Science Bulletin xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Science Bulletin
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Short Communications

The 1:2,500,000-scale geologic map of the global Moon

Jinzhu Ji a,g,1, Dijun Guo h,1, Jianzhong Liu a,i,⇑, Shengbo Chen b,i, Zongcheng Ling c,i, Xiaozhong Ding d,
Kunying Han d, Jianping Chen e, Weiming Cheng f,i, Kai Zhu a, Jingwen Liu a,j, Juntao Wang a, Jian Chen c,
Ziyuan Ouyang a
a
Center for Lunar and Planetary Science, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China
b
College of Geoexploration Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun 130000, China
c
Shandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, Institute of Space Sciences, School of Space Science and Physics, Shandong University, Weihai
264209, China
d
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China
e
School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
f
State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
100101, China
g
School of Mining, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
h
National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
i
Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230026, China
j
College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:
Received 13 April 2022 Ó 2022 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.
Received in revised form 10 May 2022
Accepted 13 May 2022
Available online xxxx

Geologic maps of the Moon provide comprehensive information
about the geologic strata, structural features, lithologies, and
chronology of the lunar crustal surface, which reflect the evolution
of lunar crust under igneous processes, catastrophic impacts, and
volcanic activities [1]. As syntheses of current knowledge on lunar
geology and evolution history, lunar geologic maps are fundamen-
tal resources in science research, exploration planning, and landing
site selection. In the Moon Race era from the late 1950s to mid
1970s, huge amounts of data were obtained through a volley of
robotic and crewed missions, in which the Apollo and Luna mis-
sions set the greatest milestones by returning 382 kg lunar sam-
ples in total. Using the data returned from the Moon and collected
through Earth-based telescopes, the United States Geological Sur-
vey (USGS) compiled seven atlases of lunar regional geologic maps
at scales of 1:5,000,000, 1:250,000, 1:100,000, 1:50,000, 1: 25,000,
1:10,000, and 1:5000. However, those maps were compiled using
different standards because they were completed by different
groups in different periods of time, and often lead to confusion
and misunderstanding. Though the six 1:5,000,000-scale quadran-
gular maps can cover the entire Moon in combination [2], their
unit schemes are not compatible with each other. After being
digitalized and adjusting the 203 units across the six maps to
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: liujz@mail.gyig.ac.cn (J. Liu).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.
43 unified units, Fortezzo et al. [2] stitched the six maps together
and released a globally consistent 1:5,000,000-scale geologic map.
Since the 1990s, the lunar exploration has entered a new boom-
ing phase and nearly 20 spacecrafts have been launched to the
Moon from not only the US but also new agencies such as China,
India, and Japan. Benefitting from those missions, unprecedented
exploration data and new discoveries have profoundly renewed
our understanding of the geologic processes and evolution of the
Moon. However, the integrated cartographic work had remained
lagging until we initiated the 1:2,500,000-scale lunar global map-
ping project, led by Ouyang Ziyuan and Liu Jianzhong. Although
the 1:5,000,000-scale global geologic map is available [2], it is only
a uniformity of the previous quadrangular maps and does not
incorporate the subsequent scientific advances (Text S1 online).
USGS also proposed to map the global Moon at 1:2,500,000 scale
[3], but little progress has been reported.
In this mapping work, one basic principle is to regard the lunar
geologic units and evolution history from the dynamic perspective,
i.e., endogenous or exogenous. The exploration datasets and prod-
ucts from China’s Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) [4] are used as
the primary data (Table S1 online) for mapping geologic units. As
important supplementary data, we also collected the high-quality
datasets and products from international exploration missions
(Table S1 online). The scale, 1:2,500,000, is restricted by the
resolution of the primary datasets on one hand, and with
considerations of the workload and compatibility with USGS

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2022.05.021
2095-9273/Ó 2022 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: J. Ji, D. Guo, J. Liu et al., The 1:2,500,000-scale geologic map of the global Moon, Science Bulletin, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
scib.2022.05.021