Description of the Active Faults of Eurasia Database

Introduction   Principles and methods   Source materials   Object properties   Justifying attributes   Valuation attributes   Conclusion  

3.2. Characterization of justifying attributes

The justifying attributes AUTH, NAME, PARM, and TEXT provide the most accurate and detailed information that is present in the source materials. This information is reflected in the attributes both directly - in the form of brief specific characteristics of objects, and indirectly - in the form of links to sources containing a detailed description and justification of these characteristics.

Substantiating attributes are the main value when using the database as a source material for a variety of case studies. These attributes allow the database user to find out the most significant established properties of the object and its expert assessments from different authors, as well as to get an idea of ​​the quality of the sources of information that became the basis for including the object in the database. Substantiating attributes provide the researcher with the opportunity to verify the validity of the object properties assessments given in the database and reassess them.

Justifying attributes are formatted. To express the exact meaning of the information they enter, they allow a variety of their content, but only within the framework of clear rules for its design. The content of the attribute is a string up to 256 characters in length, allowing you to bring all the important information about the object and consisting of separate blocks separated by conventional signs with the obligatory reference to the authorship of each source. The disadvantage of justifying attributes is that the content elements of such lines are difficult to compare, and the programmatic identification of their meaning is complex and not always unambiguous.

Sources of information. The contents of the AUTH attribute are links to all sources of information about the object, indicating authorship and time of publication or other form of their provision. The quality of source materials, their diversity, independence, reputation of authors and publications, publication time are important criteria for evaluating the content of other attributes. The AUTH attribute is mandatory because it contains information without which no object can be included in the database, and is key, since the database is, inter alia, a form of organization and presentation of the totality of opinions of different researchers about the active faults of a particular region. References in the AUTH attribute may not indicate the original data source, but generalizing materials describing fault groups, each of which was studied at different times by different authors. Through a chain of links, a database user can find materials that provide primary data with their interpretation. For many objects, the AUTH attribute is the only justifying attribute, which indicates their lack of knowledge.

When formatting the AUTH attribute, fragments of its content related to different sources are separated by a semicolon. References to sources are made out, as is customary in publications. Full forms of links made in a separate text application to the database. If, as an exception, the attribute refers to unpublished information, then the source is indicated after the keyword “data” the year they were received.

Structure name. The names of faults and / or zones included in them are entered in the NAME attribute. The NAME attribute is justifying, because, as a rule, the presence and general recognition of the name of an object indirectly indicate the reliability of its selection and the completeness of knowledge. If the named structure is divided into several objects, all of them are given the same name. The NAME attribute field is limited to 50 characters. Therefore, if a fault has several names, less common or obsolete ones are transferred to the content of the TEXT attribute. The name of the object is written in capital Latin letters in the spelling given in the source material or using transliteration. Allowed to reduce complex names while maintaining their identifying part. After the name of the fault, the designation “f.” Is added, and after the name of the zone of the faults, “f.z.”.

Main characteristics. The content of the PARM attribute in the database represents the main source of factual information about the age of recent movements, speed, kinematic parameters, seismic activity and other specific information taken from source materials. This wide range of information is framed according to certain recording rules in a compact form, mainly in numerical values and index symbols. The PARM attribute contains information for determining the values of the evaluation attributes, including the validity of the activity.

The recording format includes elements called property markers. An equal sign is placed after each marker, followed by the value of the property indicated by the marker. As markers, either numerical indices are used (see EXPLANATION of numerical markers) or various abbreviated terms and the designations of the properties of the object, deciphered in the guide for the user attached to the database, or the names of the parameters taken from the quoted source materials. Flexibility in the notation of properties allows you to accurately and clearly convey their meaning, but preference is given to unified, concise and understandable to any user markers.

After each block of data taken from a separate source, a link to this source is given in the same form as it is indicated in the AUTH attribute. Blocks of information transferred from DB-96 are located at the beginning of the lines and the entire set of links earlier than 1996 refers to them in the AUTH attribute. These blocks and data blocks from various other sources are separated by a double slash. Inside each block, information about the various properties of the object is separated by a semicolon. The use of a double slash and semicolon when writing attributes makes it possible to programmatically process them.

Additional information. The TEXT attribute is optional, since it only supplements the characteristic of the object in the PARM attribute and is filled only when it is full, and also if some important description of the object cannot be formalized. This attribute provides information and arguments in formulations that are as close as possible to the primary sources and convey the meaning embodied in them by the authors. The attribute contains information in text form without using property markers. If space is available, detailed formulations and descriptions of the object are allowed. As in the PARM attribute, information blocks from various sources are separated by a double slash, and descriptions of various properties inside the blocks are separated by a semicolon. After each block is a link to the source. If important new information does not fit into an attribute string 255 characters long, the old record is truncated.

The PARM or TEXT attributes directly contain only a compact set of the most important and reliable information about the characteristics of an object as an active structure. Less significant or less reliable information is present in the database only in the form of additional links to their sources as part of the AUTH attribute, where they can be found for a detailed study of the object. The presence of contradictions between information from various sources is required.

Next: 3.3. Characteristics of valuation attributes