--> Abstract: The Ocean Drilling Program Database: Visual Core Description Program and Multisensor Track Array, by K. A. Locke, J. C. Coyne, and P. D. Rabinowitz; #90987 (1993).

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LOCKE, KATHLEEN A., JOHN C. COYNE, and PHILIP D. RABINOWITZ, Ocean Drilling Program, College Station, TX

ABSTRACT: The Ocean Drilling Program Database: Visual Core Description Program and Multisensor Track Array

The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) uses a computerized database to archive scientific data generated from shipboard and shore-based analyses

of core samples taken beneath the sea floor. Most data are stored in Compuserve System 1032 datasets, either by direct capture or manual entry. Additional shipboard data are stored as ASCII files on write-once-read-many (WORM) optical disks or on paper forms which are later archived on microfiche. All scientific data are available to the public one year after completion of the cruise.

Two components of our data management system are the Visual Core Description (VCD) Program and the MultiSensor Track (MST) array. The VCD Program is a Macintosh-based application to graphically enter the lithology, age, drilling disturbance, sedimentary structure, color, and sample data, along with text descriptions for major and minor lithologies. Previously, core descriptions were completed on paper forms, redrafted for publication and hand-entered into the S1032 dataset. VCD automates this system and canproduce camera-ready diagrams for publication.

The MST system collects continuous paleomagnetic and physical property data by moving whole cores past four sensors along a computer driven track. The sensor array acquires magnetic susceptibility, natural gamma, GRAPE (Gamma Ray Attenuation Porosity Evaluation), and P-wave (sonic) velocity data from the cores. Prior to the MST, these data were collected only for select cores or discrete samples; due to increased demand, continuous data now are collected on a near routine basis.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.