The Geologic Map of the Moon. (Chinese Academy of Sciences/Handout via Xinhua)

By Staff Reporters

China released a geologic atlas set of the global moon on April 21. With a scale of 1:2.5 million, it is the first complete and highest-precision geological map of the moon in the world, providing basic map data for future lunar research and exploration.

Compiled by the Institute of Geochemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jilin University, Shandong University and other institutions, the atlas set consists of the geologic atlas of the lunar globe and the map quadrangles of the geologic atlas of the moon.

The map is a comprehensive depiction of the lithofacies, lithology, geological structure, magmatic activity and mineral distribution on the surface of the lunar crust, which is the most intuitive and most visible presentation of previous research results. It provides essential and basic data for carrying out lunar scientific research and exploration, building lunar bases and developing and utilizing lunar resources in the future.

"The widely used lunar geological lunar map was published during the Apollo era, with a scale of 1:5 million, which can no longer meet the needs of future scientific research and lunar exploration," said Ouyang Ziyuan, an academician of CAS and researcher of the CAS Institute of Geochemistry.

Subsequently, a team of scientists and cartographers from the Institute of Geochemistry and other research institutions started compiling the new atlas.

With a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the lunar origin and evolution process, the team compiled the atlas based on the scientific exploration data of China's Chang 'e lunar exploration program, and data and research results from all over the globe.

Compared with the Apollo era atlas, the newly released lunar map, based on the perspective of lunar dynamic evolution, has established an updated lunar geological time scale, objectively depicting the geological evolution of the moon, and clearly showing the characteristics of lunar tectonic and magmatic evolution.

"This geological atlas can not only provide basic information and scientific reference for the planning and implementation of lunar exploration projects, but also contributes to the study of the origin and evolution of the moon and even the evolution of the solar system," said Liu Jianzhong, a senior researcher from the Institute of Geochemistry.