FROM MAPPING TO COMPILATION: BUILDING A GEOLOGICAL MAP OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA

Cape Breton Island is well known for its scenic vistas, economic resources (e.g., coal, gypsum, aggregate, sulfide occurrences), and diverse geology. All three are related to its long and complex geological history, including the oldest and youngest geological units in Nova Scotia. This history makes the island an important target for economic resource exploration and understanding the geological evolution of the northern Appalachian orogen; however, such work is hampered by lack of consistent set of detailed geological maps. Twenty-five, 1:50 000-scale geological maps of Cape Breton Island will be released early in 2017 by the government of Nova Scotia. These maps are the culmination of 40 years of field mapping, combined with collaborative petrological, geochemical, and geochronological studies. They resolve some long-standing controversies about stratigraphic relations and age, as well as clearly defining some new problems, and will encourage mineral exploration that could have long-term benefits for the province.

Pre-Carboniferous bedrock mapping in the 1990s and earlier was conducted by traditional mapping techniques using pace and compass, aerial photographs, and colored pencils. These mainly 1:10 000-scale data from federal and provincial survey geologists, university-based geologists, and students at the graduate and undergraduate level have been captured digitally and integrated with more recently acquired data collected using GPS devices and additional techniques such as magnetic susceptibility meters and portable XRF analyses. The data have been compiled in ARCGIS, and will be supported by a searchable digital database including outcrop locations, structural information, samples, and geochemical, geochronological, and magnetic susceptibility data. Both printed and digital maps will include topographic contours with the geological units data draped over a shaded digital elevation model or LiDAR image. Other digital products such as aeromagnetic and radiometric maps will also be included in the ARCGIS database.

This map product will be fully digital, easy to update and freely available on the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources website, although work on the database will be a longer term project.