Research and compilation of the geomorphologic atlas of the People’s Republic of China (1:1,000,000)

Geomorphologic maps are one of the most fundamental materials of the natural environment. They have been widely used in scientific research, resource exploration and extraction, education and military affairs etc. An editorial committee was established in 2001 to collect materials for researching and compiling a set of new 1:1,000,000 geomorphologic atlas of China. A digital geomorphologic database was created with visual interpretation from Landsat TM/ETM imageries and SRTM-DEM etc. The atlas compiled from the database was finished. The main characteristics of the atlas are as follows: Firstly, Landsat TM/ETM imageries, published geomorphologic maps or sketches, geographical base maps, digital geological maps, and other thematic maps were collected, which were uniformly geometrically rectified, clipped into uniform sheets, and stored in the foundation database. Secondly, based on the legends of 15 sheets 1:1,000,000 maps published in the 1980s, a geomorphologic classification system was built by combining morphology and genesis types. The system comprised seven hierarchical layers: basic morphology, genesis, sub-genesis, morphology, micro-morphology, slope and aspect, material composition and lithology. These layers were stored in the database during visual image interpretation. About 2000 kinds of morphogenesis and 300 kinds of morpho-structure were interpreted. Thirdly, the legend system was built, which included color, symbol bases and note bases etc., compilation standards and procedures were developed, 74 sheets of 1:1,000,000 covering all land and sea territories of China were compiled, the 1:1,000,000 geomorphologic atlas of the People’s Republic of China was finished and published. The atlas will fill the blanks in national basic scale thematic maps, and the geomorphologic database could be applied widely in many fields in the future.