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Petlab is New Zealand’s national rock, mineral and geoanalytical database. It is operated by GNS Science, with GNS Science, Auckland, Waikato, Massey, Victoria, Canterbury and Otago universities all contributing data.
The database contains locations, descriptions and analyses of rock and mineral samples from on- and offshore New Zealand, Antarctica and worldwide.
Petlab supports and provides digital information on rock and mineral samples in the National Petrology Reference Collection (NPRC) curated by GNS Science, as well as similar rock collections held by geoscience departments of New Zealand universities. Information is sourced from published journal articles, unpublished student theses, and open file reports.
Petlab now contains sample records; have analytical data. Last updated on
Find out more in our recent New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics paper.
The Petlab database houses a wide range of sample information and analytical data including:
- Sample locations, rock types, stratigraphic units etc.
- Petrographic descriptions
- Whole rock and mineral chemistry (major, trace and REE elements, and isotopic ratios)
- Radiometric ages
- Detrital zircon analyses
- Geophysics Division rock properties data
- DEVORA (Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland) borehole information
- NZGS Sedimentology Laboratory heavy mineral analyses
- GANOVEX Antarctica sample information
- NZ tephra geochemical and tephrochronological data
Cite as:
GNS Science. (2004). Petlab: New Zealand’s national rock, mineral and geoanalytical database. [Data set]. GNS Science. https://doi.org/10.21420/9DJH-RP34