Significance and Future of Data Infrastructures for the Geochemical Research Community

The GEOROC and PetDB databases provide peer-reviewed geochemical data on igneous rocks, minerals and related materials for >25 years to cover the full range of igneous compositions, mantle xenoliths and minerals. Combined they provide access to more than 48.2 million individual data values from around 27,000 publications through web applications for search, filtering and download. These comprehensive datasets support large-scale regional and global geochemical data-based research spanning traditional geochemical studies to data-driven and machine-learning approaches.

GEOROC’s holdings have reached over 40.8 million data values from more than 23,000 publications focusing on ocean islands, continents and subduction zones. The PetDB database complements with ca. 7.4 million data values for igneous and metamorphic samples of the ocean floor, ophiolites, mantle xenoliths, tephra, and arc rocks.

The DIGIS project is modernizing the GEOROC data infrastructure in alignment with FAIR principles by introducing a new API, improved web interface, and unified data model. Further, topical global collections of data are extracted into individual DOI-minted data sets that are regularly updated from the GEOROC data holdings. These compilations and additional author-contributed data sets with rich metadata are accessed through GFZ Data-Services. GEOROC has recently been reconnected with the updated GeoReM database on geochemical reference materials. PetDB is part of the EarthChem data services and the IEDA2 data facility. PetDB was migrated to a new architecture and a new, simplified search interface was released in 2025 to improve usability. EarthChem also offers repository services where researchers can publish and archive their data.

Based on close collaborations between PetDB and GEOROC, the EarthChem Portal has provided for nearly 20 years a central access point to the content of both databases, as well as several smaller databases. Today, nearly 50 million data values are accessible at the ECP.

While the EPOS data resources are strong on geophysical (and other types of) data, EPOS has lacked a systematic inclusion of geochemical data from rocks on the European continent. The data services that the geochemical research community provide on geochemical compositions of rocks minerals and ore deposits globally has the potential to become a strong contribution to the EPOS data platform. To this end, we offer collaboration with EPOS to provide access points for two types of geoscience data: curated geochemical data on rocks and minerals in a domain-specific data base and large compiled selected data sets on specific types of rocks and minerals and/or from specific geological or geographic settings in the DIGIS-GEOROC repository at GFZ-data services. 

This also requires further developments: Under the umbrella of OneGeochemistry and NFDI4Earth, DIGIS, EarthChem and other initiatives such as the Australian Geochemistry Network are developing authoritative vocabularies and metadata standards, as well as interoperability and integration across different global geochemical databases. Further, together we develop tools for data quality assessment for improved data usability. These advances also broaden the applicability of geochemical data beyond hardrock oriented research to fields such as environmental science, archaeology and geohealth, demonstrating how FAIR-aligned geochemical infrastructures enhance reproducible research in Earth System Science and interdisciplinary collaboration.