OneGeochemistry; Paving the way to true Interoperability in Geochemistry Data

Geochemical data have been collected since the 19th century and are essential for geoscientific research as well as contributing to solving societal issues. Typically local or regional questions are solved with single datasets that can be measured in megabytes. However, solving more complex research questions requires many datasets to be compiled into single large ones to find answers through multidimensional analyses, statistics, AI and ML. Compiling such collections to allow computations is often a painstakingly lengthy and manual process.

Coming to an age in which we are dealing with global challenges, only large scale geochemical data collections can contribute to solving these. Projects such as EarthChem and GEOROC have come a long way and continue to set the bar. Whilst these projects have made geochemical data easily findable and accessible, interoperability to other global data systems is still lacking. To make these data truly FAIR, a minimum set of standards and best-practices for data publication need to be agreed on by the global geochemical community. And rather than re-inventing the wheel, we should follow the example of the highly standardized sample and data management strategies of, e.g., IODP cruises, NASA missions, or the seismology and OneGeology communities.

The recently formed OneGeochemistry initiative aims to bring together and ensure that all decisions are made in conference with the international geochemical community. The large international societies will have to play a key role here, their message supported and amplified by funders and national initiatives across the globe.