About the project

"Archive Earth" is the homepage of the project "Archiving the Earth", which aims to digitize the thin section collection of the University of Freiburg. The study of rocks and minerals, as well as their textures, is part of the basic education in geoscientific studies and related disciplines. In addition to macroscopic examination, the observation of rock samples under the microscope is indispensable for research and teaching in order to be able to draw conclusions about formation processes and related past and present events on a global and local scale. For example, microtextures in rocks can enable us to reconstruct glacial and volcanic events.

In the Mineralogy-Petrology and Geochemistry work group (Institute for Geo- and Environmental Sciences) a teaching collection with 150 thin sections of the most important rocks of the earth is available. This is supplemented by a research collection comprising approx. 20,000 specimens which is continuously expanding. The collection contains samples in which important geological and environmental events, such as sea level fluctuations, volcanic eruptions or continental plate movement can be detected.

In the course of this project the thin sections are digitized in plane polarised light (PPL) and crossed polarized light (XPL) by means of PICAT. These images are made available to students and lecturers around the clock on the homepage and are used in both research and teaching.

The project "Archiving the Earth" was supported by the Student Council of the University of Freiburg from SVB funds through the "Project Competition: Innovative Studies" (www.stura.org/svb) and was awarded the Teaching Innovation Prize at Dies Universitatis 2019.

Honouring the winners of the "Project Competition: Innovative Studies" at Dies Universitatis 2019, Photo: Patrick Seeger

The team behind the project

Project management: Dr. Lennart A. Fischer

Digitization: Clare Bamford (Earth Sciences student)

Homepage: Ralf Maier (Earth Sciences student)

We would like to thank the student council of the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg for supporting the project and Jan Schopper (Computer center) for the technical implementation of the homepage.