Ore Geological GIS Database for the Northern and Eastern Finland, Eastern Fennoscandian Shield

The research carried out in the ore potential areas of the Northern and Eastern Finland (e.g. Archaean greenstone belts, layered intrusions, ophiolites) during the past 30 years has yielded a vast amount of geological data in variable formats in several fields of earth sciences at University of Oulu, Finland. Common factor for these projects and the data is their link to the exploration and ore geology. The results of these projects have been published over the years as printed reports or articles in scientific papers.

The original data sets have been stored in digital media, when possible or as paper prints. The present paper describes the ongoing project, which aim is to convert all these old and in some cases obsolete databases into a modern GIS database to be available and fully utilized by any possible GIS tool used by mining companies, geological surveys or academic research groups focusing on the geology of the Eastern Fennoscandian Shield.

The original data have been stored in the punched cards, magnetic tapes and maps. The database is versatile geological information source. It includes almost all branches of geochemical analyses, geological field observations, geophysical measurements and geological maps derived from the research projects at the University of Oulu from early 70's to present. The database will be build to be accessible by the common GIS oriented software tools. The present paper is constructed by using ARC/Info and

ARC/View software products, but we emphasize the universal nature of databases. A World Wide Web (WWW) based distribution of the database has been considered as one possibility in addition to compact discs (CD-ROM). The latter media enables storing a huge amount of pictures (maps and photographs), which is an essential part of the documentation of geological data.

The project is indeed a crossroad of modern technologies and applied geological research. The work has been done at the Institute of Geosciences, University of Oulu, Finland, in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Finland.