About

History and content
Since 1998 GNS has been funding major improvements to its databases. As a result of this, the PETLAB relational database, hosted on an Oracle server, was created in 2000. PETLAB was an improvement on the old in-house PET database rock catalogue in at least three ways:

1. sample data were no longer restricted to just the NZGS/GNS "P" collection; this allowed incorporation of non-P samples for which minimum data standards (location, collector etc) were available;
2. tables were added to store laboratory analyses of the catalogued rocks and minerals e.g. geochemical, isotopic, age, volumetric and petrophysical data;
3. a web-based interface was created, opening up the rock catalogue and analytical database to the wider New Zealand and international community.

Growth of the NZGS/GNS rock collection and records in the PETLAB database.

The appetite of PETLAB is huge. Even after just a few years of operation, PETLAB contains 20213 analyses of 15252 parts of 10307 samples, including the 3800 GEOCHRON database records (Nathan et al. 2000). Wherever possible, raw data, rather than recalculated analyses are stored, though there is a provision for inputting combined or aggregated data from "virtual" samples. Data input is via a spreadsheet like Java™ application.

Number of PETLAB database samples and analysed samples by QMAP sheet, 15 October 2003.

The sample tables contain mandatory collector, date, grid reference plus error, site and rock description, and rock code fields. Dredge, drillhole and oriented sample data, and more lengthy descriptions can be filled in too. The analysis tables are grouped into five kinds: most geochemical tables mainly consist of whole rock X-ray fluorescence analyses and mineral electron microprobe analyses, though increasing numbers of ICP-MS analyses (eg. of rare earth element concentrations) are being lodged. The isotopic measurements tables store the commonly measured stable and radiogenic isotopic ratios in the H, He, O, S, Ar, Sr, Nd, Pb, Hf, U, Th systems; also fission track length statistics. The age & isotopic calc tables contain radiometric ages (all recalculated according to current IUGS decay constants and all with 2 sigma or 95% confidence errors). Both interpreted "final" ages and individual (e.g. single grain or single gas release step) ages can be stored. The volumetric tables are for point counts and digital or visual estimates of mineral amounts. The petrophysical tables are for density, magnetic susceptibility and velocity data.

PETLAB analyses by type, 15 October 2003. Some samples have more than one kind of analysis.

Since 1996, the NPRC and old PET database have been recognised by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology as a collection and associated database of National Importance. The addition of LAB tables to create the PETLAB database opens new opportunities for multi-institutional cooperation and national significance.

Benefits
A large geoanalytical database such as PETLAB provides useful information on the abundance and spatial variation of chemical, isotopic and physical properties of rocks, minerals and other solid materials. PETLAB is a scientific tool that greatly enhances pure and applied solid earth research: reference datasets can be better defined for research projects, and baselines, thresholds and anomalies identified for environmental and resource-related studies.

Some advantages of using PETLAB instead of existing data storage systems include:

• convenient individual and institutional sample and analysis management
• permanent, ordered archive captures and retains millions of dollars worth of taxpayer- and company-funded rock and analytical data
• considerable time and money saved in recollecting rocks, reanalysing samples and recompiling data particularly for remote (e.g. alpine, submarine, drillcore, tunnel and Antarctic) samples.
• national-international, onland-offshore and multi-institutional scope
• scattered and hard-to-source datasets are organised into a common, pre-compiled digital format with uniform data standards
• sample data and analytical results are disseminated to a wide variety of end-users through web-based delivery
• system tried, tested and refined within GNS; long-term institutional and professional commitment to the system

Uses
PETLAB is growing annually. The bigger and more comprehensive the PETLAB database becomes, the more uses it can be put to, and the more benefits accrue to an ever wider range of end-users.

• environmental studies: establishment of natural local, regional and national baseline concentrations e.g. for P, Pb, Ni
• mineral prospectivity: distribution of pathfinder element such as Sb and As, and identification of anomalies from background
• geophysics: U, Th, K contents by rock unit for heat flow and gamma log interpretations; density and magnetic susceptibility of different rock types for modelling
• geochemistry: Sr, Nd, Pb other isotope ratios for petrogenetic models; selection of basalt populations based on Ti content and granites on Rb, Ga content
• thermobarometry: Al in hornblendes and pyroxenes, Fe, Mn, Ca in garnets
• petrography: quartz-feldspar-lithic detrital averages and heavy mineral populations of sedimentary suites
• geochronology: compare similar radiometric ages of the same mineral over a wide area (chrontours), or different systems in a small area.

Cataloguing rocks and accurate lodging of data requires time and an unselfish attitude, but the benefits for present and future generations of solid earth scientists are immense. It is hoped that most scientists would subscribe to the view that if samples are worth collecting and analysing for a study, then the samples and data are worth archiving and making more widely available to colleagues.

Access Policies

The aims of the PETLAB project are to:

1. capture New Zealand rock sample and analytical data and make them widely available and easily accessible to research, commercial, environmental and other end-users;
2. maintain, and continuously upgrade a web-based New Zealand rock catalogue and geoanalytical database (PETLAB);
3. grow the database's size, scope, and therefore its usefulness, by means of appropriate long term funding and licence arrangements.

PETLAB data access can be summarised as follows.

• Basic "building block" PET data (i.e. location, collector, rock type) are free to the public to search and download. This encourages maximum use of the rock collections as tangible national resources.
• The "value-added" LAB data are available free to those individuals and institutions who agree to contribute data to PETLAB on an ongoing basis. The expectation is that at least as much data will be added to PETLAB as is used from it; for university departments this might be an undertaking to progressively add their own rock catalogue and thesis analytical data to PETLAB. For data brokers such as consultants, an annual licence fee can be paid in lieu of adding data.

The principle behind this policy is to make PETLAB as widely available to the academic, research institute, mining company and geo-environmental community as possible while simultaneously engaging users to directly enhance the value of PETLAB to New Zealand by growing the database.

More information about contributing and accessing data can be found on the Terms and Conditions Page and in the PDF files of PETLAB Licence Agreements:

	Access data from PETLAB database
	Contribute data to PETLAB database