A glass substrate for a magnetic disk contains a transition metal. The substrate, which is subjected to formation of zone texturing by irradiating the substrate with a laser beam, has a high mechanical strength even if it is not chemically strengthened. The glass substrate contains a transition metal element and has a transmittance of 10% of less for light in a wavelength range of 300 to 2000 nm. The surface roughness of an information recording surface portion thereof is 2.0 nm or less. In addition to a transition metal element, the glass substrate may include a rare earth metal element.