MISSOURI ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY ATLAS - MISSOURI’S FIRST DIGITAL PUBLICATION OF COMPREHENSIVE GEOLOGIC- AND GROUNDWATER-RELATED GIS DATA

The Missouri Environmental Geology Atlas (MEGA) is 15 statewide geographic information system (GIS) layers with more than 200000 records and 144 attribute fields on CD-ROM. This first edition of MEGA is produced and maintained by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources-Geological Survey and Resource Assessment Division (GSRAD) in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) shapefile format. The MEGA data were derived from geologic maps, well logs, field reports, and newer databases. The data were collected in a time frame from the late 1800’s to 2002, and comprise much of the basic geologic and hydrologic data used by GSRAD. The layers include: bedrock and surficial material geology; locations and summary information for more than 145,000 wells; sinkhole, stream-classification, spring, cave-area and dyetrace location data; and, the Public Land Survey System grid network. Public domain shapefiles such as streams, lakes, major roads, urban areas, and Missouri county boundaries are also included. The CD-ROM contains ESRI’s ArcExplorerTM 4.0 freeware, which can be used to display the data, make overlays on digital topographic maps, complete simple analyses and queries, and export selected records as tables to comma-delimited-text files. MEGA includes a manual and tutorial with map examples prepared by GSRAD.

The layers include metadata files with attribute definitions, and an assessment of the scale limitations for the data, and may be obtained from GSRAD in either UTM NAD 1927 or UTM NAD 1983 projections. Location or spatial resolution of the data varies, in part, depending on the data source. MEGA and its data sets represent a progress report, and the data should not be used without field confirmation in cases that may impact public health, safety, or welfare.

It is expected that MEGA will be used as one tool for making informed environmental decisions particularly related to the protection, cleanup, or use of groundwater. Geoscience educators and students, planners, and the general public will also find the data useful as a source for basic Missouri geology information. Updates of MEGA are planned, and may include well and boring logs, geohydrologic site investigation summaries, known waste disposal sites, lake sites, mine locations and other economic geology information, and stratigraphic sections.