May 2004 Newsletter (Number 03/04)

CHRONOS and PaleoStrat: CHRONOS has strengthened the partnership with PaleoStrat for the development of the IT network for Earth history data. The partnership includes data storage (GSSP sections, radioisotope geochronology data, time scale data) and coordination in the development of correlation and visualization tools. This allows us to build upon PaleoStrat's design to include the complete stratigraphic description (field and fossil images, lithology, lithostratigraphy, facies description, biostratigraphy, geochronology, taxonomy, and soon magnetostratigraphy) of land-based sections. Jim Ogg, Bruce Wardlaw and various Permian/Triassic workers are using PaleoStrat to store data for the Permian/Triassic time slice (test bed) project. A file upload system for PaleoStrat was developed by Vladimir Davydov and Tyson Tyler (BSU) using templates assembled by Pat Diver.

Time scale: The GSSP datafiles currently being entered by Jim Ogg and his postdoc into PaleoStrat are linked with the time scale database hosted at CHRONOS. Pat Diver is working on expanding this 'time scale network' to dynamically update information on ICS's web site.

Metadata: CHRONOS has started work to provide a metadata component to its services and is utilizing an RDF based schema for Dublin Core and an Open Archives Initiative OAI-PMH based server. Check http://services.chronos.org/metadata/index.html for more details on this effort.

Pat Diver is working on common metadata for taxonomic dictionaries.

Doug F. has begun the process to port CONOP 9 to the Linux environment. The next phase will be to Grid-enable the application for use on GeonGRID. The plan is to have this completed and operational before the retreat in August.

CHRONOS is getting ready to deploy the initial version of the timescale web services. These web services can be used over the network for timescale information (color, error, etc) as well as enabling the users to completely reconstruct a timescale visually from combining their output. After the deployment of the initial version, the TS web services will be revised and modified based on feedback from the community.

Time scale conversion tools are being refined and updated. The current tools are for conversion from C&K 1995 (Berggren et al, 1995) and GSA 1999 time scales to the 2004 GTS. Pat Diver is going to work on the conversion from the Harland et al. 1989, 1990 time scale.

CHRONOS PIs are required to submit an annual report by mid June using NSF's FastLane reporting system.

Liying Lin (ISU) will be leaving the CHRONOS hub on May 14 to take on a position of senior project manager with an insurance company in Des Moines. We thank Liying for her work with Brian Huber's Cretaceous planktonic foram dictionary and wish her the best for her future. We are working to replace her as soon as possible with a Java/XML programmer.

ISU Graduate student in Community and Regional Planning Hsin-I Yu is going to help Doug F. during the summer for the development of CHRONOS GIS interface. High school senior Stephanie Schueller is also going to work at the Central Hub at ISU with funding provided to Cinzia by the Academy of Applied Science.

The Permian-Triassic workshop took place in Boise ID on May 1-2. The workshop, that gathered a group of approx. 30 US, Chinese, Japanese, European, and Australian experts in Permian/Triassic stratigraphy, was very successful. Bruce Wardlaw and Vladimir Davydov coordinated the discussion and are currently working on a workshop report. Look for it soon on the CHRONOS web site under 'Meetings'.

The 'Mesozoic Planktonic Foraminifera Working Group meeting', (Smithsonian, Washington DC.) organized by Brian Huber and sponsored by CHRONOS is taking place on May 20-22.

Planning for the Geochemical Cycles workshop is progressing well. The workshop will be held June 25-26 in sunny San Antonio, Texas, near the River Walk. At last count there are 27 participants from at least five countries. This group represents the fields of isotope geochemistry, trace-metal chemistry, chemostratigraphy, paleoceanography, geoinformatics, paleobiology, and Earth System modeling, and time intervals ranging from Tertiary to Archean. Room is still available. If you are interested in participating, contact Ethan Grossman (e-grossman@tamu.edu). Organizers: Ethan Grossman, John McArthur, and Cinzia Cervato.

The "Linking Information Systems in Marine and Terrestrial Geosciences; Sediment Geochemistry" workshop organized by Kerstin Lehnert and Steve Goldstein (LDEO) (JOI offices, Washington DC, June 3-4, 2004) complements what we plan to achieve with the Geochemical Cycles workshop. Kerstin L. and Cinzia C. plan to write a joint report on the two workshops and submit it to EOS.

A CHRONOS workshop on 'Mesozoic and Cenozoic paleoceanography' is being organized by Ben Flower in St. Petersburg, FL. (October 27-28, 2004). A workshop web site will appear on the CHRONOS web site during the summer.

The session on 'Calibrating the global time scale' convened by Cinzia C. and Bruce Wardlaw at the Cordilleran/Rocky Mountain GSA meeting in Boise (May 4) with 21 oral and poster presentations was very well attended. The CHRONOS booth (with CHRONOS, ICS, GEON, Paleoclimate, and Tower of Time posters) was also a success and the promotional items (mouse pad, screen sweep, and corkscrew plus business cards and stickers) disappeared very fast!

The Second CHRONOS retreat is going to take place in Ames on August 2-3. It will be followed by NSF site review on August 4. Steering committee members will be present at the site review. Information on the logistical details of the retreat will be available on the CHRONOS web site.

32nd International Geological Congress, Florence, Italy, Aug. 20-29, 2004. Jim Ogg, Bruce Wardlaw and Cinzia C. will give talks and demo CHRONOS at ICS's booth.

Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado (Nov 7-10, 2004). CHRONOS steering committee and advisory board meetings tentatively scheduled for Nov 5 and Nov 7. CHRONOS has a booth (#900) and sponsors topical session #112 (oral and poster): "Geologic Time and CHRONOS: Databases, Tools, Outreach, Education, and the Geoinformatics Revolution" (Convenors: Cinzia Cervato and Walter S. Snyder). Please consider submitting an abstract to this session (deadline: July 13, 2004).