Journal of Geo-information Science >
Geologic Time Scale Ontology and Its Applications in Semantic Retrieval
Received date: 2017-07-17
Request revised date: 2017-10-18
Online published: 2018-01-20
Supported by
Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41371381, 41631177;National Special Program on Basic Works for Science and Technology of China, No.2013FY110900;the Public and Basic Geological Project of Guizhou Province, China, No.[2014]23;GuiZhou Welfare and Basic Geological Research Program of China, No.201423, 2016269.
Copyright
Different countries or organizations publish different versions or language editions of geologic time scales. Problems of ambiguity, such as synonymy or near-synonym and polysemy or other kinds of semantic heterogeneity arise in those geochronological concept systems, along with the lack of semantic linkage among different concepts and data, have hindered people from understanding and using those concepts accurately. Also, this caused insufficient results of integration and retrieval of geo-data for users’ requirements. The ontology of geologic time proved to be an effective solution to these problems. However, current studies focus on international geologic time scales, and their content and formalizations are not fully applicable in China. In this paper, we present a new Geologic Time Scale Ontology which mainly focuses on Chinese geochronological and stratigraphic concept systems. It describes the formalizations of attributes, especially the temporal features and relations of those concepts. It adopts a modular method to build this ontology. In addition, we propose a design of a pilot system to study the utility of this ontology as the basis of a geoscience knowledge graph in knowledge retrieval. Furthermore, we implemented an approach of semantic geo-data retrieval in the pilot system which uses a hybrid strategy of fulltext and ontology-based search. Applications of knowledge graph and geo-data retrieval based on the abilities such as temporal reasoning of Geologic Time Scale Ontology, proved that the proposed researches are effective in resolving semantic heterogeneity issues in geoscience knowledge and data. They can not only facilitate discovery of geoscience knowledge but also achieve the function of semantic data retrieval more intelligently, comprehensively and accurately for the discovery of specified and relevant data.
Key words: geological time; stratum; ontology; knowledge graph; semantic retrieval
HOU Zhiwei , ZHU Yunqiang , GAO Ying , SONG Jia , QIN Chengzhi . Geologic Time Scale Ontology and Its Applications in Semantic Retrieval[J]. Journal of Geo-information Science, 2018 , 20(1) : 17 -27 . DOI: 10.12082/dqxxkx.2018.170328
Tab. 1 Some representative ontologies of geologic time scale表1 部分代表性地质年代本体 |
本体名称 | 文献 | 主要内容 | 年代关系表达 | 概念时间值表达 | 应用 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SWEET | Raskin等[19] | 国际地质年代 | 时间区间代数 | “{百万年值}[8]MYA”对象及其数值属性 | 建立概念关联,促进地学数据的发现与使用 |
Geological Time & Dating Ontology | Perrin 等[18] | 国际地质年代、地层、地质事件 | OWL-Time 本体 | GeochronologicBoundary 与GeochronologicInstant对象及其数值属性 | 地质年代及地层层序的形式化描述与关联、定年 |
GTS ontology | Ma等[14] | 国际地质年代、GSSP、多语言注释 | gts:lowerThan等关系谓词 | gts:upperBoundaryTime、gts:lowerBoundaryTime属性及其值 | 在线地质图地质年代信息标注、可视化 |
GTS ontology (isc{版本年}) | Cox等[17] | 多版本国际地质年代与地层、GSSP、多语言注释 | THORS本体 | “{isc:Base年代}Time”对象及其数值属性 | 地学专家的地质年代参考系统,地质年代调查、发展参考资料 |
Fig. 1 Architecture of the Geologic Time Scale Ontology (GTSO)图1 地质年代本体结构 |
Tab. 2 Definitions of ontology modules of geologic time scale表2 地质年代本体模块定义 |
模块名称 | 主要内容 | 主要概念类 | 主要属性/关系 | 概念实例示例 |
---|---|---|---|---|
基础时间本体 | 时间类型、单位、方向;时间属性与关系、时间信息描述规则 | 时间单位,时间坐标系,百万年等 | timeAfter、intAfter、intMeets、intContains | B.P.、逆时、百万年、145Ma |
中国地质年代 | 中国地层表中确定的地质年代 | 宙、代、纪、世、期等 | 对应年代地层/对应国际地质年代 | 阳新世、周口店期 |
国际地质年代 | 国际地层委员会确定的地质年代 | Eon、Era、Period、Epoch、Age等 | 对应年代地层、对应中国地质年代 | Cambrian Period、Calabrian Age |
全球界线层型剖面与点位 | 国际地层委员会确定的作为两个年代地层单位之间界线的定义和识别标准的专有标志点 | 按国际年代地层单位分类 | 地质年龄、经度、纬度、地理位置、综合图链接 | Tortonian、Messinian |
中国年代地层 | 在特定地质时间间隔内形成的岩石体。其顶底界线都是以等时面为界的 | 宇、界、系、统、阶等 | 标准RGB颜色、地质年龄、符号、岩性特征 | 第四系、更新统、周口店阶 |
国际年代地层 | 国际地层委员会确定的年代地层划分 | Eonothem、Erathem、Series、System、Stage等 | 标准RGB颜色、地质年龄、符号、岩性特征 | Guadalupian、Calabrian |
中国岩石地层 | 根据地壳中岩石的特征和相互关系组织成的地层单位 | 群、组、段、层等 | 特点、正层型、分布 | 泰山岩群、上湖组、绒布寺冰碛层 |
中国事件地层 | 利用能在地层中留下某种印记并可被识别的较大范围分布的等时地质事件划分的对比地层 | 事件层、事件带、事件面及沉积事件、气候事件等 | 事件发生年代、事件发生区域、事件标志物 | 加里东运动、三叶虫首现、南极冰盖重大扩张 |
中国生物地层 | 将岩层根据地层中所含化石的特性编制成的若干地层单元 | 富集带、谱系带等;脊索动物门等 | 标准化石、包含生物种类 | Claraia aurita富集带、三叶虫 |
Fig. 2 Semantic representations of Geologic Time Scale Ontology modules图2 地质年代本体模型概念语义表达 |
Fig. 3 Semantic representations of temporal properties of a geo-data object图3 地学数据对象时间属性语义表达 |
Fig. 4 Procedures of ontology construction图4 本体构建流程 |
Fig. 5 Classes of GTSO built with Protégé图5 地质年代本体类关系图 |
Fig. 6 Results of semantic geodata retrieval图 6 地学数据语义检索结果 |
Fig. 7 Results of Cambrian Period semantic retrieve图7 寒武纪语义查询结果 |
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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