The History and Enlightenment ofthe World Marine Geological Survey

The major historical events not only impact the global pattern in society, politics and economy, but also exsert profound effect over science and technology. Based on researches about the development of theories and technoloy in marine geology during and after the major historical events, such as the past four technological revolutions and World War Ⅰ and Ⅱ, we first divided the development history of the world marine geological survey into 5 periods (emergence period, initial period, development period, mature period and upgrade period). We reviewed the objectives, characteristics and main achievements in the field of marine geological surveys in different periods in the history. Then, we summarized the law of development in world marine geological survey and discussed about the enlightenment. In the end, we put forward our suggestions on the development of China's marine geology in light of its current scientific, political and economic situation.