Macrostrat's geologic map can be streamed directly into QGIS as vector tiles, so you can style and filter it by its attributes without downloading anything.
Add the geologic map as vector tiles
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In the QGIS Browser panel, right-click Vector Tiles and choose New Generic Connection….
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Give it a name, such as Macrostrat carto, and set the URL to
https://tiles.macrostrat.org/carto/{z}/{x}/{y} -
Set the minimum zoom to 0 and the maximum to the level of detail you need (the server accepts zoom levels up to 22), then click OK.
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Double-click the new connection to add it to your map.
The tiles contain two layers: units (map polygons) and lines (contacts, faults and
other linear features). Each polygon carries its unit name, age as written on the source map, base and top
intervals, best ages (best_age_top, best_age_bottom, in Ma), lithology,
description, display color, and the source map and its reference. Use these with
QGIS's rule-based styling and filtering to make a thematic map, for example to show
only Paleozoic carbonates.
For a lighter layer with fewer attributes, use
https://tiles.macrostrat.org/carto-slim/{z}/{x}/{y}.
Add a styled raster version
If you only need a background map, add an XYZ Tiles connection with the URL
https://tiles.macrostrat.org/carto/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
Raster datasets
Macrostrat also serves gridded datasets, such as mineral maps from remote sensing, over WMTS and XYZ. See Using raster layers in QGIS.
Limitations
Vector tiles stream the map at the level of detail suited to each zoom, which makes them well suited to viewing and styling, but not to bulk analysis. For downloading data, see Frequently asked questions and Data services.
