User:Hsweets/sandbox

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 SESAR, The System for Earth Sample Registration, and AstroMat, the Astromaterials Data System.

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.