Collaborative Research: Facility Support: Completing the Western North American Volcanic and Intrusive Rock Database (NAVDAT)

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This proposal requests funding to complete work on the NAVDAT database and web portal. The aim is to finish populating the database with age and chemical data from Cenozoic and Mesozoic extrusive and intrusive rocks for western North America, from the Cascades southward through central Mexico. Most management of the NAVDAT system will be transferred to the EarthChem effort by the end of the project. The proposed work will focus on the following tasks:1. Expand database content bya. continuing to enter data for Cenozoic and Mesozoic rocks in western NA, with specific emphasis on intrusive igneous rocks;b. helping to facilitate ongoing efforts by researchers based in Mexico to gather and compile new data for that region for rocks of similar age;c. linking to the extent possible with efforts by groups in Canada and the US Geological Survey to further expand data holdings.2. Improve usability of the web portal bya. continuing to refine the user interface and search selections;b. adding additional options for query such as volcanic field names and creating precompiled datasets based on location, composition, and age;c. improving interaction with the website by incorporating routines for userdefined animations, data output formats, and plotting/mapping.3. Build community involvement bya. continuing to hold yearly workshops that involve a large and diverse group;b. working closely with international groups, particularly in Mexico;c. collaborating with the EarthChem effort.Intellectual Merit of the proposed work lies in the challenges of serving and maintaining a large database containing heterogeneous data. In addition, migration of database management to the EarthChem system presents an opportunity to prototype such transitions; migration of this sort must become common as more databases are created. The investigators also anticipate that fundamental new understandings about the dynamics of the solid Earth such as the relation of magmatism to tectonics will be emerge from the proposed work.Broader Impacts. The NAVDAT project will give students and researchers access to high-quality data compilations on their desktop, with the capability to extract datasets, plot chemical variation diagrams, and place data on a variety of geological, geophysical, and geographical base maps. The proposed work will expand the geographical and age range of available data, as well as building a very complete dataset for western North America. This work will lead to completion of a major component of the EarthChem system.