# LithoMap Editorial Standards and Research Method

Canonical page: https://lithomap.app/editorial-standards
Publisher: LithoMap, operated by PTW Referrals LLC
Last reviewed: 2026-09-17

## Purpose

This page explains how LithoMap researches, writes, qualifies, updates, and illustrates its public geology resources. The standards apply to formation profiles, state geology guides, rock and mineral identification guides, comparison pages, and interactive resources.

## Core standards

- Prefer government geological surveys, national scientific databases, university or museum collections, peer-reviewed research, and formal stratigraphic references.
- Use sources to support facts, not to supply copied prose. LithoMap explanations are written originally for the question being answered.
- Keep uncertainty beside the relevant claim. Geologic boundaries, ages, names, occurrences, and field identifications may be approximate, disputed, revised, or scale-dependent.
- Never treat a mapped unit or occurrence record as proof of a specimen at a point, land ownership, public access, collecting permission, or safety.
- Use public-domain or openly licensed images only after checking the source record, creator, license, attribution, and modification requirements.
- Correct material errors and revise source-led facts as evidence changes. Do not claim named expert review unless it actually occurred and can be credited accurately.

## Research workflow

1. Define the reader's question and the claims required to answer it.
2. Collect and compare authoritative sources.
3. Resolve names, ages, locations, properties, and conflicting interpretations.
4. Draft an original explanation organized around observable facts and useful context.
5. Check claims, citations, uncertainty, safety, legal context, and image permissions.
6. Publish canonical metadata, structured data, a sitemap entry, and a page-specific plain-text reference.
7. Correct and revise the page when better evidence becomes available.

## Scientific limits

Field identification is a preliminary hypothesis, not a laboratory determination. Maps are scale-dependent scientific models, not legal surveys. Difficult or valuable specimens may require qualified expert review or analytical testing. Users must confirm ownership, access, closures, permits, and collecting rules with the responsible authority.

## Corrections

Send a correction concern to contact@ptwreferrals.com with the page URL, the specific issue, and a supporting source when available.