GEOLOGIC MAPPING AND SOCIETY; A FEDERAL PERSPECTIVE

Since its inception, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed geological maps to support an understanding of the Earth in order to address issues of national concern and scientific study. Geologic maps are foundational to the USGS’s mission of understanding how and where mineral resources occur, how they are expressed in the environment, and what effects extracting mineral resources may have on ecosystems and human health. For the past 20 years, the USGS has partnered with state surveys to develop and steward a geospatial database of geologic maps for the U.S. The State Geologic Map Compilation (SGMC), provides geologic map information for the conterminous U.S. at a nominal scale of 1:1,000,000; it is available at https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1052. The geologic map for the state of Alaska, a culmination of nearly 2 decades of work, is available at https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3340.

The SGMC and the geologic map of Alaska provide information, such as lithology and age of geologic units, in a manner that facilitates research, geospatial analyses, and the construction of derivative maps. Characterization and prediction of landscape, subsurface, and Earth processes are possible when coupled with mineral deposit locations and models, geophysics, geochemistry, remote sensing, topography, soil survey findings and other information. However, to continue to address societal needs and harness these capabilities, the scale and fidelity of geologic data need to evolve in many areas of the U.S. The next generation of a geologic map database would seamlessly integrate geologic information across state boundaries and represent geology in the third dimension. Discrepancies resulting from differing mapping styles, stratigraphic nomenclature, structural interpretations, and mapping at differing scales would be resolved. The addition of chronostratigraphic information would provide lithologic ages and help to correlate units. Repositories of LIDAR, hyperspectral, borehole, stratigraphic, and geologic map information would be utilized. For these reasons, the USGS considers a next generation, integrated geologic map of the U.S. achievable. Success will depend not only on expanded use of geologic information and computing technology, but on collaboration with State agencies, academia and the private sector.