching about Time

Tuesday, 20 October 2009
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
C123

EARTH HISTORY VISUALIZATION – THE TIMESCALE CREATOR SYSTEM AND DATAPACKS

Paper number: T160-15
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:30 AM – 11:45 AM

Authors

Abstract

TimeScale Creator, a free JAVA package (www.tscreator.org) under the auspices of the Subcommission on Stratigraphic Information (stratigraphy.science.purdue.edu) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (www.stratigraphy.org) enables on-screen exploration and creation of charts of any portion of the geologic time scale from an extensive suite of global and regional events in Earth History. The internal database suite encompasses over 20,000 biologic, geomagnetic, sea-level, stable isotope, igneous provinces, bolide impacts, and other events. All ages are currently standardized to Geologic Time Scale 2004, and to the Concise Geologic Time Scale compilation. The on-screen display has a variety of options, including “hot-curser-points” to open windows providing additional information on events, zones and boundaries. Columns can include images (e.g., global reconstructions) or age-calibrated regional transects. User-customized charts can be saved in SVG or PDF formats.

Additional datapacks in the TimeScale Creator library included selected regional themes (e.g., British Isles facies successions, Phanerozoic biostratigraphy of Russian Basins, New Zealand range charts, Gulf of Mexico biozonations) and specialized stratigraphy (e.g., Cenozoic oxygen-isotope data sets, ice cores and Milankovitch cycles, and archeological culture intervals). We are striving to eventually include details for all regional geologic histories. For example, a joint program with Geoscience Australia has compiled an extensive Australian regional biostratigraphy and a full array of basin stratigraphies (lithologic columns, with each formation linked to public lexicons) of all Proterozoic through Phanerozoic basins – over 5,000 events plus hot-curser links to oil-gas reference wells. A “PRO” version enables one to add their own datapacks.

The databases and visualization package are envisioned as a convenient reference tool, chart-production assistant, and a window into the geologic history of our planet.