--> ABSTRACT: GNULEX--New On-Line USGS Database of Stratigraphic Nomenclature for U.S. Western Interior, by M. E. Mac Lachlan, W. A. Bryant, L. M. Stone, and T. W. Judkins; #91030 (2010)

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GNULEX--New On-Line USGS Database of Stratigraphic Nomenclature for U.S. Western Interior

M. E. Mac Lachlan, W. A. Bryant, L. M. Stone, T. W. Judkins

Accurate and up-to-date information on the definitions of stratigraphic units is essential to both industry and academic activities in the earth sciences. In order to encourage accurate use of stratigraphic nomenclature, we are compiling a new database--GNULEX--which contains comprehensive information on stratigraphic units of the U.S. Western Interior (from the Mississippi River to the western borders of Idaho, Utah, and Arizona). The information is from published reports of all major earth science journals dating from the first published use of the unit to the present day. A user selects records either by stratigraphic unit name or by user-specified attributes. These attributes include age (era, period, epoch, or stage), formal rank, state, geologic province or basin, l thologic type, author, and type of information (biostratigraphic dating, isotopic dating, etc)--all attributes may be logically linked to tailor the search for individual needs. The record for each unit is divided into (1) an up-to-date summary that includes rank terms, assigned ages, a detailed description of the type locality (if designated), and area of occurrence (states and geologic provinces or basins) and (2) a historical record that contains critical information abstracted from publications that have defined the unit or modified its definition.

This large and growing database was developed and is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado, on a supermini-class networking computer and may be accessed by other computers with 1,200-baud communications capability. Output is to the screen only and on-line help files are available. You may access the database free of charge via modem for the price of your telephone call.

In the poster session we will demonstrate the use of the database for age studies, basin analysis, lithologic studies, correlation, mapping, and stratigraphic framework studies.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.