Many thanks to Bill for a thoughtful contribution that raises many ?useful points. This will have to be a brief response as I'm about to go out for the evening but there is one point to make straight away. The is a little used aspect of the JISCmail system - a filestore. It has been little used largely because in previous versions of the software it wasn't exactly user friendly. I will investigate the present version, it might provide exactly the repository that Bill is advocating.
John
John S Whalley, Geoscience Programme Manager
>>> wrc <
[log in to unmask]> 10/03/2009 18:47 >>>
All the contributions to the topic of fold nappes were indeed very interesting. However, they would have been even more instructive if they had been linked to images that would have allowed us more easily to visualize the geographic and geological context of the offered observations. Brian Walton's interesting comments, to take one example of several, on the Krakvatn-Rebenfjell fold nappe would be more comprehensible if we could see a map of the structure; and although Alan Boyle generously provides references, if you don't have online permissions provided by a University or company, it can take an all-day trek to the library to find them.
In this context John Dewey's suggestion that geo-questions such as the nappe problem could be addressed by multi-input through websites like this discussion list, rather than through "review, assessment and arid "paperwork"", might be greatly facilitated if comments containing reference to places and maps were accompanied by links to a site containing Google Earth kml (kmz) files relevant to the area (and/'or at least' a link to a pdf of a relevant paper as per Douwe van Hinsbergen's contribution). Given that Google Earth should be a well-used item in the tool kit of all structural geologists, it should be quite easy for anyone of us to add placemarks and image overlays to a GE ground image at any scale. (One then also gets the advantage of 3-D geological map drapes; the ability to discern dip directions and relative angles; compare map layer interpretations; and create links to references, pdfs, reviews, comments, updates, photographs, etc.) Going the extra mile, the images can also easily be annotated to allow personal input. Anyone not familiar with the practice of creating and accessing kml files can download a file that can be opened in GE from the following site:
One problem with this suggestion is that although it is easy to create a kml file on a personal computer running GE, you will still need to store your kml AND the map images refered to by the kml on a server that can be accessed by the general public, whether such a site is provided by your University (as in the above case), or made available through your service provider or even your computer company, e.g. ASUS Eee to name just one.
A central server would be useful - any volunteers? - but even without a central server, a site with an index of individual servers populated by kml files would be very useful - perhaps even more so than the OneGeology site, because the geological devil is usually in the details at the outcrop level of a high-resolution GE image. Perhaps the T&G list could host such an index ordered by Country and Structural Province?
Hope this is of interest!
Bill Church
