EarthChem

EarthChem
Name	EarthChem
Type	Data facility
Purpose	Geochemical data curation and distribution
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Parent organization	Carnegie Institution for Science

EarthChem is a digital data facility for global geochemical information supporting research in geoscience. The organization aggregates geochemical datasets from laboratories, fleets, and field programs to enable synthesis across projects such as the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, EarthScope, and regional initiatives like the Andean Geotraverse and the Iceland Deep Drilling Project. Its resources are used by investigators affiliated with institutions including the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Geological Survey, and international partners such as the British Geological Survey, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the Geological Survey of Japan.

Overview

EarthChem operates as a domain-specific data repository and service node within broader infrastructures including the DataONE federation, the National Science Foundation data ecosystem, and the Group on Earth Observations network. The facility curates rock, mineral, and melt inclusion geochemical analyses contributed by researchers from organizations like Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Washington, University of Oxford, and agency programs such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. EarthChem provides tools for querying, visualizing, and downloading datasets used in work cited by journals such as Nature Geoscience, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, and Journal of Petrology.

History and Development

EarthChem originated from collaborations among geoscientists associated with the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and the University of California, Berkeley to address data fragmentation highlighted in reports from the National Research Council and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Early development tied into programs like the Ocean Drilling Program and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, with technical contributions from teams at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the United States Geological Survey, and the British Geological Survey. Over time, EarthChem integrated standards and workflows influenced by the Research Data Alliance, the Open Geospatial Consortium, and the World Data System, enabling interoperability with repositories such as Pangaea (data publisher) and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Data Resources and Services

EarthChem maintains several curated databases and services interoperable with tools used by researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Edinburgh, ETH Zurich, Australian National University, and University of Tokyo. Key resources include geochemical sample inventories, isotopic analyses, trace-element datasets, and metadata conforming to schemas promoted by the International Geo Sample Number and the Global Change Master Directory. Services support machine-readable access compatible with platforms like GitHub, Zenodo, and the Dryad Digital Repository, and integrate with software such as Python (programming language), R (programming language), ArcGIS, and QGIS. EarthChem’s portals facilitate searches by sample locality linked to gazetteers like the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names, stratigraphic frameworks used by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, and collection records from museums including the Natural History Museum, London and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Governance and Funding

Governance of EarthChem involves partnerships among organizations such as the Carnegie Institution for Science, the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and university consortia including Arizona State University and the University of Michigan. Funding sources have included grants from the National Science Foundation, contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, programmatic support from the Department of Energy, and project collaborations with agencies like the European Commission under frameworks similar to Horizon 2020. Advisory input has been provided by committees with members from the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences, and international research centers such as the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.

Research Applications and Impact

Datasets and tools provided by EarthChem underpin research in topics addressed by projects like Deep Carbon Observatory, GeoPRISMS, Paleoclimate, and studies published in venues including Science Advances and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Applications include characterizing mantle heterogeneity investigated by teams at Carnegie Institution for Science and University of Oxford, petrogenetic modeling used by researchers at California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and tectonic reconstructions by groups affiliated with Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. EarthChem-enabled syntheses inform hazard assessments conducted by the United States Geological Survey and resource studies relevant to agencies such as the United Nations Environment Programme.

Access and Collaboration

Access to EarthChem resources is designed for researchers linked to universities, museums, observatories, and governmental agencies including University of California system, Smithsonian Institution, British Geological Survey, and Geological Survey of Canada. The project collaborates with data initiatives like EarthCube, the Global Earthquake Model, and the OneGeology project, and engages communities via workshops hosted at venues such as the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, the European Geosciences Union General Assembly, and UNESCO-affiliated events. Contributors follow data best practices advocated by the Research Data Alliance and the Open Knowledge Foundation to ensure reuse in multinational studies led by consortia including the International Ocean Discovery Program and the Global Geochemical Baselines initiative.

Category:Geochemistry databases Category:Scientific data repositories