A PEP III Multi-Proxy Database for Managing and Analyzing Paleoenvironmental Data

The Pole-Equator-Pole (PEP) projects are inherently multi-site and multi-proxy, requiring the integration and analysis of different paleoenvironmental indicators recorded from regional or continent-wide site networks. Consequently, there is a need to develop an effective data management strategy that allows information from different sources to be integrated, harmonized and retrieved in a consistent format. This article describes a recent attempt to construct a multi-proxy database within the PALICLAS project, and outlines plans for its development as an integrated, scalable system for managing project data within the PEP III transect. The PALICLAS project focused on the analysis of Italian crater lake and Adriatic sediments, with the aims to provide improved high-resolution proxy paleoclimate records for central Italy for the last 20k+ years, and to characterize the responses of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems during periods of rapid climatic change. Central to these aims was the need to make direct comparisons between the different biological, chemical and physical proxy records recorded in marine and lacustrine sediments. To accomplish this we constructed a PC-based data management system consisting of a relational database to store all raw data from the project, and a series of software tools for data manipulation, visualization and analysis. The essential features of the system are illustrated in the figure. All physical, chemical and biological information is uniquely referenced to a core and depth interval, and records may be retrieved as raw data (e.g. microfossil counts) or transformed values (e.g. percentage data) using saved queries or views. These data may be retrieved on the original depth scale, or, for between-core comparisons, transformed to the depth scale of a “master” core or to an age scale, using core-correlation and age-depth models held in the database. The resulting singleor multiproxy records may then be output directly, plotted using built-in visualization software, or smoothed and/or interpolated in preparation for further numerical analysis. The PALICLAS database was primarily developed as a tool for the rapid comparison and cross-correlation of different proxies within and between sites. However, as the project developed the database performed a number of other important roles. In particular, the system has facilitated: 1. quality control, ensuring consistency and compatibility among data produced by different laboratories; 2. data sharing, by providing a means of A PEP III Multi-Proxy Database for Managing and Analyzing Paleoenvironmental Data