About the Project
This project began as a Microsoft Access database to organize and track field locations, images, geochemical data, and other aspects of microbialite samples collected by Hickson and Bartley. As this resource grew, we realized that an open-source database for the scientific community could be used to answer important scientific questions about early life on Earth, life on other planets, evolution, and interpretations of paleoecology in the rock record.
At the same time, it became clear that microbialite sedimentologists lacked a common, non-genetic, descriptive vocabulary for these important sedimentary features. That is until 2020, when Stan Awramik and Kath Grey published their Handbook for the Study of Microbialites. This free, online text provided an ideal starting point for the creation of a controlled vocabulary that geologists could use to describe a wide range of microbialites. We fully integrated their descriptive scheme into our database. It was at this point that we began to consider developing an open-source version for the geoscience community.
What we have done, where we're going
| Task(s) | Status |
|---|---|
| Develop a prototype MS Access database that incorporates Awramik and Grey's (2020) classification into the description of microbialites from field localities and the literature. | Complete |
| Database back-end: migrate prototype MS Access schema and tables to PostgreSQL, an open-source relational database format | Complete |
| Database front-end: convert prototype MS Access forms and queries to use the PostgreSQL back-end. At this point we are keeping the front-end development in MS Access to allow the non-computer science team members to contribute. This will later be replaced by a web-based (React) front-end. Many of the pass-through queries created in this stage will transfer to Javascript-based code later. | COMPLETE |
| Migrate back-end to Jetstream2 cloud server. Link MS Access front-end to this back-end and test. | COMPLETE |
| Share MS Access front-end with small user group to get feedback on the database. What is working? What needs improvement? What features are missing? | May/June 2025 |
| Begin development of Javascript and React front-end with computer science team members and undergraduate computer science students. | Summer 2025 |
| Submit NASA and/or NSF proposals to support further development, integration with other paleobiology databases (API development), and improvements to schema and front-end. | September 2025 |
| Workshop at Microbialites: Formation, Evolution, Diagenesis (M-FED) 2025 Conference, Hannover, Germany: A Listening Session on the Development of an Open-Source Microbialites Database | October 2025 |
| Share initial database with scientific community at the Geological Society of American National Meeting to get feedback and encourage participation. | October 2025 |
| Integrate comments from community and develop working PostgreSQL backend with dynamic, web-based front-end. | Spring and Summer, 2026 |
Funding
To date this work has been funded by the:
- University of St. Thomas Department of Earth, Environment, and Society and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities (UROP) program
- Gustavus Adolphus College, Environment, Geography, and Earth Sciences