pyrolite
pyrolite is a set of tools for making the most of your geochemical data.
The python package includes functions to work with compositional data, to transform geochemical variables (e.g. elements to oxides), functions for common plotting tasks (e.g. spiderplots, ternary diagrams, bivariate and ternary density diagrams), and numerous auxiliary utilities.
On this site you can browse the API, or look through some of the usage examples.
There’s also a quick installation guide, a list of recent changes and some notes on where the project is heading in the near future.
If you’re interested in contributing to the project, there are many potential avenues, whether you’re experienced with python or not.
Note
pyrolite has been published in the Journal of Open Source Software, and a recent publication focusing on using lambdas and tetrads to parameterise Rare Earth Element patterns has been published in Mathematical Geosciences!
Why pyrolite?
The name pyrolite is an opportunistic repurposing of a term used to describe an early model mantle composition proposed by Ringwood [Ringwood1962], comprised principally of pyr-oxene & ol-ivine. While the model certainly hasn’t stood the test of time, the approach optimises the aphorism “All models are wrong, but some are useful” [Box1976]. It is with this mindset that pyrolite is built, to better enable you to make use of your geochemical data to build and test geological models.
- Ringwood1962
Ringwood, A.E. (1962). A model for the upper mantle. Journal of Geophysical Research (1896-1977) 67, 857–867. doi: 10.1029/JZ067i002p00857
- Box1976
Box, G.E.P. (1976). Science and Statistics. Journal of the American Statistical Association 71, 791–799. doi: 10.1080/01621459.1976.10480949