NSB (Neptune Sandbox Berlin): An expanded and improved database of marine planktonic microfossil data and deep-sea stratigraphy
Johan Renaudie, David Lazarus, Patrick Diver
Abstract
Thirty years ago, the Neptune Database was created to synthesize microfossil occurrences from the deep-sea drilling record. It has been used in numerous studies by both biologists and paleontologists of the evolution and distribution in space and time of marine microplankton. After decades of discontinuous development in various institutions, a significant overhaul of the system was made during the last decade, leading to the database being expanded and made available again online under the name Neptune Sandbox Berlin (NSB). In particular, the addition of an extensive stratigraphic layer has resulted in the database now being used by a wider geoscience community than its previous incarnations. We summarize here the complete history of the Neptune database development and provide a complete description of the new system, NSB, its associated website and age-model making software (NSB_ADP_wx).