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Curation and Analysis of Global

Sedimentary Geochemical Data

to Inform Earth History

Akshay Mehra*, Dartmouth College, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA; C. Brenhin Keller, Dartmouth
College, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA; Tianran Zhang, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College,
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA; Nicholas J. Tosca, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK;
Scott M. McLennan, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA; Erik Sperling, Dept. of Geological Sciences,
Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA; Una Farrell, Dept. of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland;
Jochen Brocks, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; Donald Canfield, Nordic
Center for Earth Evolution (NordCEE), University of Southern Denmark, Denmark; Devon Cole, School of Earth and Atmospheric
Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA; Peter Crockford, Earth and Planetary Science, Weizmann
Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; Huan Cui, Equipe Géomicrobiologie, Université de Paris, Institut de Physique, Paris, France,
and Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Ontario M5S, Canada; Tais W. Dahl, GLOBE Institute, University of Denmark,
Copenhagen, Denmark; Keith Dewing, Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, Ontario T2L 2A7, Canada;
Joseph F. Emmings, British Geological Survey, Nicker Hill, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK; Robert R. Gaines, Dept. of Geology,
Pomona College, Claremont, California 91711, USA; Tim Gibson, Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut 06520, USA; Geoffrey J. Gilleaudeau, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax,
Virginia 22030, USA; Romain Guilbaud, Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France; Malcom Hodgskiss,
Dept. of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA; Amber Jarrett, Onshore Energy Directorate,
Geoscience Australia, Australia; Pavel Kabanov, Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary T2L 2A7, Canada;
Marcus Kunzmann, Mineral Resources, CSIRO, Kensington, Australia; Chao Li, State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental
Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China; David K. Loydell, School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences,
University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, UK; Xinze Lu, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada; Austin Miller, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1,
Canada; N. Tanner Mills, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA;
Lucas D. Mouro, Geology Dept., Federal University of Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina State, Brazil; Brennan O’Connell, School
of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Shanan E. Peters, Dept. of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin–
Madison, Madison 53706, Wisconsin, USA; Simon Poulton, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK;
Samantha R. Ritzer, Dept. of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA; Emmy Smith, Dept. of Earth
and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA; Philip Wilby, British Geological Survey, Nicker
Hill, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK; Christina Woltz, Dept. of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara,
California 93106, USA; Justin V. Strauss, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA

ABSTRACT workflow developed using the Sedimentary INTRODUCTION
Large datasets increasingly provide criti- Geochemistry and Paleoenvironments Project The study of Earth’s past relies on a record
cal insights into crustal and surface pro- database. We demonstrate the effects of that is spatially and temporally variable and,
cesses on Earth. These data come in the filtering and weighted resampling on Al O by some metrics, woefully undersampled.
2
3
form of published and contributed observa- and U contents, two representative geo- Through every geochemical analysis, fossil
tions, which often include associated meta- chemical components of interest in sedi- identification, and measured stratigraphic
data. Even in the best-case scenario of a mentary geochemistry (one major and one section, Earth scientists continuously add to
carefully curated dataset, it may be non- trace element, respectively). Through our this historical record. Compilations of such
trivial to extract meaningful analyses from analyses, we highlight several methodologi- observations can illuminate global trends
such compilations, and choices made with cal challenges in a “bigger data” approach through time, providing researchers with
respect to filtering, resampling, and averag- to Earth science. We suggest that, with slight crucial insights into our planet’s geological
ing can affect the resulting trends and any modifications to our workflow, researchers and biological evolution. These compilations
interpretation(s) thereof. As a result, a thor- can confidently use large collections of can vary in size and scope, from hundreds of
ough understanding of how to digest, pro- observations to gain new insights into pro- manually curated entries in a spreadsheet to
cess, and analyze large data compilations is cesses that have shaped Earth’s crustal and millions of records stored in software data-
required. Here, we present a generalizable surface environments. bases. The latter form is exemplified by

GSA Today, v. 31, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG484A.1. CC-BY-NC.

*Akshay.K.Mehra@dartmouth.edu

4 GSA Today | May 2021