Eos, Vol. 75, No.

21, May 24, 1994

Using the ASCII Version

of the Global
Paleomagnetic Database
PAGE 236, 237
In August 1991, through the World Data
Center A in Boulder, Colo., the first version of
the Global Paleomagnetic Database
(GPMDB) developed by Lock andMcElhinny
[1991] was released for general use. T w o ver
sions of the GPMDB were developed, the first
for the ORACLE Database Management Sys
tem and the second in ASCII form.
A program that allows remote users to
search the "ABASE" version of GPMDB via In
ternet, selecting data on the basis of
geographical coordinates of sampling sites
and magnetization ages, was recently pre
sented inbs [Harbert, 1993].
A new FORTRAN program, drawing infor
mation from the three "ABASE" files
REFERENCE, ROCKUNIT, and RESULT, and
extracting records that satisfy an arbitrary
number of conditions imposed by the opera
tor, is now available. These conditions are
chosen from twenty criteria based on geo
graphical distribution, geological
characteristics and nearly all the information
stored in the ABASE files. The main paleo
magnetic results for each selected record,
together with the reliability criteria, are listed
in a concise and easily readable table (132
columns); two other tables include refer
ences and, if any, comments. These three
tables are stored on three distinct output
files.
T o use this software, users on Decnet net
work should connect to our host (IN8800) by
typing: set host 40302; users on other net
works make the following connections:
>telnet 130.186.1.53
>login: 39.366::
>username: ingeodb
>password: please
By autumn w e will be directly connected
to Internet, and connection will be then possi
ble by telnet 141.108.7.8.
The output files can be downloaded back
to a researcher's local system using the file
transfer protocol (ftp) command.
On the basis of the most common require
ments for the selection of paleomagnetic
data and according to the ABASE structure
and codes [Lock and McElhinny, 1991 ] , w e
have chosen the following selection criteria:
1) Age of Magnetization: the lower and up
per best estimates of the age ( M a ) of the
magnetic component
2 ) Uncertainty on the Magnetization Age:
maximum value of the uncertainty range on
the magnetization age
3) Sites Rectangular Area: vertices in geo
graphical coordinates of a rectangular area
enclosing the sampling sites
4 ) Sites Circular Area: center in geographi
cal coordinates and radius in kilometers of a
circular area enclosing the sampling sites

Fig. 1. Sampling sites and paleomagnetic poles with confidence ellipses for upper Cretaceous
(65-100 Ma) of stable Africa. Also shown is the polygonal from which data were selected. Mollweide equivalent projection.
5) Sites Polygonal Area: vertices in geo
graphical coordinates of a polygonal area
enclosing the sampling sites. The polygonal
vertices can also be read from an external
file in which their latitude and longitude are
listed
6) Paleopoles Circular Area: center in geo
graphical coordinates and radius in
kilometers of a circular area enclosing the vir
tual geomagnetic poles
7) a-95: range of values for the a-95 pa
rameter of Fisher statistics
8) K: range of values for the k parameter
of Fisher statistics
9) D P and DM: range values for the lengths
of the semiaxes of the 95% ellipse of confi
dence along the great circle path from site to
pole and the perpendicular to this path, re
spectively
10) Rock Type: four possible key words
can be used for searching: extrusives, intrusives, sediments, and metamorphics. They
can also be followed by other terms such as
limestones, redbeds, basalts, andesites, gabbro, granite, etc.
11) Treatment: laboratory procedures for
specimen demagnetization (A=AF, T=Thermal, H=Chemical and N=No treatment)
12) Publication Yean year interval (for ex
ample 1970-1980)
13) Author
14) Continent
15) Formation
16) Formation Stratigraphic Age: for exam
ple, A=Archaeozoic, PT=Proterozoic; where
appropriate, they are followed by 1,2,3 to in
dicate lower, middle, and upper
17) Field Tests: for example, F=Fold Test,
F*=Synfold Test, Fs=Fold Tests + strain re
moval. Where appropriate, these are
followed by ( + ) or (-) to indicate the test was
positive or negative and by ( o ) to indicate it
was inconclusive
18) Laboratory and Analytical Procedures:
for example, 0=no demagnetization, l=only
pilot demagnetization on some samples,
2=all samples treated, blanket treatment only

This page may be freely copied.

19) Nation
20) Minimum Number of Sites and/or Sam
ples for Site
T o better illustrate the features of our pro
gram, two examples of possible use are given
below. All responses can be typed in capital
or small letters. W e illustrate the selected
data by plotting them on a cartographic pro
jection; users can use their own plotting
software for these purposes.
The first example refers to the search of
upper Cretaceous (65-100 Ma) African data
for which sampling sites fall inside a "StableAfrica" polygonal area previously designed
(user's answers are typed in bold face):
set host 40302 (for users over Decnet net
work)
username ingeodb
password please

Welcome to PEEK,
software for the complete management of
the ABASE
ASCII version of the World Paleomagnetic
Database

C/v>

Fig. 2. Apparent polar wander path for sta

ble Africa with only A and B quality classes of
data, computed from 245 Ma up to present.
The number near the dots indicate the central
value of each window.

Eos, Vol. 75, No. 21, May 24, 1994

T a b l e 1.
Q

N.res

U
B

96
186

E x a m p l e o f P a l e o m a g n e t i c D a t a f r o m the U p p e r C r e t a c e o u s o f " S t a b l e A f r i c a "

Locality

Formation

Cape Verde
East Maio Island Volca
South Africa, Lesotho Monastery and Lesotho
6

26
41

SLat

S L o n Plat P L o n

Dp

D m A g e m i n A g e m a x A n a Tests Treat C

15.2 - 2 3 . 1 57.1 234.6 3.0 6.0

- 2 8 . 9 28.3 65.7 223.3 12.0 14.2

70
84

90
92

3
3

M
M

AT
A

Example of an output table (paleomagnetic data). Q=quality index; N.res=number of the result
(reference code in the ABASE files); N=number of sites; n-number of samples; Slat andSlon=geographic coordinates of the sampling site; Plat and Plon=geographic coordinates of the virtual geo
magnetic pole; Dp andDm=values for the semi-axis of the 95% ellipse of confidence; Agemin
and Agemax=magnetization age interval; Ana=laboratory and analytical procedures; Treat=demagnetization treatment; C=presence of comments (indicated by a *).
[Lock and McElhinny, 1991].
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, Rome-Italy.
MAGNETIZATION AGE UNCERTAINTY

OUTPUT FILE NAME (string without exten

sion) > LJ_CR_AFR

DO YOU WANT TO ASSIGN QUALITY INDEX?

IF YES, THE PROGRAM WILL DIVIDE THE
DATA INTO 6 QUALITY CLASSES, IN AGREE
MENT WITH THE FOLLOWING TABLE,
WHICH WILL BE ADDED TO THE OUTPUT
RECORDS:
A=sites (>=8), samples/sites(>=8), DP and DM
(<=15),
lab. and anal. proc. (>=3), at least a Field
Test;
B=sites (>=6), samples/sites(>=6), DP and DM
(<=15),
lab. and anal. proc. (>=2), at least a Field
Test;
C=sites (>=4), samples/sites(>=4), DP and DM
(<=20),
lab. and anal.procedures (>=2);
D=sites (<=4), samples/sites(<4), DP and DM
(>20),
lab. and anal.procedures (<2).
M=magnetostratigraphy (?); (samples/sites >
30)
U=sites or samples number undefined
DP and DM are the values for the semi-axes
of the 95% ellipse of confidence along the
great circle path from site to pole and the per
pendicular to this path, respectively.

ASSIGN QUALITY INDEXES ? [YES=1] 1

SELECTION CRITERIA: Choose among the
twenty criteria listed above.
HOW MANY SELECTION CRITERIA DO YOU
WANT TO COMBINE TOGETHER? When 3, IN
PUT THE NUMBERS OF THE SELECTED CRI
TERIA, SEPARATED BY A SPACE, for
example 1 2 5

MAGNETIZATION AGE

Specify the minimum and maximum age (en

tire, in Ma) of magnetization that you would
like to search: 65 100

Specify the maximum uncertainty for the

magnetization age amplitude of the magneti
zation age interval, entire number, in Ma): 30

POLYGONAL AREA SITES

>Are the vertices that contain the area that

you would like to search on file? [Y/N] N
POLYGONAL VERTICES NAME STABLE_A
Specify the total number of vertices (maxi
mum 999) 40
Latitude and Longitude of vertex number 1?
Latitude range (-90;90). Longitude range
(-180;180) 29.00 -18.00
Latitude and Longitude of vertex number 2?
Latitude range (-90;90). Longitude range
(-180,180) 26.00 -21.00.
Latitude and Longitude of vertex number 40?
Latitude range (-90;90). Longitude range
(-180;180) 29.00 -18.00
READING DATA
END OF LOADING DATA
PROCESSING DATA
THE SELECTED RECORDS ARE IN THE FILES
U_CR_AFR WITH EXTENSION:
.LSI,(paleomagnetic data);
.LS2,(bibliographic references);
.LS3,(comments).

PLEASE DOWNLOAD OUTPUT FILES BACK

WITH FTP COMMAND!
IP ADDRESS: 130.186.1.53
USERNAME: 39.366::GEODATADB
PASSWORD: PLEASE

An automatic log out will follow. After

that, users should download the output files
quickly because, at each 00.00 U.T.M, an
area cleaning process will run.
The data files can be downloaded via ftp
to a local system using:
> ftp 130.186.1.53
> name: 39.366::geodatadb
> Password: please
This page may be freely copied.

An example of the first output table (pa

leomagnetic data) in our example is
illustrated in Table 1 with site locations and
poles plotted in Figure 1.
Assigning quality indexes at the output re
cords is useful as a comfortable marker of
data quality. T o point out this aspect and
other of possibilities of this software, w e
show the apparent polar wander path
( A P W P ) for stable Africa with only A+B qual
ity classes of data, computed from 245 Ma to
the present, using twelve time windows (Fig
ure 2 ) .
The above examples only illustrate the
use of the extraction software; as for any auto
matic data management, the use of this
software does not remove the necessity of go
ing back to the original papers for a proper
evaluation of the trustworthiness of the se
lected data.
Any questions or comments may be sent
via Bitnet to florindo@in8800.cineca.it.
Discussion and comments on this work by
A. Meloni and L. Sonder are gratefully ac
knowledged. C. Ottaviani suggested several
improvements.F. Florindo, L. Sagnotti, and
G Scalera, National Institute of Geophysics,
Rome, Italy

References
Harbert, W . , Paleomagnetic Database search
possible, Eos, 74, 100, 1993.
Lock, J., and M. W . , McElhinny, The Global
Paleomagnetic Database: Design, installation,
and use with ORACLE, Surv. Geophys., 12,
317, 1991.

Physics of Iron:
Showdown in
Colorado Springs
PAGES 237, 238
The Second Ironworkers Convention was
held at an international conference in Colo
rado Springs, Colo., from June 28 to July 2,
1993. It was convened by the International As
sociation for High Pressure Research and
Technology. Papers on the physics of iron
were presented by 51 authors and were spon
sored by the University of California's IGPP,
the American Physical Society, and Study of
the Earth's Deep Interior.
As this meeting affirmed, there has been
an upswing of interest in iron melting and the
equation of the state of iron since publica
tion of the Proceedings of the 1989 First
Ironworkers Convention (see JGRSolid
Earth, December 1990).
Vigorous discussions were held at the
meeting, indicative of a field in which consid
erable room remains for speculation before
consensus can be reached.
The surge of interest in physics of iron
stems from technological advances in both