Geochemical data for solid earth samples provide essential information for answering fundamental questions about the Earth, from its compositional variation to its history, structure, and dynamics. The EarthChem project (www.earthchem.org) aims to maximize the application of solid earth geochemical data in Geoscience research and education by establishing an advanced data management system that will facilitate the compilation, communication, serving, and visualization of geochemical data. The ultimate goal is to allow researchers, educators, students, and the interested public to explore geochemical data alone and in the context of larger Earth Science datasets. EarthChem is based on and will expand the long-term collaborative effort of the successful geochemical online databases PetDB, NAVDAT, and GEOROC. In order to achieve its goals, EarthChem will develop a 'One-stop-shop for geochemical data' (EarthChem portal) with search capabilities across federated databases, a user interface that offers simple and straightforward access to all data holdings with the ability to obtain datasets specifically tailored to the user's individual needs in a standardized and integrated output format, and generally applicable tools for data quality assessment and data analysis and visualization. EarthChem's second focus is the expansion of data holdings through incorporation of both legacy and future data, to provide access to and integrate the widest and richest datasets possible. Strategies include the facilitation of data submission from users and publishers via online interactive tools, contribution of focused projects, and entry of critical datasets as identified by the community.
