Abstract

GigaPan images of outcrop, quarry, and roadcut exposures have been captured and are being used to test the efficacy of a novel visual comparison technique in addressing issues of stratigraphic correlation of sub-units within the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation in Rooks, Ellis, Gove, and Trego Counties in northwest Kansas. Through the use of side-by-side implementations of the web-based GigaPan Flash viewer, distinctive individual layers and stratigraphic sequences can be matched in a highly intuitive visual manner. Incorporating adequate quantitative measures of scale is a challenge that remains to be solved before high precision correlation can be done with GigaPan imagery, however semi-quantitative and qualitative preliminary results suggest that this device may become a powerful research tool. Application of the visual correlation technique to the teaching of stratigraphic correlation concepts in the classroom offers a novel and interactive way for students to experience the joy of discovery in a virtual field environment. A method for creating anaglyph GigaPan images with the current GigaPan robot will also be described; the resulting images represent another way to significantly enhance classroom-based virtual field experiences.