Abstract: Rational development and utilization of geological big data may open up new recognition space, create new approaches to problem solving, as well as promote a new form of digital economy and construct a new way of life. Integration of mathematical geology and information technology has emerged as a new scientific discipline known as the “Digital Geology”, i.e. the “Digital Science” of geological sciences. Geological digital science uses digital methodology to study geological sciences as well as develops and utilizes geological big data according to the characteristics of geological data and the demands of geological problems. Here we first elaborate on the main characteristics of geological data including mixed population, population sampling, causality, spatial-temporal property, multiple-states and multivariate variables with diverse sources. Further, we propose to construct a “knowledge base” prior to building “data base”, “model base” and “method base” in order to facilitate big data acquisition and analysis for geological research and application.

Key words: geological big data, models, methodology, utilization