iSamples Materials Vocabulary

High level vocabulary to specify the kind of material that constitutes a physical sample

Published

August 15, 2024

Vocabularies and extensions:

History:

2022-01-05 SMR version 0.9, change base uri to https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/0.9/ for testing with ESIP COR and w3id uri resolution
2022-03-11 SMR change definitions from rdfs:comment to skos:definition. Minor fixes to some definitions. Add skos matches to URIs from other vocabularies; 2023-11-05 version 1.0, in preparation for release.

Concept Hierarchy:

1 Material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/material
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

This is a top concept of the vocabulary.

Immediately narrower concepts: Anthropogenic material, Any ice, Biogenic non-organic material, Dispersed media, Natural Solid Material, Fluid material, Organic material

Definition: Top Concept in iSamples Material Category scheme

1.1 Anthropogenic material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/anyanthropogenicmaterial
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Anthropogenic material

Immediately narrower concepts: Anthropogenic metal material, Other anthropogenic material

Definition: Material produced by human activity.

1.1.1 Anthropogenic metal material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/anthropogenicmetal
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Anthropogenic material->Anthropogenic metal material

Definition: Metal that has been produced or used by humans. Samples of naturally occurring metallic material (e.g. native copper, gold nuggets) should be considered mineral material. Metallic material is material that when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically malleable (they can be hammered into thin sheets) or ductile (can be drawn into wires). The boundaries between metals, nonmetals, and metalloids fluctuate slightly due to a lack of universally accepted definitions of the categories involved. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal, c.f. http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01001069)

1.1.2 Other anthropogenic material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/otheranthropogenicmaterial
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Anthropogenic material->Other anthropogenic material

Definition: Non-metallic material produced by human activity. Organic products of agricultural activity are both anthropogenic and organic. Include lab preparations like XRF pellet and rock powders. Examples: ceramics, concrete, slag, (anthropogenic) glass, mine tailing, plaster, waste.

1.2 Any ice

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/anyice
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Any ice

Immediately narrower concepts: Frozen water

Definition: a material that is in a solid state under the temperature and pressure conditions of the preserved sample, but is a liquid or gas at Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP).

Notes: The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standard temperature and pressure (STP) is 20°C (68°F) and 1 atm (14.696 psi, 101.325 kPa). This standard is also known as normal temperature and pressure (NTP).

Samples of non-aqueous ice should be classified as ‘Any ice’, based on decision that distinguishing ‘ice that might or might not be aqueous’ from ‘non-aqueous ice’ does not merit adding another class to the scheme.

1.2.1 Frozen water

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/waterice
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Any ice->Frozen water

Definition: Water that is in a solid state.

Alternate labels: Water ice

1.3 Biogenic non-organic material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/biogenicnonorganicmaterial
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Biogenic non-organic material

Definition: Material produced by an organism but not composed of ‘very large molecules of biological origin.’ E.g. bone, tooth, shell, coral skeleton,

1.4 Dispersed media

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/dispersedmedia
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Dispersed media

Definition: Material that contains discrete elements of some material dispersed in a continuous fluid medium. The dispersed component can be a gas, a liquid or a solid (based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispersed_media). Does not include mixtures of granular material like soil, sediment, particulate, or solids that would be considered rock material.

Example: aerosol obo:ENVO_00010505, foam obo:ENVO_00005738, emulsion obo:ENVO_00010506, colloidal suspension obo:ENVO_01001560, scum(?) obo:ENVO_00003930. (prefix obo: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/)

1.5 Natural Solid Material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/earthmaterial
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material

Immediately narrower concepts: Mineral, Mixed soil sediment or rock, Particulate, Rock or sediment, Soil

Definition: A naturally occurring solid material that is not anthropogenic, biogenic, or ice.

1.5.1 Mineral

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/mineral
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Mineral

Definition: Material consists of a single mineral or mineraloid phase. ‘A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline and that has been formed as a result of geological processes.’ (Nickel, Ernest H. (1995), The definition of a mineral, The Canadian Mineralogist. 33 (3): 689–90). Include mineraloids. … A material primarily composed of some substance that is naturally occurring, solid and stable at room temperature, representable by a chemical formula, usually abiogenic, and that has an ordered atomic structure. (http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000256). The identity of a mineral species is defined by a crystal structure and a chemical composition that might include various specific elemental substitutions in that structure. Mineraloid: A naturally occurring mineral-like substance that does not demonstrate crystallinity. Mineraloids possess chemical compositions that vary beyond the generally accepted ranges for specific minerals. Examples: obsidian, Opal. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineraloid)

1.5.2 Mixed soil sediment or rock

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/mixedsoilsedimentrock
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Mixed soil sediment or rock

Definition: Material is mixed aggregation of fragments of undifferentiated soil, sediment or rock origin. e.g. cuttings from some boreholes (rock fragments and caved soil or sediment).

1.5.3 Particulate

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/particulate
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Particulate

Definition: Material consists of microscopic particulate material derived by precipitation, filtering, or settling from suspension in a fluid, e.g. filtrate from water, deposition from atmosphere, astro material particles. Might include mineral, organic, or biological material. ENVO definition (ENVO_01000060) has “composed of microscopic portions of solid or liquid material suspended in another environmental material.” Refine here to define as the solid particles, distinct from a material in which they are suspended. A material that includes solid or liquid particles suspended in another material would be a dispersed_media in this scheme, not defined in ENVO. Human manufactured particulates (e.g. rock powder) should be categorized as ‘Anthropogenic material’ as well as ‘Particulate’

1.5.4 Rock or sediment

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/rockorsediment
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Rock or sediment

Immediately narrower concepts: Rock, Sediment

Definition: Material is rock or sediment. For example core from boreholes that likely penetrate sediment near the surface and rock at greater depth, with descriptions that do not clearly distinguish non-consolidated sediment from rock.

Notes: Use for samples described as rock>sedimentary AND sediment, where it is unclear whether the sample is a consolidated ‘rock’ object, or loose disaggregated material in a bag.

Use for samples like dredge hauls and ROV scoops that mix rock and sediment from a water body bottom.

Distinct from ‘Mixed soil, sediment or rock’ that represents samples known to have components of all these materials.

1.5.4.1 Rock

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/rock
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Rock or sediment->Rock

Definition: Consolidated aggregate of particles (grains) of rock, mineral (including native elements), mineraloid, or solid organic material. Includes mineral aggregates such as granite, shale, marble; natural glass such as obsidian; organic material formed by geologic processes such a coal; extraterrestrial material in meteorites; and crushed rock fragments like drill cuttings from rock. (based on http://resource.geosciml.org/classifier/cgi/lithology/rock, same as http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00001995)

1.5.4.2 Sediment

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/sediment
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Rock or sediment->Sediment

Definition: Solid granular material transported by wind, water, or gravity, not modified by interaction with biosphere or atmosphere (to differentiate from soil). Particles might be derived by erosion of pre-existing rock, from shell or other body parts from organisms, precipitated chemically in the surficial environment, or generated by explosive volcanic activity. (http://resource.geosciml.org/classifier/cgi/lithology/sediment). Sediment is not consolidated, i.e. the particulate constituents do not adhere to each other strongly enough that the aggregate can be considered a solid material in its own right. Similar to http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002007

Notes: Note that this category includes chemical sediments that might preciptate to form a solid mass, e.g. preciptitates forming vents at submarine hot springs, or gypsum and halite deposites formed by evaporation in hypersaline lakes. (http://resource.geosciml.org/classifier/cgi/consolidationdegree/consolidated).

Tephra is subclass of sediment because it is generally not lithified, in which case it would be considered Rock.

1.5.5 Soil

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/soil
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Natural Solid Material->Soil

Definition: Mixed granular mineral and organic matter modified by interaction between earth material, biosphere, and atmosphere, consisting of varying proportions of sand, silt, and clay, organic material such as humus, gases, liquids, and a broad range of resident micro- and macroorganisms. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil) Soil consists of horizons near the Earth’s surface that, in contrast to the underlying parent material, have been altered by the interactions of climate, relief, and living organisms over time. (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=nrcs142p2_054280) (http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00001998)

1.6 Fluid material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/fluid
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Fluid material

Immediately narrower concepts: Gaseous material, Liquid water, Non-aqueous liquid material

Definition: Substance that continually deforms (flows) under an applied shear stress, or external force. Fluids are a phase of matter and include liquids, gases and plasmas. They are substances with zero or small shear modulus, and flow at a perceptible rate under any shear force applied to them. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid)

1.6.1 Gaseous material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/gas
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Fluid material->Gaseous material

Definition: Material composed of one or more chemical entities that has neither independent shape nor volume but tends to expand indefinitely (http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000797). Infer that the sample is curated in some kind of container.

1.6.2 Liquid water

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/liquidwater
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Fluid material->Liquid water

Definition: A material primarily composed of dihydrogen oxide in its liquid form; infer that the sample is curated in some kind of container.

1.6.3 Non-aqueous liquid material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/nonaqueousliquid
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Fluid material->Non-aqueous liquid material

Definition: Liquid composed dominantly of material other than water. Includes liquids that do not fit in any other category. E.g. alcohol, petroleum.

1.7 Organic material

URI https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/organicmaterial
defined in vocabulary https://w3id.org/isample/vocabulary/material/1.0/materialsvocabulary

Path from the top concept: Material->Organic material

Definition: Material derived from living organisms and composed primarily of one or more very large molecules of biological origin. Examples: body (animal or plant), body part, fecal matter, seeds, wood, tissue, biological fluids, biological waste, algal material, biofilm, necromass, plankton. source: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000155