Global Lithological Map Database v1.0 (gridded to 0.5° spatial resolution)@en

Lithology describes the geochemical, mineralogical, and physical properties of rocks. It plays a key role in many processes at the Earth surface, especially the fluxes of matter to soils, ecosystems, rivers, and oceans. Understanding these processes at the global scale requires a high resolution description of lithology. A new high resolution global lithological map (GLiM) was assembled from existing regional geological maps translated into lithological information with the help of regional literature. The GLiM represents the rock types of the Earth surface using 1,235,400 polygons. The lithological classification consists of three levels. The first level contains 16 lithological classes comparable to previously applied definitions in global lithological maps. The additional two levels contain 12 and 14 subclasses, respectively, which describe more specific rock attributes. According to the GLiM, the Earth is covered by 64 % sediments (a third of which is carbonates), 13 % metamorphics, 7 % plutonics, and 6 % volcanics, and 10% are covered by water or ice. The high resolution of the GLiM allows observation of regional lithological distributions which often vary from the global average. The GLiM enables regional analysis of Earth surface processes at global scales.岩石学（Lithology）描述了岩石的地球化学、矿物学与物理属性。其在地球表面的诸多过程中发挥关键作用，尤其是在物质向土壤、生态系统、河流与海洋的物质通量过程中。若要在全球尺度上理解这些过程，便需要高精度的岩石学描述数据。研究团队借助区域文献资料，将现有区域地质图转化为岩石学信息，进而构建了一套全新的高精度全球岩石学地图（Global Lithological Map，简称GLiM）。该全球岩石学地图通过1235400个多边形矢量单元表征地球表面的岩石类型。其岩石学分类体系共分为三级：一级分类包含16种岩石学类别，与此前全球岩石学地图所采用的分类定义具有可比性；二级与三级分类则分别包含12个与14个子类别，可用于描述更为精细的岩石属性特征。根据GLiM数据，地球表面64%被沉积岩覆盖（其中三分之一为碳酸盐岩），13%为变质岩，7%为深成岩，6%为火山岩，另有10%被水体或冰盖覆盖。GLiM的高精度特性使其能够观测到常与全球平均值存在差异的区域岩石学分布特征。该数据集可支持在全球尺度下开展地球表面过程的区域分析研究。