SURFICIAL GEOLOGY COMPILATION OF MANITOBA, CANADA

The Manitoba Geological Survey (MGS) has completed a Surficial Geology Compilation Map Series (SGCMS) which addresses an increasing demand for consistent surficial geology information for applications such as groundwater protection, land management, and mineral exploration. The final compilation at 1:1 000 000 will be released in late 2007 as a two-sided hard copy map and will supersede the original surficial geological map which was released in 1981.

To accomplish this compilation all paper copies of the most current and detailed surficial geology maps of various scales published by the Geological Survey of Canada and/or the MGS were digitized. Polygons for several areas, which had been mapped more recently, were derived from digital geological maps. Soil mapping was used to fill gaps in geological mapping. Edge-matching of adjoining map sheets, and polygon gaps and inconsistencies were rectified based on data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Digital Elevation Model (SRTM DEM) as interpreted by MGS.

Map polygons are linked to a database containing the original map legends compiled from the source publications. These map legend items are parsed into seven lithological and morphological characteristics allowing legend standardization across the province. The database consists of two tables; a ‘legend link' table containing the parsed categories and derived legend as well as a table housing the originally published legend descriptions. These two tables are linked to the polygon attribute table via a ‘link' field. The linked polygons can be queried based on the above characteristics.

The maps are being released on DVD in Adobe PDF and ESRI Shapefile formats and on a print-on-demand basis. The SGCMS provides seamless province-wide coverage at three scales. The 1:250 000 and 1:500 000 scale maps include: 1) hill shaded surficial geology polygons, 2) a brief description of the landscape, 3) major landforms including glacial ice flow direction, and 4) a paleogeographic reconstruction of late glacial events. The 1:1 000 000 scale map includes all information above as well as: 1) a graphic description of map units including photographs and diagrams to define each unit in lay terms, 2) an index map of these photographs, 3) the effect of isostatic rebound on the Tyrrell Sea and major lakes, and 4) a 3D block diagram.