Salience as a tool for communicating the weight of observational data in a model: Application to emplacement of the Sage Hen Flat pluton, California

Ellen Nelson, University of Wisconsin- Madison
Basil Tikoff, University of Wisconsin- Madison
Tim Shipley, Temple University
Sven Morgan, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Michel de St Blanquat, Géosciences Environnement Toulouse

Abstract

Salience characterizes the relevance of a dataset with regard to a specific model. Salience can be positive if it is in agreement with a model, or negative if it is inconsistent with a model. We designate salience using a scale that ranges from negligible to paramount, which can be depicted on a map overlay to spatially communicate areas of importance. Salience is principally a communication tool.

We have utilized salience rankings at the mapping scale for the Sage Hen Flat pluton in the White-Inyo mountains of eastern California. This pluton was interesting from a geological perspective because the pluton emplacement does not disturb the regional trends of the preexisting wall rock (e.g., it is a "cookie cutter" pluton); it was interesting from a process-of-science perspective there were two previously published mapping and emplacement models for the pluton are in disagreement with one another. We use new anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, mineralogic, and gravity data to develop a new model – a horizontal sheet cut by normal faults – for of the Sage Hen Flat pluton. We explicitly evaluate both the data quality and the salience from each outcrop in the construction of the model.

Salience provides a framework for understanding how practitioners arrive at disparate models when collecting observational data from the same locality. It is designed to partially overcome the problem associated with the concept of reproducibility for the observational sciences by inviting replication. As such, the use of salience will increase the reliability and trustworthiness of observationally collected field data, provide a stronger conceptualization of field areas, and allow scientists to more effectively build off prior data. Further, it encourages conversations and research strategies that are well designed to distinguish between the different models. While this work has initially been done at the mapping scale of a singular field area, salience can also be used as a communication tool for more regional questions.

Session

Structural geology techniques