Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
not just be the 'perceived correct answer or that of the group
leader', because new data may change the interpretation. Also
the recording of other ideas and interpretation can help to
confi rm which of several hypotheses is correct and determine
what other observations need to be made. Ensure that you
separate data from interpretation, in addition to noting the
origin of the interpretation (Figure 4.13a, p. 75).
Geological fi eldwork relies
on good observation of an
incomplete record. The
observations that you make
are just as important as those
of others.
4
4.5 Correlation with other data sets
and interpretations
Correlation of new fi eld data, either with data sets that you
have previously collected or with those published in the
literature, is a key part of many geological studies. This is
because it enables us to integrate data and obtain a much more
complete picture from different lines of evidence, thereby
advancing our understanding. There are now very few rock
exposures on Earth that have not been visited by geologists
unless they are new (e.g. on a recently erupted volcano, road
cut, railway cut or excavation) or were previously covered by
other material such as ice sheets. There are, however, many
reasons to revisit exposures and areas studied previously:
(1) new techniques become available; (2) exposures change;
(3) the exposures were used to test or erect a model or hypothesis
that is now being called into question; (4) more resources are
available to study the site; (5) samples analysed from the site
yielded interesting results that are worthy of further
investigation; and of course (6) to simply learn about
geology.
Correlation between your own data sets even if they were
collected during different fi eld seasons should be fairly simple
provided you kept good fi eld notes! However, correlation with
the data sets and interpretations of others can, at times, be
challenging. There are two main reasons for this: fi eld notes,
where the direct evidence and location can be gathered, are not
generally published; and exposures change. To focus the
analysis and integration consider the following steps.
1. Read the publication(s) and identify the data. Make a note
of any questions the interpretation raises that might be
answered by further fi eldwork or the application of new
fi eld techniques.
2. Take the relevant part of the literature (i.e. the data)
into the fi eld and attempt to re-identify the units from
which the data were collected. First, fi nd the main units/
features using the location information. Then correlate
what you can observe with the more detailed information.
