World Stress Map
The World Stress Map (WSM) is a global compilation of information on the present-day crustal stress field. It is a collaborative project between academia and industry that aims to characterize the crustal stress pattern and to understand the stress sources. All stress information is analysed and compiled in a standardized format and quality-ranked for reliability and comparability on a global scale. The WSM is an open-access public database that is used by academic and industrial institutions working in various Earth science disciplines.
dataset
https://metadata.europe-geology.eu/record/edit/6a71d32a-6508-48b6-8f18-46dd0a010e58?profil=54&package=-1
English
Geoscientific information
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0:
Spatial scope:
EGDI Keyword Thesaurus:
Free:
InventoryGeoenergy
crustal stress
in situ stress
tectonic stress
crustal stress pattern
-180,
-90,
180,
90
revision: 2025-05-31
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2025-05-31
onGoing
The WSM database is used by various academic and industrial institutions working in a wide range of Earth science disciplines such as geodynamics, hazard assessment, reservoir geomechanics, and geotechnical applications. The main operational areas are reservoir characterization and management, stability of mines, tunnel, boreholes and waste disposal sites, calibration of geomechanical-numerical models, 4D Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (THM) modelling of stress changes, and hazard assessment e.g. by means of fault-slip tendency and fracture potential analysis.
Data Quality
The WSM project was ininitiated in 1986 as a task force of the International Lithosphere Program. The backbone of the database is a quality-raking scheme that allows to compare stress information from very different stress indicator from geotechnical, geological and geophysical methods. The latest WSM database release 2025 contains 100,842 data records of the present-day orientation of the maximum horizontal stress in the Earth crust and the stress regime. The database is uniquie as it is the only open access global repository for stress information. All technical details of data sources, data analysis and description of the data fields are given the WSM Technical Report 25-01 which is published by Rajabi et al. (2026; DOI: 10.48440/WSM.2025.001).
Constraints
Metadata about metadata
6a71d32a-6508-48b6-8f18-46dd0a010e58
Czech Geological Survey
email:
[email protected]
Role: point of contact
2026-08-04