If you are interested in joining our team for your Master’s or Bachelor’s project, please get in touch via digis-info@uni-goettingen.de.
November 2023 / Februar 2024
At the end of October, the DIGIS Team experienced a transition in personnel, with Marthe Klöcking, the coordinator and public face of the DIGIS project, departing to pursue her own geochemistry project at the University of Münster. In her absence, Gerhard Wörner (DIGIS PI) and Leander Kallas (GEOROC curator) temporarily assumed coordination responsibilities to maintain the project's momentum.
During this interim period, collaboration with colleagues from EarthChem remained steadfast as we continued our dedicated efforts to refine various controlled vocabularies within the GEOROC database. Our primary focus has been on aligning mineral and rock terminology in GEOROC with the external standardized vocabularies provided by MinDat and IMA.
Since 2023, the GEOROC data entry process has expanded to incorporate a comprehensive new set of whole rock and mineral data from barren as well as fertile, ore-bearing magmatic systems of the Central Andes and surrounding areas. This also includes a growing number and species of ore-minerals from that region.
September/October 2023
In September, DIGIS PI Gerhard Wörner presented at MinWien2023, a joint meeting of the mineralogical societies of Austria, Germany and Slovakia.
We also held an online workshop between DIGIS and EarthChem curators designing templates for a new joint, browser-based data entry tool for the GEOROC and PetDB databases. This work, together with the ongoing synchronisation of our controlled vocabularies, will enhance our data interoperability within the EarthChem portal by precluding any potential duplications and improving the quality and reusability of our data compilations.
In October, as a participant repository provider, DIGIS was invited to the first NFDI4Earth Label Forum to provide feedback on the first version of a label system indicating the level of engagement and degree of realization of the FAIR data principles.
We were further delighted to welcome Marie Traun from Scandinavian Highlands Holding for a department seminar on “Geology, data science and arc volcanoes: Bridging across disciplines as a geoscientist”.
July/August 2023
In July, DIGIS was represented at the annual Goldschmidt conference in Lyon by Marthe Klöcking and Leander Kallas. In a joint workshop with EarthChem and AstroMat we showcased the diversity of features of each data system. We also introduced a brand new Jupyter Notebook, developed by Timm Wirtz, that demonstrates the usage of the GEOROC API. Check it out here: https://github.com/digis-georoc/Georoc_jupyter.
Besides presenting a poster and engaging the geochemical community at the OneGeochemistry booth, DIGIS also co-organised a COPDESS editors’ roundtable to continue the conversation about diverse aspects and challenges pertaining to the standards, workflows and policies for publishing data from scientific articles.
In August, DIGIS contributed to a DMG Data Science Short course organised by Frankfurt University with a lecture and tutorial on the differences between data repositories, databases and data portals and their relative importance within the DIGIS infrastructure.
May/June 2023
The DIGIS team has grown again: Mareen Geestman and Paul Pestov (Göttingen State and Uni-versity Library, SUB) have taken on the development of the new GEOROC 2.0 website and search interface. Nils Messling (Geoscience Centre, GZG) has joined DIGIS as a postdoctoral researcher to investigate the composition of the Upper Continental Crust, utilising high-precision stable Mo isotope data in conjunction with a compiled dataset of global radiogenic isotope and trace ele-ment systematics from GEOROC. We are also grateful to our four new student assistants based at the GZG that are helping with data entry, data cleaning and quality control.
In a collaboration between the Astromaterials Data System, DIGIS, EarthChem and Geo.X, we have published a new joint vocabulary on analytical methods for geochemistry and cosmochemistry at ARDC Research Vocabularies Australia. Implementing this shared terminology over the coming months will bring the data systems another step closer to interoperability.
March/April 2023
DIGIS is growing! Daniel Kurzawe, deputy head of research and development at the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB), is joining the project as co-PI with a focus on text and data mining. Daniel and his team will develop an infrastructure prototype for information extraction from research publications to support data ingestion into the GEOROC database.
At the EGU General Assembly DIGIS was represented at the ESIP DataHelpDesk and through an invited keynote presentation on our infrastructure for a globally interoperable database. Another highlight of the week was Kerstin Lehnert’s presentation on the international collaboration between the DIGIS, EarthChem, Astromat and MetBase data systems.
Recommended reading: Community recommendations for geochemical data, services and analytical capabilities in the 21st century, an invited review paper just published in Geochimica et Cosmochima Acta by Klöcking et al. This paper is the direct outcome of a community workshop held at the Goldschmidt conference 2022, jointly organised by DIGIS, EarthChem and the Australian Geochemistry Network.
January/February 2023
In the first months of the year work continues on the new DIGIS API and on aligning GEOROC metadata with international standards. Following the productive workshop at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in December, the DIGIS and EarthChem teams are collaborating more closely than ever. Our focus for 2023 is to leverage each other’s capabilities by implementing a common tool for data entry and curation. Part of this project are continued efforts to publish a set of joint vocabularies used between the GEOROC, PetDB and Astromaterials synthesis databases.
We are delighted to be partnered with GFZ Data Services as a domain repository for the publication of user-submitted, geochemical datasets. The first dataset was published in January in the new DIGIS Geochemical Data Repository hosted by GFZ Data Services as a dedicated geochemical data centre: Kutyrev et al. (2023). Noble metals, major and minor elements in modern and pre-historic lavas of Tolbachik volcano. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/digis.2023.001.
In the meantime, our curators continuously grow the GEOROC database: the March update will see data from another ~250 publications added to GEOROC, free to access via the GEOROC website as well as the EarthChem Portal.
November/December 2022
At the beginning of December, three members of the DIGIS team travelled to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, New York, for our very first in-person (and hybrid) workshop with EarthChem. A week of discussions on a variety of topics including data entry by curators and users and the synchronisation and standardisation of our services was a worthy culmination of 18 months of zoom meetings and the highlight of our collaboration so far. We will start 2023 with concrete plans for how to further streamline our services and create an improved user experience for the community.
DIGIS and GEOROC were of course also represented at the AGU Fall Meeting in Chicago, leading a diverse session that integrated geochemistry research and data science, and presenting in a lively poster discussion session.
Finally, a first version of the GEOROC RESTful API is now complete and ready for testing. If you are interested in helping us develop an essential capability of GEOROC 2.0, please reach out at digis-info@uni-goettingen.de.
September/October 2022
We are celebrating the first big milestone of our collaboration with EarthChem: we have successfully revived our data exchange via the EarthChem Portal, a single point of access to six independently curated databases including PetDB and GEOROC. Over the last weeks, new GEOROC data from >3800 publications have been added to the EarthChem Portal. Once again, all of GEOROC’s data compilations are now available through the EarthChem Portal – in sync with on-going GEOROC updates that are currently released every 3 months.
We have further updated the license agreement for all data products available through GEOROC. The compilations offered through the GEOROC web query are now covered by the regulations of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0), meaning:
- You are free to copy, transform and redistribute the data in any medium and format.
- You must give appropriate credit to GEOROC and the original data sources.
- If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
July/August 2022
DIGIS was well-represented at this year’s Goldschmidt conference (9-16 July). The team co-organised a workshop, scientific session and exhibition booth, all with the aim of advertising the services we provide to the research community and to collect feedback. We are proud to be working with EarthChem, the AuScope Geochemistry Network and other global partners in the OneGeochemistry initiative towards community-endorsed standards for geochemical data reporting. It was great hearing the enthusiasm and wide support for our work from the community.
May/June 2022
On 20 May, OneGeochemistry announced its interim governance as the first step towards a global geochemical data network that facilitates and promotes discovery of, and access to, geochemical data. DIGIS’ Marthe Klöcking is a member of the interim board. As part of the Horizon Europe project ‘WorldFAIR: Global cooperation on FAIR data policy and practice’, OneGeochemistry received funding to establish a formal governance and compile minimum common variables for sample description as well as a selected set of geochemistry specific data types.
For DIGIS, the highlight of the EGU General Assembly on 23-27 May was the Great Debate “Where is my data, where did it come from and how was it obtained? Improving Access to Geoanalytical Re-search Data”. Following its great success during the conference, the discussion was hosted again as an open-access EGU webinar, recording available to watch here.
The NFDI4Earth kick-off plenary on 9-10 June was a wonderful opportunity to meet the fellow drivers of geoscientific data in Germany and to get involved in shaping the future of Germany’s data infrastructure landscape.
March/April 2022
We have launched a refurbished version of the GEOROC website, now available at https://georoc.eu.
This update is a temporary measure to improve access to GEOROC data. The basic functionalities of the database queries remain unchanged but now access the latest version of the database hosted on DIGIS servers. We have also repaired certain features and added new functionalities, such as the GEOROC Data Repository and a guideline on how to cite data downloaded from GEOROC.
Read the Göttingen University press release about the successful migration of GEOROC from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Mainz) to Göttingen: https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html?id=6645.
January/February 2022
The new year started quietly. We are testing the first version of a new data model and are continuing our regular meetings with the EarthChem group. There will be exciting news on this topic soon.
Daniel Kurzawe from the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB) joined our team in an advisory role. He and his research group will support the DIGIS work with their expertise in text and data mining. We are looking forward to fundamental improvements of the GEOROC data ingest process over the coming years.
Finally, in February we achieved the first major milestone of the DIGIS project: data entry into the GEOROC database has migrated to Göttingen, which completes the move of the database from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz.
November/December 2021
The GEOROC Data Repository now hosts all GEOROC precompiled datasets. These files are published at regular intervals by DIGIS curatorial staff to provide easy access to the results of the most popular search queries to the GEOROC database. Their formal publication in the repository now makes it possible to cite the correct version of a compilation, or even an individual file, used in a new research publication.
On 3-11 November, DIGIS coordinator Marthe Klöcking represented the OneGeochemistry
initiative at the 18th Research Data Alliance (RDA) Virtual Plenary, talking about the urgent need for an integrated framework of geochemical data providers.
The AGU Fall Meeting on 13-17 December was an opportunity for DIGIS to showcase the progress of the project to the international geoscience community. View the abstract and poster for details on the GEOROC Data Repository, the new data model or some stats & facts on the GEOROC database.
October 2021
“Time to change the data culture in geochemistry” — this new comment by Chamberlain et al., published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment and featuring DIGIS-PI Gerhard Wörner, highlights the urgent need for international coordination of geochemical data and methods. DIGIS, the AuScope Geochemistry Network, the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) Multiscale Laboratories and OneGeochemistry are named as promising initiatives that address this need. Read the article here: rdcu.be/cAqI6.
We are very pleased to announce the new GEOROC Data Repository. The repository offers curation and review of user-submitted data in the Earth Sciences domain, with a specific focus on geochemical data. The GEOROC Data Repository accepts research data within the scope of the GEOROC database: geochemical and isotopic compositional data of rocks, glasses, minerals and inclusions. All submissions of new data will be considered for inclusion in the GEOROC database. See here for more details on the scope and policies of the repository. A submission portal facilitating easy data upload, including detailed guidance on data and formatting requirements, will follow shortly. In the meantime, the repository has already accepted the first requests and data submissions. If you would like to submit your own data, please get in touch via digis-info@uni-goettingen.de
September 2021
This month, we had the honour of welcoming Kerstin Lehnert (EarthChem) and Kirsten Elger (GFZ Data Services) to Göttingen for two days. Our topics were the OneGeochemistry initiative and the future of geochemical data infrastructure(s). We also made some exciting plans for our collaboration between EarthChem and DIGIS: more on this in the coming months!
On a national level, it is a pleasure to follow the first steps of NFDI4Earth and the formation of an interest group on standards for geochemical data. On 19-24 September we introduced DIGIS and our plans for GEOROC 2.0 at GeoKarlsruhe, the annual meeting of the German Geological Society (DGGV).
The next opportunity to learn more about DIGIS or OneGeochemistry will be at Virtual SciDataCon 2021 in October, online and free for everyone.
We are also already looking forward to the EGU General Assembly and Goldschmidt 2022, where OneGeochemistry will be hosting a great debate, several sessions and a workshop. DIGIS and OneGeochemistry will of course be represented at the AGU Fall Meeting, too.
August 2021
At the beginning of August, Mariyam Mukhumova joined the DIGIS team to start her PhD in digital geochemistry. She will investigate the origin and compositional evolution of continents through deep time by applying tools from computer science to geochemistry. Mariyam will create and statistically analyse a comprehensive data compilation of granitoid rocks and gneisses, which will form an integral part of the DIGIS project.
July 2021
We are very excited that the NFDI4Earth consortium, as part of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), has been approved for funding. Coordinated at the University of Dresden, the initiative aims to bring together diverse geodata from the entire spectrum of earth sciences.
Sven Ohmann joined the DIGIS team at the beginning of July. With a background in both geoscience and IT, he is very well equipped to develop all aspects of access to GEOROC 2.0. His responsibilities will include the technical infrastructure behind data entry into the database as well as access via API or the web interface. Sven’s first task will be to set up a domain repository for researchers to upload their data and register DOIs – a key step towards enabling FAIR geoscience.
On 4–9 July, DIGIS was represented at the Goldschmidt conference, where we introduced our plans for GEOROC 2.0 to the geochemical community. A copy of the presentation can be found on Zenodo.
June 2021
A lot happened for DIGIS in June. With most of the team assembled, we have taken up our work in earnest and are already deep into the process of mapping the GEOROC database to a new data model. This new model is based on ODM2, an information model that facilitates greater interoperability with other databases across scientific disciplines.
We have also had a series of meetings with EarthChem to reaffirm and formalise our collaboration. The long-term goal of this partnership is to join in the international OneGeochemistry initiative, a global geochemical data network that aims to advance data standards and best practices in geochemistry through coordination and collaboration among international geochemical data providers.
May 2021
In May we welcomed Adrian Sturm to the DIGIS team. Adrian is an IT and database guru based at the Göttingen State and University Library. He will be implementing the new data model for GEOROC 2.0.
A second dedicated IT staff and our first PhD student will follow in July and August.
April 2021
DIGIS starts! After many months of preparation, we are excited to announce the launch of our project. You won't see any changes in the layout of your beloved GEOROC for a while. We will keep adding more data and you can use GEOROC as usual. In addition, over the next three years we will implement cutting edge data management principles to maintain and develop the geochemical database. Watch this space for updates on GEOROC 2.0, to be released in early 2024.