About the New Zealand Fossil Record File
Origins
Organisation and management
Concept of a fossil locality
Geographic scope and numbering of fossil localities
Fossil Record Electronic Database - FRED

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Origins
Fossils preserve a record of past biota that has changed through geological time because of evolution and changing global and local environments. As a result, fossils are an important means of determining the age of sedimentary rocks and the conditions under which they were deposited. For this reason, they are used routinely for geological mapping and stratigraphic studies related to hydrocarbons and mineral exploration, as well as research into paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental change, paleoecology and evolution. Fossils are sometimes discovered by "serendipitous" observation, but mostly by systematic field survey and sampling. Many fossils are uncommon, and it is only by accumulation of occurrence data over many years that patterns of distribution become evident. Systematic collection, identification and interpretation are specialist and costly tasks.

To make best use of this scarce resource, the New Zealand Fossil Record File (FRF) was established by the New Zealand Geological Survey in 1946 as a national system for recording geographic location, geological context, and collection details of fossils, and linking this to identifications and varied interpretations obtained over the years through various projects. It had predecessors in the manuscript and typescript catalogues of collections begun in the early years of the Survey. A single form, the "Fossil Record Form", was developed and registration of localities within standard map areas promoted among New Zealand geologists, both government and non-government, with master files kept in several regional centres. Later, the scheme continued under the sponsorship of the Geological Society of New Zealand, but with a continuing involvement of the Geological Survey and its successor, the Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences. A fuller description of the FRF, its history, and earlier computerisation can be found in NZ Geological Survey Reports 45 (Scott 1970) and 101 (Sudlow & Edwards 1982) and GNS Science Report 92/10 (Raine 1992).

Organisation and management

A subcommittee of the Geological Society of New Zealand, chaired by its Convenor, provides general guidance and a forum for discussions. Day-to-day operation is the responsibility of masterfile curators at 5 regional centres operated by universities and GNS Science (see Contacts), who allocate new locality registration numbers and file recording forms for their region, and provide access to the archival paper files as required. This arrangement will continue with the move to online locality record submission.

The computer database, FRED, is managed by GNS Science and has a master curator. Database maintenance, development, and entry of "backlog" data is currently provided through The National Paleontological Databases Programme, a Nationally Significant Databases funding initiative of New Zealand Foundation for Research Science & Technology.

Concept of a fossil locality
The FRF records any site at which fossils have been collected or observed, or which has been sampled for microfossils. Radiocarbon samples can also be registered in the FRF. Each site and collecting event has a unique fossil record number, composed of a map or area code followed by a serial number allocated by a masterfile curator. Re-collections of sites already registered are allocated (by the curator) a unique letter following the serial number. All samples from a drillhole are normally assigned the same fossil record number: they are uniquely identified by the sampling depth, sample type, and if necessary sampler and date. A vertical section, for example cliff or excavation face, can also be assigned a single fossil record number with subsidiary sample records.

Geographic scope and numbering of fossil localities
The Fossil Record File is principally a registration scheme for fossil localities in NZ and nearby regions, including SE Pacific Islands and seafloor, and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Collections from other part of the World can also be accommodated. The FRF now holds paper records of approximately 86000 localities.

Within mainland New Zealand, new localities were originally registered by allotting sequential serial numbers within each of the yard-grid-based NZMS1 (1 inch to the mile) map sheet areas, starting at 500, e.g. N164/f500 (a collection from Terawhiti made by Alexander McKay in 1880). Serial numbers in the range 1-499 were initially reserved for collections researched from the older literature, but this practice was not universally observed and few were actually allotted. NZMS1-based files were closed in 1975 and are archived at the regional masterfile centres.

In 1975, with the advent of the metric New Zealand Map Grid and related NZMS260 (1:50000 "Infomap") map series, new localities were registered in NZMS260 map areas, with sequential serial numbers starting at 1, e.g. Q27/f1. Existing NZMS1-based FRF numbers were provided with new NZMS260-based numbers by adding 6000, 7000, 8000, or 9000 to the old serial number, depending on the quadrant of overlap of the NZMS1 and NZMS260 maps - so for example N164/f500 became Q27/f9500, whereas N164/f501 became R27/f8501. Operational NZMS260-based files are maintained at the 5 regional masterfile centres (see Contacts).

Coastal sea-floor and island localities near New Zealand that are within NZMS260 map areas which contain part of North Island, South Island, Great Barrier Island or Stewart Island, are registered in these NZMS260 files.

Special files are maintained for offshore islands in the New Zealand region and southwest Pacific, and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica, e.g. CA/f1 for a locality at Campbell Island. Special area files comprise:

AK	Auckland Islands
AP	Antipodes Island
BT	Bounty Islands
CA	Campbell Island
CH	Chatham Islands (including Pitt Island)
CK	Cook Islands
FJ	Fiji
KE	Kermadec Islands
LH	Lord Howe Island
MQ	Macquarie Island
NC	New Caledonia
NG	Niu Gini (Papua New Guinea)
NR	Norfolk Island
NU	Niue
RS	Antarctica
SA	Western Samoa
SN	The Snares
TG	Tonga
TL	Tokelau Islands
VA	Vanuatu

These masterfiles are maintained at GNS Science in Lower Hutt, with the exception of the New Caledonia file, which is maintained at Auckland University.

Localities elsewhere in the World, including sea-floor localities outside the mainland NZMS260 file areas, are allocated file numbers based on latitude/longitude degree squares, e.g. Maui-2 drillhole at latitude 39°S, longitude 173°E is registered as SE39173/f2. This masterfile is maintained at GNS Science, Lower Hutt.

Fossil Record Electronic Database - FRED
Since 1970, the New Zealand Geological Survey and its successor, GNS Science, has electronically databased full data for about 65% of the locality records. These records relate mainly to specimens held in the National Paleontological Collection, for which the FRF provides an interface to specimen identifications and interpreted geological age and paleoenvironmental information. The computer database also contains grid references for most of the remainder of the paper file records. Organisation of data is described in Quick Start.

Until 2003 the computer database was available online only within GNS Science, but Non-Specific Output Funding in 2001-2003 permitted transfer from a legacy system to a modern database management system (Oracle), and development of a basic web interface for interactive public access via the GNS Science website. Map grid coordinates (for localities registered up to year 2000) are also available in downloadable text files.

From 2005, the FRST-funded National Paleontological Databases Programme is enabling further development. The first steps are to institute online registration of new localities, and commence a programme of systematic data entry to capture all masterfile locality and deposited paleontological information. Progress will be reported in What's New.