USGS Data Releases - 2023

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Critical Mineral Resources

A trusted digital repository (TDR) is defined as “one whose mission is to provide reliable, long-term access to managed digital resources to its customers, now and in the future.”

The USGS has adopted this definition in its effort to establish and promote robust storage and hosting options for the Bureau’s scientific digital data and other digital information products. Refer to the Online Computer Library Center report (“Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities,” page i), for more information.

Criteria for a USGS TDR

The criteria below describe shared standards and goals for USGS systems that store, preserve, and make scientific data and resources accessible. A USGS TDR must:

• accept responsibility for the long-term maintenance of digital resources on behalf of its depositors and for the benefit of users;
• be an organizational system that supports and demonstrates not only the long-term fiscal sustainability of the repository but also the digital information for which it has responsibility;
• be designed in accordance with commonly accepted system conventions and standards to ensure the ongoing management, access, and security of deposited materials; and
• establish methodologies for system evaluation that meet community expectations of trustworthiness.

Distinction Between a USGS TDR and an Acceptable Digital Repository

A USGS TDR has been internally certified in the Bureau through a rigorous panel review of questionnaire answers provided by a prospective Bureau repository or server manager. The lengthy criteria represent an internationally accepted measure for determining repository maturity and readiness for the status of “trusted digital repository.” The process (described below) requires prospective repositories to ensure that USGS data are preserved, made accessible, documented, and backed up in a manner that reflects international standards for repositories. 

An acceptable digital repository is a system that the Bureau has approved as a location and release point for USGS science data and publications if a USGS TDR is not suitable or available (refer to “Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities”). For example, earthquake data are available from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, an acceptable digital repository containing seismic and other associated data for access and sharing. The expectation is that internal Bureau systems currently deemed acceptable digital repositories will obtain, if suited, the status of USGS TDR as systems evolve their data management and preservation capabilities.

Others sources of data:

https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/folder/5f9045e482cec5ff998af2fc

https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/