Since 1972 the “Roadside Geology” series has provided introductory information on the geology of states and small regions of the United States. The books provide a combination of maps, travel logs, photos and commentary for the geology that can be seen along highways or visited at parks and public viewing areas. They are popular with geologists and others who are interested in the Earth.
“The Bedrock Geologic Map of Vermont is the result of a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the State of Vermont. The new map comes 50 years after the most recent map of the State by Charles G. Doll and others in 1961 and a full 150 years since the publication of the first geologic map of Vermont by Edward Hitchcock and others in 1861. At a scale of 1:100,000, the map shows an uncommon level of detail for State geologic maps. Mapped rock units are primarily based on lithology, or rock type, to facilitate derivative studies in multiple disciplines.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
“By using GPS to measure ground deformation from large earthquakes, we can reduce the time needed to locate and characterize the damage from large seismic events to several minutes.”
Information about the topography of the ArcticOcean seafloor is becoming more important as the area’s energy resources attract attention and countries prepare their exclusive economic zone claims.
“This image shows rainfall totals between Papua New Guinea and Fiji from March 26 to April 2, 2012. By April 2, 2012, heavy rains [in Fiji] had claimed at least three lives, [...] washed out roads, severed drinking water supplies, downed power lines, and hampered communications.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory press release.
“The goal of the Historical Topographic Map Collection was to create an electronic collection of all printed quadrangles – all maps, all scales – beginning with the earliest editions prior to US Topo, a new generation of topographic maps.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
The boundary between North Carolina and South Carolina was drawn on orders from the King of England before the United States was a country. Now they discover that the boundary is 150 feet off which creates enormous problems for schools, utilities, taxes, laws and property owners.
A group of scientists has produced the first global geologic map of Jupiter’s Moon, Io. “The map illustrates the geologic character of some of the most unique and active volcanoes ever documented in the solar system.” Quote from the USGS press release.
“A NASA-led science team has created an accurate, high-resolution map of the height of Earth’s forests. The map will help scientists better understand the role forests play in climate change and how their heights influence wildlife habitats within them, while also helping them quantify the carbon stored in Earth’s vegetation.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Geologists have a new tool to study how earthquakes change the landscape–down to a few inches. It’s giving scientists insights into how earthquake faults behave.”
“For decades, however, scientists have wondered if the less volatile subsurface in areas such as Texas could provide economically viable locations for geothermal power.” Quoted from the University of Texas at Austin press release.
A January 7th satellite image of the Red Sea shows the new volcanic island about 40 miles off the cost of Yemen. The pushpin on the Google Map at right shows the location of the new island. For an image showing steam and ash escaping from the vent visit the Earth Observatory website. If you look closely at the zoomed in map you will see that the island is located in the center of the Red Sea Rift.
“Torrential rain inundated southeastern Brazil in early January 2012, causing severe damage in multiple states. The floods forced thousands from their homes, damaged roads and homes, and broke through a levee in northern Rio de Janeiro State.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
“Remote-sensing satellites help scientists to observe our world beyond the power of human sight, to monitor changes, and to detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
If you are interested in maps or use GIS software to create them, then you should know about NaturalEarthData.com. It is a website that hosts a public domain map dataset available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and 1:110 million scales.
The Pennsylvania Geological Survey has released: Open-File Report OFGG 11–01.0: Folds of Pennsylvania—GIS Data and Map. It consists of a GIS personal geodatabase and a 1:500,000-scale map showing fold axial traces and structural fronts in Pennsylvania.
WaterproofPaper.com and Geology.com are affiliated websites.
The waterproof papers most frequently used by geologists from Rite in the Rain, iGage and National Geographic are all made in America. They are great for taking notes and printing maps for the field.
The folks at MyTopo.com are now printing supersized topo maps – large enough make a huge 5′ x 8′ (or 8′ x 5′) map that will look fantastic on the wall of your office, conference room, lobby, cabin or den. These maps are custom-centered on any location that you pick using their online map-making tool. Lots of smaller sizes are also available.
We are affiliates of MyTopo.com and receive a commission on sales.
New groundwater and soil moisture drought indicator maps produced using data from NASA’s Grace satellite show unusually low groundwater storage levels in Texas.
Most maps are drawn with north at the top. The main exception is polar maps where the north pole (or south pole) is near the center of the map. A new article on the About.com Geography site explores why north is at the top of most maps.
The Geology.com store is a great place to go if you need geology tools. We have rock hammers, prospecting equipment, wall maps, waterproof gear, Roadside Geology guidebooks, topographic maps, geology books, rock kits and more.
Raven Maps are beautiful examples of shaded-relief wall maps that display the elevation of a state in vibrant colors. These large maps look great in a classroom, den or office. Use one to mark the locations of your work or company.
An article on the Pittsburgh Live website explains how about half of the community of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania is undermined and has a subsidence risk.
This animation by Richard Muller of the University of California, Berkeley graphically shows how global temperatures have increased over the past 200 years. Get more information at the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature website.
The European Space Agency is launching a constellation of GPS satellites that will provide high resolution navigation abilities that are more accurate than what is available to citizens in the United States. An even higher resolution encrypted signal will be available for companies who want to pay for it.
NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released a new global digital elevation model of Earth that is the most complete worldwide topographic map ever produced.
The Loma Prieta Earthquake killed 63 people on October 17th, 1989. The earthquake that interrupted the World Series killed 63 people, injured thousands and destroyed thousands of homes. This San Andreas Fault event is also known as the “Santa Cruz Mountains Earthquake“.
NOAA has a webpage that links to a large number of maps, each showing the age of the ocean floor in a different format. A great resource for teaching, publishing and research.
Sea Grant Alaska has a collection of teaching and learning resources that can be used to create multiple lessons about seamounts for middle school students.
Activities include: learning how seamounts form, mapping seamounts and building a seamount model from a topographic map.
“In this episode, we talk with NOAA Chief Geodesist Dru Smith to learn how scientists are using measurements of gravity to refine a complex mathematical model of the Earth’s shape known as the geoid. Once the new model is deployed, the hope is that we’ll be able to use GPS receivers to figure out our current elevation in most places across the nation within an accuracy of two centimeters or less.”
“Geologists at Brown University have produced the most detailed picture of southern California’s lithosphere, which is crucial to understanding the geological forces that shaped the area.” Quoted from the Brown University news release.
“A technology commonly used to map the bottom of the deep ocean can also detect gas seeps in the water column.” Quoted from the University of New Hampshire news release.
“In September 2011, sea ice covering the ArcticOcean declined to the second-lowest extent on record. Satellite data from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center showed that the summertime ice cover narrowly avoided a new record low.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
“Imaging spectroscopy is a tool used in mineral resource assessments and other geologic applications to provide extremely detailed information of what kinds of minerals are present on the Earth’s surface.” Quoted from the USGS research release.
“NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has completed a gentle spiral into its new science orbit for an even closer view of the giant asteroid Vesta.” Quoted from the NASA news release.
Landslide incidence mapping in Japan has identified nearly 300,000 locations of landslide concern. Although landslides are triggered by heavy typhoon rains in many parts of Japan, local governments have been slow to implement landslide education and mitigation programs.
“EDMAP is an interactive and meaningful program for university students to gain experience and knowledge in geologic mapping while contributing to national efforts to map the geology of the United States.” Quoted from the USGS fact sheet.
“NASA’s new Aquarius instrument has produced its first global map of the salinity of the ocean surface, providing an early glimpse of the mission’s anticipated discoveries.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Nearly 90,000 high resolution scans of the more than 200,000 historical USGS topographic maps, some dating as far back as 1884, are now available online. The Historical Topographic Map Collection includes published U.S. maps of all scales and editions.” Quoted from the USGS news release.
NASA’s Earth Observatory has a collection of… “interactive experiments that can be used to teach all ages about the art and science of space-based remote sensing. The experiments focus on how NASA uses remote sensing to study how and why the Earth changes.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory website.
Over 800 geological reports, maps and other documents are available from the Arizona Geological Survey’s document repository. That includes nearly all of their: open-file reports, digital geologic maps, contributed maps, contributed reports, miscellaneous maps and more. You can search for documents by topic keyword, location keyword, author, collection, publication date and more.
Every geological survey should have an online document repository.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has an interactive map of the United States that allows you to create historic hurricane track maps for specific locations, time intervals, specific storms and more.
“Although hurricanes often call to mind raging winds and toppling trees, some of the worst destruction caused by these storms comes in the form of rain. Hurricane Irene, which roared up the U.S. East Coast in late August 2011, was no exception. Flooding was reported from North Carolina’s Outer Banks to New England.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
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