{ "model": { "rank": 14044, "code": "thing-q636340", "model_id": "vr.tr.geothermal-gradient", "name": "geothermal gradient", "purpose": "Let an agent handle the geothermal gradient by value, variation, measurement and applications such as geothermal energy and deep engineering.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.REL", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q636340/", "tier": 2, "score": 36, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 36, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q636340", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q636340", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T11:51:59Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q636340", "registryId": "vr.tr.geothermal-gradient", "name": "geothermal gradient", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.REL" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q636340/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.geothermal-gradient", "name": "geothermal gradient", "purpose": "Let an agent handle the geothermal gradient by value, variation, measurement and applications such as geothermal energy and deep engineering.", "definition": "The rate at which temperature increases with depth in the Earth interior, averaging about 25-30 degC per kilometre in continental crust away from plate boundaries, and higher in volcanic and geothermal areas.", "what_it_is_for": "Geothermal energy, mining, drilling and understanding Earth heat flow.", "affordances": [ "look up typical and local gradients", "estimate temperatures at depth", "relate gradients to geothermal potential", "find heat flow data" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Temperature increase with depth", "Varies by region", "Linked to heat flow", "Basis of geothermal energy" ], "appearance": "Not visible; measured in boreholes and shown on heat flow maps.", "visual_identification": [ "Degrees Celsius per kilometre", "Heat flow maps", "Surface temperature gradients are atmospheric" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "typical continental gradient", "typical_range": "about 25-30", "unit": "degC/km", "note": "away from plate boundaries" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "normal continental gradients", "high gradients in volcanic areas", "low gradients in old cratons", "oceanic gradients" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "temperature gradient", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "drives", "target": "geothermal energy", "why": "application" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "heat flow", "why": "measure" }, { "relation": "is measured in", "target": "borehole", "why": "method" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Geothermal drilling and licensing regulations" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Extrapolating gradients too far", "Ignoring local anomalies" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "value", "name": "Value", "description": "How steep.", "rationale": "Values vary.", "layers": [ { "id": "typical", "name": "Typical", "description": "Averages.", "findings": [ { "id": "typical-finding", "name": "Typical", "description": "Typical gradient.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is the typical geothermal gradient in this region?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "From which survey or database?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "local", "name": "Local", "description": "Anomalies.", "findings": [ { "id": "local-finding", "name": "Local", "description": "Local anomalies.", "questions": [ { "text": "Are there local anomalies such as volcanic areas?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "What causes them?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "measurement", "name": "Measurement", "description": "Boreholes.", "rationale": "Measurement needs care.", "layers": [ { "id": "method", "name": "Method", "description": "Borehole logging.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-finding", "name": "Method", "description": "Measurement method.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is the gradient measured in boreholes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What corrections are needed?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "estimate", "name": "Estimate", "description": "Temperature at depth.", "findings": [ { "id": "estimate-finding", "name": "Estimate", "description": "Temperature at depth.", "questions": [ { "text": "What temperature is expected at this depth?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "How uncertain is the extrapolation?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "energy", "name": "Energy", "description": "Geothermal use.", "rationale": "Gradients determine potential.", "layers": [ { "id": "potential", "name": "Potential", "description": "Resources.", "findings": [ { "id": "potential-finding", "name": "Potential", "description": "Geothermal potential.", "questions": [ { "text": "Is the gradient high enough for geothermal heating or power here?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which studies assess it?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "heat-pumps", "name": "Heat pumps", "description": "Shallow systems.", "findings": [ { "id": "heat-pumps-finding", "name": "Heat pumps", "description": "Ground source heat pumps.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do shallow ground source heat pumps differ from deep geothermal?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which regulations apply?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "engineering", "name": "Engineering", "description": "Deep works.", "rationale": "Heat affects engineering.", "layers": [ { "id": "mining", "name": "Mining", "description": "Deep mines.", "findings": [ { "id": "mining-finding", "name": "Mining", "description": "Deep mining.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does the gradient affect conditions in deep mines or tunnels?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What cooling is required?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teaching", "name": "Teaching", "description": "Earth science.", "findings": [ { "id": "teaching-finding", "name": "Teaching", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can the geothermal gradient be explained simply?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which data sets help?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should heat flow be a separate entry?", "How should heat flow databases be linked?", "How should local variation be represented?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a geothermal gradient, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent handle the geothermal gradient by value, variation, measurement and applications such as geothermal energy and deep engineering.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 36 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a geothermal gradient, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 36 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one geothermal gradient from another, and a geothermal gradient from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a geothermal gradient sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a geothermal gradient from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a geothermal gradient passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a geothermal gradient between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a geothermal gradient, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a geothermal gradient is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What geothermal gradient is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of geothermal gradient are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is geothermal gradient operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of geothermal gradient and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of geothermal gradient?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as geothermal gradient?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a geothermal gradient came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a geothermal gradient and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a geothermal gradient is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a geothermal gradient, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a geothermal gradient, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a geothermal gradient is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }