Which of the following statements regarding the relationship between Silver tables and Bronze tables is always true?

The Medallion architecture is a data design pattern used to logically organize data in a lakehouse. Data progresses through Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers, with each layer representing a higher quality of data. The Bronze layer contains raw, unvalidated data ingested directly from source systems. The Silver layer's primary purpose is to take this raw data and apply cleaning, filtering, and enrichment rules. This creates a validated, conformed, and more reliable dataset that serves as an enterprise view of key business entities. Therefore, Silver tables always represent a more refined and cleaner version of the data found in Bronze tables.

A. This statement is the inverse of the Medallion architecture's principle. Data quality and refinement increase as data moves from Bronze to Silver.
B. Business-level aggregates are characteristic of the Gold layer, which is prepared for reporting and analytics, not the Silver layer, which focuses on cleaning and conforming data.
C. Silver tables do not necessarily contain more data. Operations like filtering out bad records or duplicates can reduce the number of rows compared to the Bronze layer.
E. Silver tables do not necessarily contain less data. Enrichment processes, such as joining with other tables, can add columns and potentially increase the overall data volume.

1. Databricks Documentation

"What is the medallion lakehouse architecture?":

Section: Bronze tables (raw data): Describes this layer as containing "raw data ingested from various sources" and being the "first stop for data."

Section: Silver tables (filtered

cleaned

augmented data): Explicitly states

"The data in the silver layer is more refined than the bronze layer... Common operations in this layer include... data quality and cleaning operations." This directly supports the correct answer (D) and refutes (A). It also distinguishes its role from aggregation

which is a primary function of the Gold layer

refuting (B).

2. Databricks Blog

"A Gentle Introduction to the Medallion Architecture":

Section: The Silver Layer – Cleansed and Conformed Data: "The goal of this layer is to provide a more reliable

enriched

and queryable source of data for a variety of use cases... Data in the Silver layer is considered a reliable source of truth." This reinforces that Silver tables are a cleaner

more refined version of Bronze tables.

3. Databricks eBook

"The Big Book of Data Engineering":

Chapter 2: Data Engineering Architectures

Section: The Medallion Architecture: This section details the flow from raw (Bronze) to validated (Silver) to aggregated (Gold). It clarifies that Silver tables are the result of applying "data quality rules

data cleansing

and enrichment" to the raw Bronze data. This confirms the refinement process and distinguishes the Silver layer's purpose from the Gold layer's aggregation focus.