Macrostrat

A platform for geological data exploration, integration, and analysis

1,400 regional rock columns
33,903 rock units
2,500,000 geologic map polygons
51,212 stratigraphic names
Search Geologic Map
Go mobile

North America

Caribbean

New Zealand

Deep Sea

Geologic Maps

With over 225 maps from data providers around the world across every scale, Macrostrat is the world's largest homogenized geologic map database. Our data processing pipeline links geologic map polygons to Macrostrat column polygons, external stratigraphic name lexicons, and geochronological intervals, enabling the enhancement of the original map data and allowing for direct links into xDD (formly GeoDeepDive).

Are you affiliated with a state or national geologic survey? Get in touch with us - we'd love to collaborate and help publicize your maps!

Get started by exploring the map or taking a look at which maps are currently a part of Macrostrat.

About

Summary
Macrostrat is a platform for the aggregation and distribution of geological data relevant to the spatial and temporal distribution of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks as well as data extracted from them. It is linked to the xDD (formly GeoDeepDive) digital library and machine reading system, and it aims to become a community resource for the addition, editing, and distribution of new stratigraphic, lithological, environmental, and economic data. Interactive applications built upon Macrostrat are designed for educational and research purposes.
License
All data are provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY-4.0).
Citation
In presentations: Acknowledge Macrostrat by name. You may also include any of the Macrostrat logos accessible on this webpage.

In publications: Acknowledge Macrostrat as the source of any information or data. In publications, you may cite our most recent infrastructure paper, Peters et al. (2018). In addition, you should also include citations to the original references associated with the data set that was used. These references are accessible from the API. If you would like your paper listed in the official publications, please contact us and we will provide a citation and link.
Collaboration
Our small team has worked hard to compile, format, and make data available via Macrostrat. We strongly encourage and welcome active collaborations, both scientific and geoinformatic. All data are provided freely on under a CC-BY-4.0 license.
Funding
Major Macrostrat data infrastructure development was supported by the US National Science Foundation (EAR-1150082, ICER-1440312), with ongoing support for data acquisition supported by NSF EAR-1948843 and ICER-1928323. Continuous and ongoing support has also been provided by the UW-Madison Department of Geoscience. If you use Macrostrat and like what we do, please consider helping out with a donation. Every contribute helps us to maintain infrastructure and keep improving.

API

All data contained in the Macrostrat database are freely available via our Application Programming Interface (API), which provides a convinient way to retrieve data for analysis or application creation. For more information head over to the API root to explore available routes.

People

Shanan Peters
Professor, Database Developer
peters -at geology.wisc.edu
Daven Quinn
Research Scientist, Lead Developer
daven.quinn -at wisc.edu
Evgeny Mazko
Graduate Student
mazko -at wisc.edu
Amy Fromandi
Full Stack Developer
afromandi -at- wisc -dot- edu
Michael McClennen
Senior Programmer Analyst
mmcclenn -at- geology.wisc.edu
Daniel Segessenmen
Graduate Student (former)
Shan Ye
Graduate Student (former)
Ben Linzmeier
Postdoctoral Scholar (former)
Casey Idzikowski
Research Specialist, Developer (former)
Afiqah Rafi
Undergrad Student (former)
Andrew Zaffos
Data Mobilization and Research Scientist
azaffos -at- email.arizona.edu
Sharon McMullen
Researcher (former)
Jon Husson
Postdoctoral Researcher (former)
jhusson - at - uvic.ca
Erika Ito
Research Intern (former)
Noel Heim
Researcher (former)
John Czaplewski
Next-level Developer (former)
Puneet Kishor
Generally Ignored
punkish at eidesis.org

Publications

literature utilizing Macrostrat

  1. Jones, L.A., C.D. Dean, W. Gearty, B.J. Allen. 2024. rmacrostrat : An R package for accessing and retrieving data from the Macrostrat geological database. Geosphere, 20(6):1456–1467. 10.1130/GES02815.1. [link]
  2. Howes, B., A. Mehra, E. Geyman, J. Wilcots, R. Manzuk, C. Deutsch, A. Maloof. 2024. The where, when, and how of ooid formation: what ooids tell us about ancient seawater chemistry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 637:118697. 10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118697. [link]
  3. Smiley, T.M., A.Bahadori, E.T. Rasbury, W.E. Holt, C. Badgley. 2024. Tectonic extension and paleoelevation influence mammalian diversity dynamics in the Basin and Range Province of western North America. Science Advances, 10:eadn6842. 10.1126/sciadv.adn6842. [link]
  4. Gazdewich, S., T. Hauck, J. Husson. 2024. Authigenic carbonate burial within the Late Devonian western Canada sedimentary basin and its impact on the global carbon cycle. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10.1029/2023GC011376. [link]
  5. Segessenman, D.C. and S.E. Peters. 2024. Transgression-regression cycles drive correlations in Ediacaran-Cambrian rock and fossil records. Paleobiology 10.1017/pab.2023.31. [link]
  6. Quinn, D.P., C.R. Idzikowski, S.E. Peters. 2024. Building a multi-scale, collaborative, and time-integrated digital crust: The next stage of the Macrostrat data system. Geoscience Data Journal 10.1002/gdj3.189. [link]
  7. Tasistro-Hart, A.R. and F.A. Macdonald. 2023. Phanerozoic flooding of North America and the Great Unconformity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120(37):e2309084120. [link]
  8. Husson, J.M. and L.A. Coogan. 2023. River chemistry reveals a large decrease in dolomite abundance across the Phanerozoic. Geochemical Perspective Letters 26:1-6. [link]
  9. Walton, C.R., J. Hao, F. Huang, F.E. Jenner, H. Williams, A.L. Zerkle, A. Lipp, R.M. Hazen, S.E. Peters, O. Shorttle. 2023. Evolution of the crustal phosphorus reservoir. Science Advances 9(18):eade6923. [link]
  10. Balseiro, D. and M.G. Powell. 2023. Relative oversampling of carbonate rocks in the North American marine fossil record. Paleobiology [link]
  11. Ye, S., S.E. Peters. 2023. Bedrock geological map predictions for Phanerozoic fossil occurrences. Paleobiology 49(3):394-413. [link]
  12. Wang, J., Tarhan, L.G., Jacobson, A.D. et al. 2023. The evolution of the marine carbonate factory. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05654-5 [link]
  13. Capel, E., C. Monnet, C.J. Cleal, J. Xue, T. Servais, B. Cascales-Miñana. 2023. The effect of geological biases on our perception of early land plant radiation. Palaeontology 66:e12644 [link]
  14. Sessa, J.A., A.J. Fraass, LJ. LeVay, K.M. Jamson, S.E. Peters. 2023. The Extending Ocean Drilling Pursuits (eODP) Project: Synthesizing Scientific Ocean Drilling Data. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems [link]
  15. Segessenman, D.C. and S.E. Peters. 2023. Macrostratigraphy of the Ediacaran system in North America. In "Laurentia: Turning Points in the Evolution of a Continent." S.J. Whitmeyer, M.L. Williams, D.A. Kellett, B. Tikoff, eds. GSA Memoir. [link]
  16. Boulila, S., S.E. Peters, R.D. Müller, B.U. Haq, N.Hara. 2023. Earth’s interior dynamics drive marine fossil diversity cycles of tens of millions of years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences e2221149120 [link]
  17. Peters, S.E., D. Quinn, J.M. Husson, R.R. Gaines. 2022. Macrostratigraphy: insights into cyclic and secular evolution of the Earth-life system. Ann. Rev. Earth & Planet. Sci. 50:419-449 [link]
  18. Emmings, J.F., S.W. Poulton, J. Walsh, K.A. Leeming, I. Ross, S.E. Peters. 2022. Pyrite mega-analysis reveals modes of anoxia through geologic time. Science Advances 8(11). [link]
  19. Chen, G., Q. Cheng, S.E. Peters, C.J. Spencer, M. Zhao. 2022. Feedback between surface and deep processes: insight from time series analysis of sedimentary record. Earth and Planet. Sci. Letters. [link]
  20. Peters, S.E. et al. 2021. Igneous rock area and age in continental crust. Geology. doi:10.1130/G49037.1. [link]
  21. Loughney, K.M., C. Badgley, A. Bahadori, W.E. Hold, and E.T. Rasbury. 2021. Tectonic influence on Cenozoic mammal richness and sedimentation history of the Basin and Range, western North America. Science Advances 7(45):p.eabh4470. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abh4470
  22. Key, M.M. Jr., P.N.W. Jackson, C.M. Reid. 2021. Trepostome bryozoans buck the trend and ignore calcite-aragonite seas. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. doi:10.1007/s12549-021-00507-x. [link]
  23. Lipp, A.G. et al. 2021. The composition and weathering of the continents over geologic time. Geochemical Perspectives Letters. doi:10.7185/geochemlet.2109. [link]
  24. Barnes, B.D., J.M. Husson, S.E. Peters. 2020. Authigenic carbonate burial in the Late Devonian–Early Mississippian Bakken Formation (Williston Basin, USA). Sedimentology. doi:10.1111/sed.12695. [link]
  25. Close, R.A. et al. 2020. The spatial structure of Phanerozoic marine animal diversity. Science doi:10.1126/science.aay8309. [link]
  26. Balseiro, D. and Powell, M.G. 2019. Carbonate collapse and the Late Paleozoic Ice Age marine biodiversity crisis. Geology doi:10.1130/G46858.1. [link]
  27. Keller, C.B., J.M. Husson, R.N. Mitchell, W.F. Bottke, T.M. Gernon, P. Boehnke, E.A. Bell, N.L. Swanson-Hysell, S.E. Peters. 2019. Neoproterozoic glacial origin of the Great Unconformity. Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sci. USA. 116(4):1136-1145. doi:10.1073/pnas.1804350116 [link]
  28. Keating-Bitonti, C.R., and S.E. Peters. 2019. Influence of increasing carbonate saturation in Atlantic bottom water during the late Miocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 518:134-142. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.01.006[link]
  29. Cohen, P.A., R. Lockwood, S.E. Peters. 2018. Integrating Macrostrat and Rockd into undergraduate Earth Science Teaching. Elements of Paleontology. doi:10.1017/9781108681445 [link]
  30. Isson, T.T., and N.J. Planavsky. 2018. Reverse weathering as a long-term stabilizer of marine pH and planetary climate. Nature 560:571-475. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0408-4 [link]
  31. Husson, J.M. and S.E. Peters. 2018. Nature of the sedimentary rock record and its implications for Earth system evolution. Emerging Topics in Life Sciences. doi:10.1042/ETLS20170152 [link]
  32. Peters, S.E., J.M. Husson. 2018. We need a global comprehensive stratigraphic database: here’s a start. The Sedimentary Record 16(1). doi:10.2110/sedred.2018.1 [link]
  33. Peters, S.E., J.M. Husson, J. Czaplewski. 2018. Macrostrat: a platform for geological data integration and deep-time Earth crust research. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. [link]
    Preprint available on EarthArXiv 27,Jan18. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/YNAXW [link]
  34. Schachat, S.R., C.C. Labandeira, M.R. Saltzman, B.D. Cramer, J.L. Payne, C.K. Boyce. 2018. Phanerozoic pO2 and the early evolution of terrestrial animals. Proc. Roy. Soc. B.[link]
  35. Zaffos, A., S. Finnegan, S.E. Peters. 2017. Plate tectonic regulation of global marine animal diversity. Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sci. USA. [link]
  36. Peters, S.E., J.M. Husson. J. Wilcots. 2017. Rise and fall of stromatolites in shallow marine environments. Geology. [link]
  37. Peters, S.E., J.M. Husson. 2017. Sediment cycling on continental and oceanic crust. Geology 45:323-326. [link]
  38. Husson, J.M., S.E. Peters. 2017. Atmospheric oxygenation driven by unsteady growth of the continental sedimentary reservoir. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 460:68-75. [link]
  39. Schott, R. 2017. Rockd: Geology at your fingertips in a mobile world. Bulletin of the Eastern Section of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers 67(2):1-4. [link]
  40. Chan, M.A., S.E. Peters, B. Tikoff. 2016. The future of field geology, open data sharing, and cybertechnology in Earth science. The Sedimentary Record 14:4-10. [link]
  41. Nelsen, M.P., B.A. DiMichele, S.E. Peters, C.K. Boyce. 2016. Delayed fungal evolution did not cause the Paleozoic peak in coal production. Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sci. USA. [link]
  42. Heavens, N.G. 2015. Injecting climate modeling into deep time studies: ideas for nearly every project. The Sedimentary Record 13:(4)4-10. [link]
  43. Carroll, A.R. 2015. Geofuels: energy and the Earth. Cambridge University Press. [link]
  44. Thomson, T.J. and M.L. Droser. 2015. Swimming reptiles make their mark in the Early Triassic: delayed ecologic recovery increased the preservation potential of vertebrate swim tracks. Geology 43:215-218. [link]
  45. Fraass, A.J., D.C. Kelly, S.E. Peters. 2015. Macroevolutionary history of the planktic foraminifera. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 43:5.1-5.28. [link]
  46. Fan, Y., S. Richard, R.S. Bristol, S.E. Peters, et al.. 2015. DigitalCrust: A 4D data system of material properties for transforming research on crustal fluid flow. Geofluids 15:372-379. [link]
  47. Peters, S.E., D.C. Kelly, and A. Fraass. 2013. Oceanographic controls on the diversity and extinction of planktonic foraminifera. Nature. 493:398-401.[link].
  48. Benson, R.B.J., P.D. Mannion, R.J. Butler, P. Upchurch, A. Goswami, and S.E. Evans. 2012. Cretaceous tetrapod fossil record sampling and faunal turnover: implications for biogeography and the rise of modern clades. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. [link].
  49. Rook, D.L., N.A. Heim, and J. Marcot. 2012.Contrasting patterns and connections of rock and biotic diversity in the marine and non-marine fossil records of North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 372:123-129. [link]
  50. Halevy, I, S.E. Peters, and W.W. Fischer. 2012. Sulfate burial constraints on the Phanerozoic sulfur cycle. Science 337:331-334. doi:10.1126/science.1220224.[link].
  51. Peters, S.E. and R.R. Gaines. 2012. Formation of the ‘Great Unconformity’ as a trigger for the Cambrian explosion. Nature 484:363-366. doi:10.1038/nature10969. [link].
  52. Finnegan, S., N.A. Heim, S.E. Peters and W.W. Fischer. 2012. Climate change and the selective signature of the late Ordovician mass extinction. PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.1117039109. [link].
  53. Hannisdal, B. and S.E. Peters. 2011. Phanerozoic Earth system evolution and marine biodiversity. Science 334:1121-1124. [link].
  54. Butler, R.J. et al. 2011. Sea level, dinosaur diversity and sampling biases: investigating the ‘common cause’ hypothesis in the terrestrial realm. Proc. Roy. Soc. London B 278:1165-1170. [link].
  55. Melott, A.L. and R.K. Bambach 2011. A ubquitous ~62-Myr periodic fluctuation superimposed on general trends in fossil biodiversity II. Evolutionary dynamics associated with period fluctuation in marine diversity. Paleobiology 37:369-382. [link].
  56. Heim, N.A. and S.E. Peters. 2011. Regional environmental breadth predicts geographic range and longevity in fossil marine genera. PLoS One 6:(5) e18946; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018946 [PDF].
  57. Peters, S.E. and N.A. Heim. 2011. Macrostratigraphy and macroevolution in marine environments: testing the common-cause hypothesis. In, Smith, A.B., and A. McGowan, eds. Comparing the rock and fossil records: implications for biodiversity. Special Publication of the Geological Society of London 358:95-104. doi: 10.1144/SP358.7. [link]
  58. Peters, S.E. and N.A. Heim. 2011. The stratigraphic distribution of marine fossils in North America. Geology 39:259-262; doi: 10.1130/G31442.1. [PDF]
  59. Finnegan, S., S.E. Peters, and W.W. Fischer. 2011. Late Ordovician-Early Silurian selective extinction patterns in Laurentia and their relationship to climate change. In J.C. Gutiérrez-Marco, I. Rábano, and D. Garcia-Bellido, eds. Ordovician of the World. Cuadernos del Museo Geominera 14: 155-159.
  60. Meyers, S.R. and S.E. Peters. 2011. A 56 million year rhythm in North American sedimentation during the Phanerozoic. EPSL doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.12.044. [PDF]
  61. Heim, N.A. and S.E. Peters. 2011. Covariation in macrostratigraphic and macroevolutionary patterns in the marine record of North America. GSA Bulletin 123:620-630. [PDF]
  62. Peters, S.E. and N.A. Heim. 2010. The geological completeness of paleontological sampling in North America. Paleobiology 36:61-79. [PDF].
  63. Marx, F.G. 2009. Marine mammals through time: when less is more in studying palaeodiversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 138:183-196. [link]
  64. McGowan, A.J., and A. Smith. 2008. Are global Phanerozoic marine diversity curves truly global? A study of the relationship between regional rock records and global Phanerozoic marine diversity. Paleobiology 34:80-103. [link]
  65. Mayhew, P.J., G.B. Jenkins, and T.G. Benton. 2008. Long-term association between global temperature and biodiversity, origination and extinction in the fossil record. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 275:47-53. [link]
  66. Peters, S.E. 2008. Environmental determinants of extinction selectivity in the fossil record. Nature 454:626-629. [PDF] [supplement]
  67. Peters, S.E. 2008. Macrostratigraphy and its promise for paleobiology. Pp. 205-232 In P.H. Kelley and R.K. Bambach, eds. From evolution to geobiology: research questions driving paleontology at the start of a new century. The Paleontological Society Papers, Vol. 14. 9.[PDF]
  68. Peters, S.E. and W.I. Ausich. 2008. A sampling-standardized macroevolutionary history for Ordovician-Early Silurian crinoids. Paleobiology 34:104-116. [PDF]
  69. Smith, A.B. 2007. Marine diversity through the Phanerozoic: problems and prospects. Journal of the Geological Society, London 164:731-745.[link]
  70. Peters, S.E. 2007. The problem with the Paleozoic. Paleobiology 33:165-181.[PDF]
  71. Peters, S.E. 2006. Macrostratigraphy of North America. Journal of Geology 114:391-412.[PDF]
  72. Peters, S.E. 2005. Geologic constraints on the macroevolutionary history of marine animals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 102:12326-12331.[PDF]

Produced by the UW Macrostrat Lab

Current support:
EAR-1948843
ICER-1928323
UW-Madison Dept. Geoscience