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A proposed format for geotechnical data

CARLA J. POTTER

Marine Geology and Geophysics Division National Geophysical Data Center Boulder, CO 80303

ABSTRACT

Large quantities of raw geotechnical data presently exist in the individual collections of institutions and agencies throughout the world. In order to increase the usefulness of this vast amount of data to the scientific community, the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) intends to develop a com- prehensive data bank for geotechnical information to be located at NGDC, along with a common format for the exchange of geotechnical information. This format would facilitate not only the transfer of geotechnical information between researchers, but also simplify the exchange and development of computer software with which to manipulate the data.

INTRODUCTION

The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) in Boulder, Colorado is the national repository for marine geological, marine geophysical and related data. In addition, NGDC operates the World Data Center-A for marine geological and geophysical information. NGDC's holdings presently include descriptive and/or analytical information for over 50,000 marine sediment and rock samples worldwide, and over 12 million nautical trackline miles of underway marine geophysical information. NGDC is responsible for acquiring, processing, archiving and disseminating data from national and inter- national programs such as the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE), the Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program (MESA), the Deep Sea Mining Environmental Study (DOMES) and many other programs. Other sources of data include govern- ment agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Navy and most U.S. academic institutions involved in the generation of marine geological and geophysical information, as well as several foreign countries. Each year NGDC answers over 1,000 requests from academic, government, commercial and foreign users for marine geological and geophysical information.

Geo-Marine Letters Vol. 2, 243-246 (1982) This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. Published in 1982 by A. M. Dowden, Inc.

EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF GEOTECHNICAL INFORMATION

NGDC presently archives and disseminates engineering property data derived from 2,305 marine sediment samples. The geographic distribution of samples for which geotechnical analyses are available through NGDC is worldwide (Fig. 1) but represents only a small fraction of the existing data. The geo- technical information at NGDC is contained in 147 laboratory reports generated by 15 institutions and government agencies including NGDC's parent organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A breakdown of the amount of data received from these sources is shown in Table 1. Emphasis is placed on the collection and distribution of raw and processed analytical data rather than interpretive reports. Articles published in readily available scientific journals or volumes are not included in NGDC's files, although the raw data corresponding to such articles may be available through NGDC. Auxiliary information such as grain size analyses, litho- logic descriptions, and organic geochemistry is also archived for many of the same sediment samples. Geotechnical informa- tion distributed by NGDC is in every imaginable format; no two institutions have contributed data in exactly the same units, for the same set of parameters, or even to the same degree of precision.

Many independent collections of geotechnical information exist at institutions which generate such data. Some researchers have placed their geotechnical data into internal digital formats to produce location plots, graphs or other types of computer presentations. For the most part, such efforts at the digitization of geotechnical data values have not been preserved in a form which is transferrable to other researchers or sufficiently docu- mented to be transported onto other computer systems for integration into larger data bases. Local data bases which required much effort to compile may even be discarded after the desired computer output is produced and later users are forced to re-encode the data and develop new software if they

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Figure 1. Geographic locations of marine samples for which NGDC archives geotechnical analyses.

wish to produce computer-assisted sorts, correlations or more comprehensive regional syntheses of the data.

A DATA BANK FOR GEOTECHNICAL INFORMATION

A centralized file of geotechnical information is being estab- lished at NGDC's Boulder facility. For the purpose of this file, such standard engineering measurements as mass physical properties, Atterberg limits, various shear, consolidation and compression test results are all included under the heading of "geotechnical properties". Initially, laboratory reports of all types and formats containing geotechnical data are being solicited from each of the institutions generating this type of information. The reports will be catalogued and inventoried as a subset of NGDC's existing digital inventory of information on 50,000 marine geological samples. Incorporation into the digital inventory will allow selection of reports on a wide variety of user-input search criteria including geographic area, institution, ship, cruise, sampling device used, water depth, date of collec- tion and types of auxiliary information available to accompany the geotechnical data values.

Data in this new file will be available on an exchange basis to contributing institutions, companies, or agencies, and at the cost of providing the service to other data users. Full documentation as to the source of data and the scientist to contact within the contributing institution will be provided to requesters with each report distributed. In this way, the burden of distribution of geotechnical reports would be removed from the individual

Table 1. Institutions for which NGDC presently archives geotechnical information.

*INSTITUTION NAME

Number of Number of Samples

Reports Analyzed

Cable & Wireless Ltd. 1 7 Deep Sea Drilling Project 1 3 Hawaii Institute of Geophysics 1 4 Japan Geological Survey 1 37 Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory 1 402 Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory 3 145 Naval Undersea Center 1 10 NAVOCEANO 115 1353 NOAA-Atlantic Oceanographic &

Meteorological Laboratories 8 107 NOAA-Pacific Marine Environmental

Laboratories 2 76 NOAA-U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey 5 64 Norwegian Geotechnical Institute 1 23 Texas A & M University 2 7 U.S. Geological Survey

Conservation Division 3 22 U.S. Geological Survey-Pacific

Arctic Branch of Marine Geology 2 45

TOTALS

Totalnumberofinstitutionsrepresented: 15

147 2305

*Given as of the time of data contribution, some institution names have since changed.

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COMMON HEADER RECORDS

CRUISE HEADER

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COMMENTS RECORD

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AIAI^I'I'I'I'I IIIIII!111t11111111111 111 I111111 t1111111t11111111111 DATE OF (~M) SORTING COLLECTIOH LATITUDE LOHGITUOE

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I I I I I I II ~ I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Figure 2. Geotechnical format header records common to all data types.

GEOTECHNICAL NIeAD~R RECORD (08) ~S INTERVAL HEADER - GEOTECHNICAL ~" ~ DEPTH TO DEPTH TO DATE OF TIME

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GEOTECHNICAI. DATA RECORDS log)

DATA - MASS RRMEABILIT O0 T PIIYSICAL PROPRRTIRS

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Figure 3. Geotechnical format interval header and some proposed data records.

VOL. 2, NOS. 3 -4 , SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 1982 245

institutions, yet data users would know whom to contact for more detailed scientific information. Data users would have the additional benefit of being able to obtain geotechnical information generated by multiple sources from one central location.

A PROPOSED FORMAT FOR THE EXCHANGE OF GEOTECHNICAL DATA

NGDC also intends to develop a common format for the exchange of geotechnical data. Previous experience of the National Geophysical Data Center indicates that a mutually agreed upon digital format for the exchange of raw data values would greatly reduce the duplication of effort in encoding data into a form usable by multiple institutions and investigators. Rather than developing this format independently, NGDC would like to obtain input and format requirements from as large a segment of the geotechnical community as possible to ensure that the format is designed in a way that makes it most useful to the widest variety of users.

HEADER INFORMATION

Ideally, a digital format for geotechnical data would include sufficient "header" information to identify the institution and scientist performing the analysis, station and collection informa- tion to identify the sample analyzed, full documentation of testing procedures and reference to a source of further informa- tion in all of these categories. This type of header information would allow cross-referencing of other digital marine geological files at NGDC such as the "Index to Marine Geological Sam- pies" [1] which includes information on cores, grabs, and dredges curated by nearly all of the U.S. repositories for marine geological sample materials. The format of the "Index" is fully described in NGDC Data Announcement 82-MGG-8. An illus- tration of the draft "header" records proposed for the geo- technical format is given in Figure 2.

DATA RECORDS

Optional record types for useful auxiliary information such as grain size measurements and organic geochemistry of the sediments would enhance the usefulness of the engineering property values. In addition, the format as a whole should be designed in such a way that the resulting data base may be easily sorted into a logical order when new data are entered, maximizing the efficiency with which output programs can operate on the data base.

An earlier version of this format, including sections for grain size and geochemical data values was distributed during a poster session at the NORDA-SEPM workshop on Continental Slope Instability in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Data records (similar to that illustrated for vane shear measurements) for such tests as triaxial compression, direct shear and consolidation tests may be added to the format in a modular way as necessary.

CONCLUSION

NGDC is now actively soliciting the contribution of geotech- nical data from all sources. Materials should be non-proprietary, any data sent to NGDC will become part of the public domain, and we will assume that we have permission to reproduce and distribute that data. Contributors will become eligible to receive similar data from other sources on an exchange basis from NGDC.

The proposed format for geotechnical information is in draft format at NGDC. Input about the proposed fields, their pre- cision, units of measurement, logical order in which parameters should be grouped, additional parameters which should be included and about the project in general is now being requested from all interested parties. Input to the design is essential to ensure that the resulting format and data base will be a useful tool for a broad range of data users.

To receive a copy of the latest draft of the proposed format, or for more information on contributing geotechnical data, please contact the author at the following address or phone.

National Geophysical Data Center NOAA E/GC-3 325 Broadway

Boulder, CO 80303 USA Telephone: 303 497-6339; FTS 320-6339

We propose that the units of measurement used in the format be those described in Le Systeme International d'Unit6s (SI units) which was published in English by the National Bureau of Standards [2] and further described as applicable to geotech- nical measurements by Richards [3] . Because there are many different types of geotechnical measurements, the format would incorporate enough record types to cover at least the more common parameters. A logical modular form which allows the coder to select only those record types applicable to the data set being coded would substantially reduce the input effort neces- sary (Fig. 3). An 80-character record length limit would ensure that data entry and/or exchange could be made in a punch card format if necessary for some contributors or users.

REFERENCES

[1] McCoy, F. W., 1977. At Scripps marine curators gather. Geotimes, December, p. 26-28.

[2] Page, C. H., and Vigoureaux, P., (eds.), 1972. The International System of Units (SI). U.S. National Bureau of Standards Special Publication 330.

[3] Richards, A. F., 1974. Standardization of marine geotechnical symbols, definitions, units, and test procedures. In: A. L. Inder- bitzen, (ed.), Deep-Sea Sediments, Physical and Mechanical Proper- ties. Plenum Press, New York, p. 271-292.

Manuscript received 3 February 1983; revision received 24 May 1983.

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