Collection, processing, storage and sharing of petrological and microstructural data using QGis as a database.

In the course of a typical geoscientific research project, observational and analytical data from different scales and sources, of many different types and formats, are collected, and interpreted. While the number of observational and analytical methods and sizes of resultant datasets have dramatically increased in recent times, only a few tools exist to collect, process, store, share and compare various data in simple ways.  

QGis – an open-source geographic information system, originally developed to handle data from Earth’s surface – offers a wide range of tools that can also be employed at the microscale in studies of petrology and/or deformation history. 

We herein present a case study based on a gabbroic sample from the Central Cordillera in western Colombia, showing four generations of fractures, around and within which alteration assemblages attest to fluid inflow and metamorphism. We integrate data from scans of polished surfaces, polarized light microscopy, backscattered, forescattered, and scanning electron microscope images (BSE, FSE, SE), electron probe (EPMA) spot and map microanalyses, and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The use of QGis allowed us to easily relate data from these different sources and consider them in the context of petrological computations made with XMapTools software (Lanari et al., 2014).

In the future, we hope to automatically integrate collected electron microscopic data into QGis and external control via Python interfaces, as is currently permitted by some manufacturers of SEMs. We also plan to integrate computational petrology via plugins. 

We think that this software tool is one of the most multi-functional currently available for harmonized, integrated data collection, processing, storing and sharing, and would like to share our experience with our colleagues so they can also employ it in thorough analysis of samples, and thus also acquire datasets that can be used for comparative studies by collaborating researchers.