Knowledge of the present-day crustal stress field is a key for the understanding of geodynamic processes such as global plate tectonics and earthquakes. It is also essential for the management of geo-reservoirs and underground storage sites. Since 1986, the World Stress Map (WSM) project has systematically compiled the orientation of maximum horizontal stress (SHmax). It is a collaborative project between academia and industry that aims to characterize the stress pattern and to understand the stress sources and it is maintained at the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ. All stress information is analysed and compiled in a standardized format and quality-ranked for reliability and global comparability. Further information on the WSM project are provided at http://www.world-stress-map.org. The displayed data is a new compilation and all data records have been checked.

The total number of data records increased from 1406 in the WSM 2016 to 2388 in this release. The digital version of the stress map is a layered pdf where also the mean SHmax orientation on a 1° grid is provided. It is estimated with the script stress2grid (Ziegler and Heidbach, 2019) using search radii of 100 und 200 km, respectively. The mean SHmax orientation is only estimated when n > 5 data records are located within the search radius.

The World Stress Map (WSM) is a global compilation of information on the crustal present-day stress field. It is a collaborative project between academia and industry that aims to characterize the stress pattern and to understand the stress sources. It commenced in 1986 as a project of the International Lithosphere Program under the leadership of Mary-Lou Zoback. From 1995-2008 it was a project of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities headed first by Karl Fuchs and then by Friedemann Wenzel. Since 2009 the WSM is maintained at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and since 2012 the WSM is a member of the ICSU World Data System. All stress information is analysed and compiled in a standardized format and quality-ranked for reliability and comparability on a global scale.