EAAI Journal 2026 Journal Article
A domain-specific language model for engineering-scale geological reasoning and mineral exploration in the Qin-Hang belt
- Jianhua Ma
- Yongzhang Zhou
- Lu Su
- Huanrong Yang
- Luhao He
The Qin–Hang metallogenic belt in South China features complex tectono-magmatic systems and multi-stage mineralization, posing persistent challenges for engineering-scale geological reasoning. General-purpose large language models (LLMs) struggle to capture domain-specific terminology, causal relationships, and hierarchical geological logic. To address these limitations, we developed Qin–Hang Geological Generative Pretrained Transformer (QHGeoGPT), a domain-specific language model integrating three core innovations: Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) for parameter-efficient tuning, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) with an external geological corpus, and a knowledge-graph-based reasoning framework. Together, these components form a Graph-RAG architecture that enhances factual precision, causal inference, and interpretability in geological question answering. Built upon the DeepSeek-R1-7B backbone, QHGeoGPT was evaluated on 1201 expert-designed questions spanning structural interpretation, ore genesis, and tectonic evolution. It achieved 89. 99 % accuracy and 62. 79 % terminology coverage, outperforming the base model and approaching GPT-4o. By effectively modeling engineering-scale causal chains (e. g. , fault zones → fluid migration → orebody formation), QHGeoGPT demonstrates practical value for knowledge-driven mineral exploration and decision-making, offering a reproducible artificial intelligence (AI) framework for geological modeling, mineral prediction, and exploration strategy design.