Layered sedimentary rocks are a vast, globally distributed, information repository for the history of Earth processes, spanning billions of years, holding the answers to many scientific and societal questions. Traditionally, we have tried to capture this information in the printed literature where the data sets, by the nature of the medium, are incomplete. Furthermore, it is an expensive and time-consuming process for subsequent researchers to extract this information from the literature. The answer to this "information bottleneck" is geoinformatics, a revolution that is migrating information to more readily retrievable electronic formats. The CHRONOS System is a community facility that addresses the geoinformatics needs of sedimentary geology and paleobiology, emphasizes global correlation and time-series analysis, and directly supports cutting-edge research on topics that include the evolution and diversity of life, climate change, geochemical cycles, paleoceanography, crustal dynamics of orogenic systems, and many other aspects of the Earth system. The purpose of the CHRONOS System is to provide an open, community-based geoinformatics platform for storing, accessing, and analyzing sedimentary geological, geochemical, and paleobiological data. By augmenting and connecting community databases and giving them an unprecedented level of interoperability, the CHRONOS System will realize a virtual, on-line, electronic stratigraphic record - a means to boost the pace and enlarge the scope of integrative geoscience. By focusing on the record of Earth processes through time, CHRONOS is also providing a unique source of information for K-16 students and classes, and the public. It partners with DLESE, PaleoPortal, local and national organizations and Earth science teachers groups, and national museums and exploratoria to both provide effective educational material, and to reach as broad an audience as possible.
