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Datamining With the Earth Lab Datasite
From: The Natural History Museum
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| Paripteris pseudogigantea (plant) from the Late Carboniferous period, Dudley, Central England. | |
 he Natural History Museum, London, introduces an exciting resource: Earth lab datasite (www.nhm.ac.uk/museum/ earthlab/indexdatasite.html). The database contains many representative samples of the UK's geological composition, which can be used to investigate mineral, rock and fossil specimens from all UK geographical regions. Through the datasite, users also have the opportunity apply physical mineralogical tests to identify their own mineral specimens, and to communicate with museum scientists about any specimens that do not fit the given criteria. |
In addition to the datasite, the museum's new Earth lab gallery (www.nhm.ac.uk/museum/earthlab/ indexgallery.html) is part of the Earth Galleries, containing over 2,000 specimens of UK rocks, minerals and fossils. The gallery is staffed by explainers
and contains a handling collection which can be examined using a suite of microscopes and other equipment. Visitors can also find information using the computer facilities, which include access to the online geology database. |
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| Palaeotherium muehlbergi (horse) from the Eocene period, Isle of Wight, England. | |
As an educational resource, the Earth lab datasite allows amateur geologists and students to investigate items selected from Minerals, Fossils or Rocks by various criteria such as area, age, group, property and type. |
For example, Fossil specimen selections can be identified via a number of parameters:
- Location: eighteen main location options in the UK are given. These can be further broken down into sub-regions if required.
- Age: thirteen geological ages are given, ranging from the Precambrian (545-4,560 million years ago) to the Quaternary (present -1.7 million years ago). Within each geological age, users may narrow down their search: for example, the Devonian (354-417 million years ago) allows investigation under early, middle or late Devonian.
- Group: five fossil groups (algae, plants, invertebrates, vertebrates and trace fossils) are offered.
Once the final selection of parameters has been made, users are presented with a listing of specimens selected within those parameters, and on further selection, identity data is given for each individual item, detailing age and location data, a lab code and a full-colour clickable image. |
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| Osteolepis macrolepidotus (fish) from the Middle Devonian period, Nairn, Northern Scotland. | |
The key identifications system for the first time gives users the opportunity to identify their own specimens online. By answering a series of questions, the database is able to select from the collection those specimens that most resemble the item concerned. Secondary information from the database, such as location or age, can be used to complete the identification. |
Resources to accompany the Earth lab datasite can easily be accessed via icons detailing related books, CD-ROMs and websites; and users may also take advantage of the opportunity to submit a geology-related question, to be answered by a member of the lab staff. In addition, the Feedback option provides the chance to let the museum know how useful and easy-to-use the datasite is. Also listed are a series of Activities for use in conjunction with the database, which examine patterns demonstrated by UK geology and offer advice on fieldwork for the amateur geologist. |
A comprehensive support facility is available via the Help icon, showing the function of the elements of the main site navigation and the selection details areas via key and guide to specimen selection pages and specimen viewing pages. |
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