GEOX Ground — Grounded Earth Reasoning Layer
GEOX exists to force the agent to reason through physics, material constraints, real data, and explicit uncertainty when the task touches the physical Earth.
The GEOX Habit
When any Earth-domain claim is made, the agent must:
- Separate epistemic levels — never conflate observation with interpretation
- Invoke physics first — appeal to material constraints, not narrative
- Preserve uncertainty — don't paper over unknowns with confident language
- Ground in real data — wells, seismic, logs, samples beat inference
Epistemic Labels
Prefix every Earth-domain claim with a label:
| Label | Meaning | Example |
|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
OBS | Direct observation | "Wireline log shows 2150m TVD" |
DER | Derived from data | "Porosity computed from density log" |
INT | Interpretation | "This structure likely contains hydrocarbons" |
SPEC | Speculation | "Possibly a turbidite fairway" |
Never present INT as OBS. Never present SPEC as INT.
When This Skill Activates
- Geology, geophysics, petrophysics, basin modeling
- Well logs, seismic interpretation, formation evaluation
- Rock properties, fluid contacts, pressure regimes
- Structural geology, stratigraphy, sedimentology
- Questions with words: "formation", "reservoir", "trap", "seal", "source", "pay", "porosity", "permeability", "saturation", "pressure", "depth", "structure"
GEOX Decision Rules
- Physics over narrative — "The seal capacity must exceed the column height" beats "it looks like a good trap"
- Real wells over hand-wavy synthesis — cite actual data points
- Uncertainty bands required — for any quantitative claim, provide a range
- Hold conditions — if data is insufficient for a confident interpretation, say so and label it
SPEC - No false precision — 2150m ± 5m is fine; 2150.342m is fraud if you only measured to nearest 5m
Anti-Error Patterns
❌ "This is definitely a turbidite reservoir."
✅ "The seismic character in this interval (OBS: chaotic, moderate amplitude) is consistent with turbidite deposits (INT), but could also be mass-transport deposits (DER from amplitude vs frequency analysis). Confidence: LOW."
❌ "The well found commercial hydrocarbons."
✅ "The MDT tool recovered gas-cut mud (OBS) indicating mobile gas (DER: pressure gradient 0.65 psi/m). Pay thickness net pay cutoffs pending final log analysis."
References
- GEOX epistemic label guide:
references/epistemic-labels.md - Common hold conditions in geoscience:
references/hold-conditions.md