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GIS Prediction of the Outcrop Area of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Anthony Alvarez
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INTRODUCTION
Global warming is an area of growing debate in the world today. Scientists disagree on what effects higher carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere and rising global temperatures will have on living creatures. Scientists at the Smithsonian are working on this problem using evidence that can be found in the fossilized remains of plants and animals. About 55.5 - 54.8 million years ago our planet extremely and rapidly heated up over a short period of time under conditions very similar to those today's current global warming trends. These fossils are therefore able to suggest what we might have to face if these current trends continue. Since this was a geologically short event, it is difficult to locate deposits where fossils from the correct time period can be found.
The deposits are a small volume of rock (generally a few meters to a few tens of meters thick) along the very large face of a hill or mountain (typically several kilometers thick). Inexperienced people can spend days searching and find nothing, and even seasoned veterans sometimes return home empty handed. This research focused on solving the problem through computerization. Using state-of-the-art computer programs, electronic maps and 3D models were produced. By applying this technology to more traditional methods of discovery, scientists can now find fossil deposits in places that they had never thought to look and in places they had previously searched without results. It will also allow them to search more efficiently in places they had previously intended look. All of this leads to a faster and more accurate answer to the question, "what are the effects of global warming?"
GIS Model of Big Red in the Castle Gardens Quadrant Big Red is the name used to describe a stratigraphic bed that falls near the PETM. In the field this bed is often used to locate and orient deposits because of the ease with which it can be identified from a distance. The red dots represent GPS locations that were taken at regular points along Big Red to trace it's outcrop. When this data was overlaid on aerial photographs it became clear that the two lined up. This information now allows researchers to follow the bed using aerial photographs and GIS projections, rather then extended hikes which significantly increases the efficiency of sampling. This GIS model uses high resolution aerial photographs overlaid with data points gathered during the 2003 field season. The photograph is taken from the center of the Castle Gardens USGS Quadrant and is projected in Universal Transverse Mercator 13.
We were unable to calculate planes from differential GPS measurements and re-enter them into ARCGis in order to calculate the intersection of plane and topography. This will be rectified in the future when Smithsonian researchers are able to devote additional time to this project.
The foundation has
been set. This GIS project can now be used to show beds, suggest new
deposit locations and allow researchers to keep disparate types of data
(vertebrate fossils, plant fossils, geology) within the same framework.
This creates a more effective and efficient way of analyzing future
field site locations. Want to ask a question? Visit the Message Board Virtual
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