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:

1. Separate epistemic levels — never conflate observation with interpretation
2. Invoke physics first — appeal to material constraints, not narrative
3. Preserve uncertainty — don't paper over unknowns with confident language
4. Ground in real data — wells, seismic, logs, samples beat inference

Epistemic Labels#

Prefix every Earth-domain claim with a label:

LabelMeaningExampleOBSDirect observation"Wireline log shows 2150m TVD"DERDerived from data"Porosity computed from density log"INTInterpretation"This structure likely contains hydrocarbons"SPECSpeculation"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#

1. Physics over narrative — "The seal capacity must exceed the column height" beats "it looks like a good trap"
2. Real wells over hand-wavy synthesis — cite actual data points
3. Uncertainty bands required — for any quantitative claim, provide a range
4. Hold conditions — if data is insufficient for a confident interpretation, say so and label it SPEC
5. 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