PlanetGSD 1.0: a cross-planetary grain-size distribution dataset from the Earth, the Moon, and the Mars

Abstract. Comparative studies of surface processes across planetary bodies are hindered by the lack of consistently parameterized, openly accessible soil data, especially the grain-size distributions (GSDs) data. Here we present PlanetGSD 1.0, the first standardized and unified cross-planetary GSD database. It comprises 6527 measurements from Earth (4419 samples, 20 geomorphic settings), the Moon (379 samples, 8 missions), and Mars (1729 rover-derived estimates, 4 landing areas), covering seven orders of magnitude in grain size (0.0001–600 mm). The textural fractions have been transferred into a unique parameter set (μ, Dc, n) derived from the unified GSD (UGSD) function, accompanied by quality metrics, georeferenced metadata, site-level statistics, and open-source analysis codes. Technical validation confirms high fitting quality across all samples (97.8 % with R2>0.95) and robust inter-operator reproducibility for Martian image-derived measurements (coefficient of variation < 8.3 % for key parameters). The complete dataset is openly available on Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32362083, Zhang, 2026a) under the CC BY 4.0 license. PlanetGSD 1.0 enables robust cross-planetary comparison of regolith properties, benchmarking of simulants, and data-driven landing site assessment, establishing a foundational resource for planetary science.

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Publication Details

Journal
Earth system science data
Published
2026-07-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4983-2026
Primary Topic
Planetary Science and Exploration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

PlanetGSD 1.0: a cross-planetary grain-size distribution dataset from the Earth, the Moon, and the Mars

Yong Li, Jun Zhang
Earth system science data
Planetary Science and Exploration
article

PlanetGSD 1.0: a cross-planetary grain-size distribution dataset from the Earth, the Moon, and the Mars

Yong Li, Jun Zhang
article en

Abstract

Abstract. Comparative studies of surface processes across planetary bodies are hindered by the lack of consistently parameterized, openly accessible soil data, especially the grain-size distributions (GSDs) data. Here we present PlanetGSD 1.0, the first standardized and unified cross-planetary GSD database. It comprises 6527 measurements from Earth (4419 samples, 20 geomorphic settings), the Moon (379 samples, 8 missions), and Mars (1729 rover-derived estimates, 4 landing areas), covering seven orders of magnitude in grain size (0.0001–600 mm). The textural fractions have been transferred into a unique parameter set (μ, Dc, n) derived from the unified GSD (UGSD) function, accompanied by quality metrics, georeferenced metadata, site-level statistics, and open-source analysis codes. Technical validation confirms high fitting quality across all samples (97.8 % with R2>0.95) and robust inter-operator reproducibility for Martian image-derived measurements (coefficient of variation < 8.3 % for key parameters). The complete dataset is openly available on Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32362083, Zhang, 2026a) under the CC BY 4.0 license. PlanetGSD 1.0 enables robust cross-planetary comparison of regolith properties, benchmarking of simulants, and data-driven landing site assessment, establishing a foundational resource for planetary science.

Earth system science dataVol. 18(7)
Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (CN), Tsinghua University (CN)
National Youth Science Foundation, National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Planetary Science and Exploration
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