Some Strategies for Helping to Locate Paleontological/Geological Localities &

Less “Findable” Historic Localities

Defining a Paleontological “Locality”

• Historically age & stratigraphy associated with locality (paleontological context)

Locality 5

Locality 1

Locality 2

Locality 3

Locality 4

GPS 1

GPS 2

GPS 3

GPS 4

GPS 5

Formation A

Formation B

Formation C

Formation D

Formation E

Formation F

Formation G

Formation H

Surface

GPS 1

Locality 5

Locality 1

Locality 2

Locality 3

Locality 4

Our “current” database model

ties stratigraphy & ageto our localities

Some specimens are more sensitive to slight changes than others for varying reasons:• Size of specimen vs. thickness of strata

• Condensed & expanded intervals

Defining a Paleontological “Locality”

Microfossils

SporesPollen

Ostracods/Ostracodes

“Expanded”

“Condensed”

Farms/RanchesMines/Quarries

Ghost Towns/Railroad SidingsField Conferences/Society Fieldtrips

Other Collection Records

Distance from Points

GIS Datasets

Publications

Public Land Survey System (PLSS) CoveragesTIGERfiles (features and data derived from Census) Topographic Maps (DRGs)Aerial Photographs (DOQQs)Surface Geology CoveragesAquifer CoveragesNational Elevation Datasets (NEDs)HypsographyHydrology Datasets & CoveragesLandsat ImageryEtc.

http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj_f.html

GIS Datasets must have:• Projection, coordinate system, and datum • Scale• Source• Accuracy

Maps/Gazetteers/Atlases

Websites

Sometimes Even the Government Gets Things Wrong

Source of Data:Robert W. Baughman's

“Kansas Post Offices, May 29, 1828-August 3, 1961”

Residues

Reserves/Bulk

Will be georeferencing to

surface of well/where well permit issued for(How to account for

core drift from drilling, TBA)

GPS 1

Locality 5

Locality 1

Locality 2

Locality 3

Locality 4

Well/Core Related Localities

© University of Texas @ Austin, 2000 [Color added]

Have not determined how to

handle verifying plotting correctly

Macrofossils

Modern example

but historical records also

exist

“Idealized” Core

How we need to think about localities

Points

Lines

Polygons

Buffered Points

Buffered Lines

Buffered Polygons

GIS Datasets

GeoreferencingProcess

Representation of

Collection Locality

Digitizing Maps with “localities” marked

• Use ArcGIS to georectify/georeference maps scanned at known scale/resolution to appropriate datum

• Use ArcGIS to digitize marking made by collectors and former museum workers into GIS layer(s)

Digitizing Features

Map Rectified to GIS

Digital Coverage of Features

Scanned in Map

Creating GIS coveragesfrom marked or undigitized maps

GIS Processing

Using Geology to limit “localities”

© Landis, 2005

Illustration of Geology with Relief

Outcrops

Geology

Field Picture Showing Outcrop

© Landis, 2005

© Landis, 2005

Document, Document, Document

Where You Have Looked,What You Found, &

What You Didn’t Find…

…you never knowwhen it might helpyou or a researcher

understandthe record or other

records

Discovered during field work

Providing new source of information…

that museum’s documentation of Terra

Cotta Train Depot

RelocatedTerra Cotta Train

Depot(now part of a museum

What Showson Topographic Map

(only cemetery & a railroad marker remains)

• Maps/Gazetteers/Atlases–Map title, publisher, scale, year,

type, sheet/page number

• Books/Journals– Title, author(s)/editor(s)/publisher,

year, ISSN/ISBN/identifying numbers

• Websites– Title, URL, access date

• Field Notes/Labels/Written Catalog/Collection Records/Files

What to Document

Margaret LandisPaleobotany, Micropaleontology, & Mineralogy Collection Manager (& Experienced GIS User)

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

What Mentioned

I Am Willing toDiscuss My Experiences,

Answer Questions,&/Or

Brainstorm Possible Strategies to Locating Less

Findable Localities

What Could Have Discussed