Vocabularies

This page contains the controlled or recommended vocabularies used for select SESAR² metadata fields.  Controlled lists are marked with an asterisk (*).

See the SESAR Quick Guide for the complete list of SESAR metadata fields and their definitions.

If you have questions about metadata content, please contact the SESAR Curator at info@geosamples.org.

Sample Type (Object) *

SESAR registers specimens and related sampling features collected from the natural environment.

• Core – long cylindrical cores
• Core Catcher – material recovered from the core catcher of a sedimentary core and which is treated as a separate section from the core.
• Core Half Round – half-cylindrical products of along-axis split of a whole round
• Core Piece – material occurring between unambiguous [as curated] breaks in recovery.
• Core Quarter Round – quarter-cylindrical products of along-axis split of a half round.
• Core Section – arbitrarily cut segments of a “core”
• Core Section Half  – half-cylindrical products of along-axis split of a section or its component fragments through a selected diameter.
• Core Slab – rectangular prism of material taken from a core where one dimension is significantly shorter than the others.
• Core Sub-Piece – unambiguously mated portion of a larger piece noted for curatorial management of the material.
• Core U-Channel – long rectangular prism of material for continuous measurement.
• Core Whole Round – cylindrical segments of core or core section material.
• CTD – a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth) cast sample.
• Cuttings – loose, coarse, unconsolidated material suspended in drilling fluid.
• Dredge  – a group of rocks collected by dragging a dredge along the seafloor.
• Experimental Specimen– a synthetic material used during an experiment
• Grab – a sample (sometimes mechanically collected) from a deposit or area, not intended to be representative of the deposit or area.
• Hole – hole cavity and walls surrounding that cavity.
• Individual Sample – a sample that is an individual unit, including rock hand samples, a biological specimen, or a bottle of fluid.
• Oriented Core – core that can be positioned on the surface in the same way that it was arranged in the borehole before extraction.
• Other – a sample that does not fit any of the existing type designations. It is expected that further detailed description of the particular sample will be provided.
• Rock Powder – a sample created from pulverizing a rock to powder.
• Site – a place where a sample is collected.
• Terrestrial Section – a sample of a section of the near-surface Earth, generally in the critical zone.

Is your sample not in the list?

If you would like to register a sample type that is not listed above, please contact info@geosamples.org.

Material *

Material that the sample consists of “Rock”, “Mineral”, “Liquid>aqueous”

• Biology
• Gas
• Ice
• Liquid>aqueous
• Liquid>organic
• Mineral
• NotApplicable
• Organic Material
• Other
• Particulate
• Plant Structure
• Rock
• Sediment
• Soil
• Synthetic

Sub-Object Type*

If the object type for a sample is Individual Sample or Experimental Specimen, users may elect to enter a sub-object type.

Individual Sample

• Bead– Bead pressed from a powder.
  
• Chemical Fraction- Parts of a parent sample separated chemically.
  
• Cube- Equidimensional prism of material.
  
• Culture- Biological material cultured in geological material.
  
• Cylinder- Cylinders of material.
  
• Gas- A gaseous material.
• Liquid- A liquid material.
• Mechanical Fraction- Parts of a parent sample separated mechanically.
  
• Powder- Fine-grained (<62 micron), dry, granular material.
  
• Slab- Rectangular prism of material where one dimension is significantly shorter than the others.
  
• Smear- A toothpick sample suspended in liquid and fixed on slide.
  
• Specimen- Material of any shape or form selected for specific characteristics of interest.
  
• Squeeze Cake- Solid fraction remaining after forced expulsion of interstitial fluids from a source sample; typically has the shape of a cylindrical disc.
  
• Thin Section- A sub-millimeter thick slice of material mounted on a glass slide.
  
• Toothpick- Minute amount of material taken for observation.
  
• Wedge- Sample form factor named for the tool used to extract it. Typically 5-20 ml in volume.
  

Experimental Specimen

• Thin Section
• Other

Classification (Rock) *

Formal categorization of sample.

Click here for complete list.

Classification (Mineral) *

Formal categorization of sample.

Click here for complete list.

Classification (Biology) *

Formal categorization of sample.

• Macrobiology
• Macrobiology>Coral
• Microbiology

Biology classifications are under review. If you would like to take part in the discussion, contact info@geosamples.org.

Collection Method

Method by which a sample was collected.

• Blasting
• Camera SledCamera tow
• Coring
• Coring>BoxCorer
• Coring>CameraMounted
• Coring>DrillCorer
• Coring>FreeFallCorer
• Coring>GravityCorer
• Coring>GravityCorer>Giant
• Coring>GravityCorer>Pilot
• Coring>HandHeldCorer
• Coring>KastenlotCorer
• Coring>MultiCorer
• Coring>PistonCorer
• Coring>PistonCorer>Giant
• Coring>RockCorer
• Coring>SideSaddleCorer
• Coring>SubmersibleMountedCorer
• Coring>TriggerWeightCorer
• Coring>VibratingCorer
• Dredging
• Dredging>Chain Bag
• Dredging>ChainBagDredge
• Experimental Apparatus
• Grab
• Grab>HOV
• Grab>ROV
• Manual
• Manual>Hammer
• Probe
• Sediment trap
• Suspended sediment
• Unknown

Age Unit

Must be one of the following.

• years (yr)
• thousand years (Ka)
• million years (Ma)
• billion years (Ga)
• Anno Domini (AD)
• Common Era (CE)

Country*

Country where the sample was collected

Click here for complete list.

Navigation Type*

We follow the MGDS Navigation Type list.

• ACOUSTIC_RANGING/GPS
• DGPS
• DVL
• DVL:Renav
• DVL:Renav:Confirmed
• DVL/LBL
• DVL/LBL:Renav
• DVL/LBL:Renav:Confirmed
• DVL/LBL/INS
• DVL/USBL
• DVL/USBL:Renav
• GLONASS
• GPS
• GPS:Assumed
• GPS/WireOut
• LAYBACK
• LAYBACK/LBL
• LBL
• Locale
• LORAN
• NotApplicable
• NotProvided
• RTK GPS
• USBL

Physiographic feature

Type of physical feature that your sample was collected from

• abyssal feature
• alluvial fan
• anticline
• aquifer
• arch (natural formation)
• arroyo
• badlands
• bank (hydrographic)
• bar (physiographic)
• basin
• bay
• beach
• bight
• canyon
• cape
• cave
• channel
• cirque
• cliff
• continental divide
• continental margin
• crater
• delta
• drainage basin
• drumlin
• dune
• earthquake feature
• estuary
• fault
• fault zone
• flat
• floodplain
• fold (geologic)
• fracture zone
• gap
• gulf
• gut
• hydrothermal vent
• ice mass
• isthmus
• karst area
• lake
• lava field
• ledge
• massif
• mesa
• mineral deposit area
• moraine
• mountain
• mountain range
• mountain summit
• ocean trench
• outcrop
• plain
• plateau
• playa
• reef
• ridge
• rift zone
• roadcut
• seamount
• sea
• stream
• submarine canyon
• syncline
• thermal feature
• valley
• volcano

Platform and Launch types

Type of platform for the cruise.

• AUV
• Ship
• HOV
• ROV
• Small craft
• Submersible / HOV