Geosphere

• Description: This sphere covers the solid Earth from bedrock to the soil surface: the crust’s rocks and structure, the processes that move and shape it, the form of the land surface, and the unconsolidated soil layer formed by the interaction of climate, organisms, relief, parent material, and time. It replaces the former Lithosphere and Pedosphere spheres and the terrain part of the former Toposphere. Geology and soils are treated as a continuum, as UN-GGIM’s Geology and Soils theme does.
• Subclasses (Complexes):
  • Rock and structure
    • geosphere_geology: Rocks, minerals, and geological formations (e.g., bedrock and surficial geology maps, borehole data, subsurface stratigraphy, structural geology, geochemistry).
    • geosphere_tectonics: Crustal movements, earthquakes, and volcanic activity (e.g., fault lines, seismicity, post-glacial rebound, plate boundaries).
    • geosphere_resources: Geological resources where they exist in the ground (e.g., mineral deposits, raw materials, fossil fuel reservoirs, geothermal potential).
    • geosphere_hazards: Hazards originating in the solid Earth (e.g., landslide susceptibility, ground stability, sinkholes, coastal erosion).
  • Surface form
    • geosphere_landform_topography: The shape and elevation of the land surface and lake/sea floors, and properties derived from it (e.g., DTMs, DSMs, bathymetry, slope, aspect, curvature, solar exposure, surface roughness, geomorphological features).
  • Soil
    • geosphere_soil_properties: Measured physical, chemical, and biological attributes of soil (e.g., texture, pH, organic carbon, bulk density, nutrient levels, hydraulic conductivity, infiltration capacity).
    • geosphere_soil_types_mapping: Soil classification and its spatial distribution (e.g., national soil maps, soil taxonomic units).
    • geosphere_soil_moisture_temperature: Dynamic water and heat content within soil profiles (e.g., soil moisture sensors, soil temperature probes).
    • geosphere_soil_erosion_sedimentation: Soil loss, deposition, and land degradation processes (e.g., erosion rates, sediment yield models, erodibility indices).
  • Contamination
    • geosphere_contaminants: Pollutants within rock and soil, whether geological in origin (radon, naturally elevated heavy metals) or deposited by human activity (heavy metals, PFAS, pesticides, hydrocarbons in soil, contaminated land registers).
• Common Overlaps & Distinctions:
  • Rock ↔ Soil: Bedrock is the parent material for soil. Both are in this sphere, so a dataset that crosses the boundary (e.g., GEUS surficial geology) can belong to both a geology and a soil twig without needing a cross-sphere link.
  • Terrain ↔ Water: Elevation determines where water flows and floods reach. Terrain leaves typically also belong to hydrosphere_freshwater_surface; bathymetry links to hydrosphere_marine.
  • Imagery: General-purpose aerial and satellite imagery is not part of this sphere; it belongs to the Reference Framework. Imagery-derived products enter through their analytical focus (a DTM from photogrammetry belongs here).
  • Agriculture: Agricultural activity happens on soil, but land use partitioning is anthroposphere_perception_thematics and yields are anthroposphere_resource_utilisation.
  • Resources vs Extraction: The natural occurrence of minerals and fuels is geosphere_resources; the quantity extracted is anthroposphere_resource_utilisation.
  • Hazard vs Risk: The hazard itself (e.g., an unstable slope) is here; the risk to people and assets is anthroposphere_hazard_vulnerability_risk.

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