The Digital Integrated Stratigraphy Project (DISP)

Abstract

The Digital Integrated Stratigraphy Project (DISP) aims to eliminate the stratigraphical ambiguity associated with sam-ple position within a stratigraphical section. For example, it is often impractical or impossible to compare one author's measured section and data precisely against another author's geographically identical measured section and data due to discrepancies in the measured thicknesses of units, variations in the assignments of litho- and chronostratigraphical terms, and/or the precise line of measured sections between authors. The DISP will provide a solution to this problem by producing a precise 3-D digital rendering of the exposure using Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) LiDAR, Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), overlain digital photography, and GIS software to pro-duce a cm to mm-scale accurate digital version of a given exposure. Once available online as a permanent web-based digital resource for stratigraphy, researchers will be able to access the program and digital models of scanned exposures where they will have the means to log their sample positions directly onto the digital exposure while in the field, thus allow-ing unambiguous stratigraphical reference for future comparison. The Digital Integrated Stratigraphy Project represents the next generation of stratigraphical standard and can serve as the protocol for the future of high-resolution Palaeozoic Earth history research.