The North American Volcanic and Intrusive Rock Database (NAVDAT) is intended as a web-accessible repository for age, chemical and isotopic data from Mesozoic and younger igneous rocks in western North America. This region has long been a natural laboratory for efforts to test the links between igneous activity, tectonics, and ore deposition. These efforts have relied on ad hoc databases that became obsolete or abandoned once the project was completed. NAVDAT represents an effort to provide a permanent and publicly available database for existing and new age and geochemical data from igneous rocks in western North America. The database allows a continent-wide look at complex space-time patterns of magmatism. Many new visualization tools have been developed for NAVDAT, including space-time animations and time-animated geochemical diagrams. These tools have revealed intriguing new patterns that had not been teased out of the smaller datasets heretofore available, and demonstrate the power of a large, easily accessible database.

Data entry for the western United States commenced in 2002 and there are now 64,985 samples on-line and available for searching. Powerful map interfaces allow users to quickly plot sample locations on satellite images, and hyperlinked geochemical plots allow users to rapidly investigate space-time patterns in the compositions of igneous rocks. Sample locations can also be downloaded for Google Earth.