earth science

Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor

Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor rather than just read about it. In short: The Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor (PetDB) is a relational database for global geochemical data on igneous and metamorphic rocks generated at mid-ocean ridges including back-arc basins, young seamounts, and old oceanic crust, as well as ophiolites and terrestrial xenoliths from the mantle and lower crust and diamond geochemistry. These data are obtained by analyses of whole rock powders, volcanic glasses…

Key takeaways

Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor (PetDB) is a relational database for global geochemical data on igneous and metamorphic rocks generated at mid-ocean ridges including back-arc basins, young seamounts, and old oceanic crust, as well as ophiolites and terrestrial xenoliths from the mantle and lower crust and diamond geochemistry. These data are obtained by analyses of whole rock powders, volcanic glasses, and minerals by a wide range of techniques including mass spectrometry, atomic emission spectrometry, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and wet chemical analyses. Data are compiled from the scientific literature by PetDB data managers, and entered after methodical metadata review. Members of the scientific community can also suggest entry of specific data that has been entered into the EarthChem Library. PetDB is administered by the EarthChem group under the Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA) facility at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory headed by K. Lehnert. PetDB is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

About Developments of PetDB began in 1995, by Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) scientists C. Langmuir (now at Harvard University), W. Ryan, and A. Boulanger, when they realized what impact the World Wide Web and relational databases could have on the use of scientific data in research and in the classroom. The initial funding phase of PetDB (1996–2001) supported the development of the database structure and population with data values. Renewed funding (2002–2007) permitted the migration of the database into an ORACLE-based environment administered by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Columbia University, continued data entry, and enhancement of the web-interface with a more user-friendly design. PetDB is now maintained by EarthChem and funded by the US National Science Foundation, and is governed by the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance facility as part of an ecosystem of related projects, including The System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR), and the Astromaterials Data System (AstroMat). Since its inception, PetDB has supported a wide array of scientific endeavors, providing easy access to a comprehensive global dataset of geochemical data for mid-ocean ridge basalts, abyssal peridotites and also xenolith samples from the Earth's mantle and lower crust. The relational database structure of PetDB is a sample-based implementation, and designed to accommodate chemical, isotopic and mineralogical data for any type of rock sample, along with essential metadata, which provide information about each sample (e.g. location and time of collection, taxonomy, petrographic description) and the data quality, including analytical procedure, reference standard measurements etc. (Lehnert et al. 2000). Initially developed for PetDB and its European counterpart, GEOROC, this relational data model has demonstrated utility and flexibility by its application in subsequent geochemical database projects including several collaborations that PetDB has also fostered, including EARThD Project, which focuses on tephra samples from the East African Rift; the US Polar Rock Repository housed at Ohio State University, which includes metadata from Antarctic rock samples; and the collaboration with the University of Kansas, which has resulted in the inclusion of North American granitic pluton samples’ data as well. This project evolved from the NAVDAT project. PetDB has been cited in more than 1500 peer-reviewed scientific articles. PetDB is committed to data that follow: FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable), TRUST (Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability and Technology), and CARE principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Collective benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics), and strives to demonstrate the importance of openly available digital resources across all scientific disciplines.

Contents In its current application, PetDB contains and provides on-line access to a complete set of chemical parameters (currently over 250 elements, oxides, isotopes and isotope ratios), as well as petrographic (mode) data through a sophisticated query interface. New data are continuously being added to the database as it is published and submitted to PetDB by authors. Data for a specific sample that is generated by different laboratories or published by various authors are linked and integrated through the use of a unique sample identifier generated by the database application.

Statistics As of November 15, 2024, PetDB holdings consist of:

References: 3,680 Samples: 141,527 Bulk rock data points: 1,796,265 Minerals: 3,549,654 Volcanic glasses: 937,401 Inclusions: 354,156 Total individual values: 6,639,789

Data output Data from PetDB can be viewed in HTML tables and downloaded in spreadsheets in XLS format. During selection of chemical parameters a user can choose to retrieve data as individual values (each row in the data table contains values measured on the same sample with the same method and linked to the same reference) or in precompiled format. The precompiled format arranges all data associated with a sample in a single row, even when data is sourced from multiple publications. In cases where there is more than one data value for a particular chemical item, the precompilation algorithm selects the most recent analysis and the most precise method available. Links in the HTML table permit the user to access more detailed information about the sample, reference or data value (analytical procedure). The final spreadsheet output contains two worksheets. The first contains queried chemical data, geospatial coordinates, and abridged methods and references, while the second contains metadata on analytical methods and publication information.

References

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor

In research: Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Marine geology, Petrology, Projects established in 1995, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor in simple terms?

Why does Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor.