Spatial Database of Serial Suite-Tectonic Map-sheets of Mainland China (1:250,000)

For the thematic Program on China’s national mineral resources’ potentials assessment (2006-2013), the research group has collected such abundant references as 1:50,000, 1:200,000 and 1:250,000 regional geological survey data (including the 1:250,000 regional geological survey results from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in 1999—2005), geological research results, scientific research monographs and important geological literatures as well as geophysical, geochemical, and remote sensing prospecting inferred results. Having digested all these data, the group has compiled serial first-hand data map-sheets at scale of 1:250,000 and created the spatial database for the metallogenic geological setting researches. Applying the suite-tectonic analysis method and map-compiling techniques with such modern information technologic means as data models, quality-controlling models, and GIS software, the group has further compiled multiple map-sheets, created new databases, and summarized and integrated all these results in line with standard serial map-sheets, and has established the spatial database of serial suite-tectonic map-sheets of mainland China (1:250,000). The database has included 729 map-sheets as well as their corresponding compilation explanatory notes and map-compiling metadata, roughly covering the entire mainland China. Compared with the traditional edition of the geological maps database which is characterized by using the stratigraphic units of System and Formation as the basic map-compiling units, this database has some outstanding advantages. Firstly, the essential mapping elements in the principal map are as fine as lithological units (quasi-Member), which are actually the finest mapped lithological components under the litho-stratigraphic unit ‘Formation’. Secondly, different occurrences of the lithological units are expressed with the respective lithological patterns, objectively presenting the physical tracks and lineaments of lithological suites and geological structures, systematically reflecting the geological processes and their evolutionary characteristics, and being convenient for direct map reading and utilization. In general, this database can provide fundamental information for the compilation of 1:500,000 or smaller scaled tectonic map-sheets, can directly offer essential factors for 1:250,000 and smaller scaled regional mineral resources prediction, and can supply thematic base maps of geological structures for 1:250,000 and smaller scaled minerogenetic regularity researches. It has also held extensive and long-term values for duplicative utilizations in geological survey and ore-prospecting, geo-hazard mitigation, hydrological/ engineering/ environmental geological surveying, geothermal resources exploration, and ecological conservation.