Global Geodatabase of Ultramafic Soils

We (myself and other collaborators globally distributed) are compiling a global geodatabase of ultramafic soils. We started with the Americas and now want to expand out. The tasks would involve searching for country specific geological maps (in GIS), extracting ultramafic polygons, standardizing projections, and compiling into a single database. We hope to use this data in combination with remote sensing imagery to answer ecological questions such as: is vegetation in ultramafic regions more or less temporally stable than adjacent, non-ultramafic soils based on remote sensing imagery metrics like NDVI and regional climate trends?

Your contribution and time commitment could range from 1) identifying and extracting data from a few country specific geological maps in GIS in your part of the world or 2) you could take a larger role in the data compilation or 3) you could have a role in the analyses of satellite imagery data in combination with geological and climate data.

Timeline and time commitment: We plan to organize a working group at the 2023 International Conference On Serpentine Ecology (pending covid travel) with work to begin shortly after. Time commitment is variable depending on how much you want to contribute or what role you would like to take.