The transformational practices of China’s coastal geological survey guided by the principles of Earth System Science over the past 40 years

Abstract The coastal zone plays a crucial role in the Earth system, connecting terrestrial and marine environments and serving as a hub for economic and societal development. In recent years, with the development of the economy and society and the increase of human activities, China's coastal zones confront a series of problems such as environmental pollution, biodiversity destruction, and disorderly development. To address these challenges posed by natural and anthropogenic factors in coastal zones to achieve sustainable development, conducting coastal geological survey guided by the principles of Earth System Science (ESS) is essential preliminary work. This paper presents in detail the important position and function of the coastal zone in the Earth system. It analyzes the new requirements for ESS in coastal geological survey developments while systematically summarizing China's achievements over 40 years from four perspectives: survey contents, survey techniques, research methods, and service concepts. Finally, this paper suggests that the future coastal geological survey guided by ESS should focus on the four dimensions of survey, monitor, research and service, while expanding the content of natural resources and environmental ecological survey, establishing a network of Earth system scientific observation stations, emphasizing the research on the coupling of coastal zones and human activities, and serving the integrated management of coastal zones and scientific decision-making, this ultimately will help to attain sustainable high-quality development periods within these regions.