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Geology News
Maps Current Events

Google maps has a “street view” option that provides pictures of many locations. These allow you to see a location just like you were standing on the street corner. This News.com article reports that Google has cars equipped with laser scanners collecting the data for the improved 3D street views.

Check Out Times Square, New York City

Here’s a Google map that serves USGS topo map tiles. You can browse topo maps in any of the 48 states and Canada and print a copy of these maps from a PDF document.

A video that explains how Eratosthenes was able to calculate Earth’s circumference using observations made at two wells at different locations on the first day of summer.

Here’s a source of printable polar coordinate graph paper that can be used to plot things like joint and fracture orientations, current directions, fossil orientations or any type of data that is collected in degrees. These are .pdf files that you can easily download and print. Bookmark it for easy access when you need it.

Brian Romans has a summary of the USGS fact sheet on the Bakken Formation petroleum reserves. He also has some commentary on the different categories of reserves and what what those numbers really mean.

USGS Fact Sheet on Bakken Formation Oil

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered volumes of 3.65 billion barrels of oil, 1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Bakken Formation of the Williston Basin Province, Montana and North Dakota.

An article at Wired Science features a detailed carbon footprint map prepared by researchers at Purdue. It plots estimated carbon emissions at a 100 square kilometer resolution. It improves on previous geographic estimates that are based upon population statistics.

Google has added contour lines to their terrain maps. They are not quite as detailed as USGS topos but for free-to-use maps they are very nice. Contour intervals vary depending upon local relief.

Early this year researchers surprised everyone with a resource estimate for the Marcellus Shale beneath Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and surrounding states. They estimated that the Marcellus might contain more than 50 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. That volume of natural gas would be enough to supply the entire United States for about two years and have a wellhead value of about one trillion dollars!

USGS Water Watch now has a special webpage where you can see a map of high flow conditions across the United States. It shows location dots where streams are in the 95th or higher percentile of flow for that calendar day and triangles where the stream is above flood stage.

ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

The European Space Agency has published a nice collection of photos showing Hebes Chasma, a trough located in Valles Marineris, A.K.A. the “Grand Canyon of Mars”. They have a color-coded elevation model, overhead views, and several 3-D perspective views. Don’t miss the high-resolution versions, which show an incredible amount of detail. Wow!

The National Hurricane Center is working with Google to put storm surge maps of the Gulf Coast online for public viewing. Storm surge is often the most damaging element of a hurricane and these maps can be used to guide planning, evacuation and other storm-related efforts.

The Kansas Geological Survey has a new geologic map. Drawn at a scale of 1:500,000 (one inch to eight miles) the map is 68″ x 39″ with graphic rock column and generalized cross section.

USGS, the Center for Disease Control and others have partnered to produce a small collection of disease maps for the United States. Mapped are West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis and Powassan virus. The map here shows counties where positive cases of West Nile virus in humans have been reported.

The Google Earth Blog has a post that summarizes some of the data that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has made available for use in Google Earth. They also provide links to important data locations at NOAA and to previous Google Earth Blog posts that describe available data.

“NASA has obtained the highest resolution terrain mapping to date of the moon’s rugged south polar region. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., generated the imagery using data collected with the facility’s Goldstone Solar System Radar.” Quoted from the NASA release.

“More than 40 percent of the world’s oceans are heavily affected by human activities, and few if any areas remain untouched, according to the first global-scale study of human influence on marine ecosystems. By overlaying maps of 17 different activities such as fishing, climate change and pollution, the researchers have produced a composite map of the toll that humans have exacted on the seas.” Quoted from the NSF release.

These new hazard maps focus on areas that are at risk from hazards such as earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes, etc., then filter those areas using a “social vulnerability index”.

The European Space Agency announces new data from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera has been used to produce a digital terrain model of Mars that will soon be released on the internet. It will be the most detailed topographic data set ever released for Mars.

Geology.com Article: Highest and Lowest Points on Mars

The United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada have produced a joint publication: “Analysis of Improved Government Geological Map Information for Mineral Exploration: Incorporating Efficiency, Productivity, Effectiveness, and Risk Considerations”. It documents how the availability of government geologic maps can save exploration companies money. This publication is an all around great idea. It looks like a valuable read for state geologists preparing for a budget defense or rallying support from industry. And, it might be a good idea for neighboring state geological surveys to increase their cooperative work on the field, research and publication efforts behind the creation of geologic maps.

Metro Graphic Arts of Grand Rapids, Michigan, publisher of wall maps and street guides, will close at the end of next month. GPS and mapping software have cut so severely into the demand for paper maps that Metro Graphic Arts and many other paper publishers have closed.

The Grand Canyon Association in cooperation with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources have published “Geologic Map of the Butte Fault/East Kaibab Monocline Area”. This is a 1:24,000 scale geologic map in two sheets (38” x 69”) authored by J. Michael Timmons and Karl Karlstrom.

Earthquake producing faults in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, California are being mapped by low-level aircraft owned by Excel Airborne Geophysics of High River, Alberta, Canada. They are flying at about 1,000 feet while measuring local variations in the earth’s magnetic field. They hope that the data will reveal subsurface faults.

Zoom in on the San Andreas Fault with a Google Map by David Lynch and Bradley Cole.

Chicago-based Navteq and Netherlands-based TeleAtlas are the only two sources of highly detailed digital road maps, such as the ones used to populate websites such as Google Maps, automotive GPS units and road map software. Recently, the phone manufacturer, Noika purchased Navtec and the GPS company, TomTom purchased TeleAtlas. These purchases were strategic moves to gain control of the maps. Prior to these purchases the maps were freely sold to many different companies for use in their proprietary products. Are there monopoly problems with these two map makers being purchased by companies who may have strong incentives to tightly control the availability of the maps?

We recently upgraded our collection of static maps of Canada….. Canada, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon Territory.

Bill Burns of the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries has an interesting PowerPoint presentation on the Woodson Debris Flow that recently happened in northwestern Oregon. It has a number of maps and images, plus some personal mitigation advice for those who live where these events might occur.

This website has a great animated and interactive map with timeline that shows the human migration out of Africa and onto other continents. It also clearly shows how some climate changes in the past had a profound impact on the human geography.

Earth Observatory has a cumulative rainfall map for the storms that recently drenched Washington and Oregon. It shows over 150 millimeters of precipitation between November 28 and December 4. The Seattle area received over 100 millimeters of rain.

Google recently added a layer to their Google Maps product called “Terrain”. This is a shaded relief layer that you can toggle on and off using the button in the upper right corner of the map window. These maps are quite nice and I can’t think of an earth scientist who will not like them. Here’s a small one below to give you a quick peek. Please click the navigation buttons and grab/drag the image… this is a live map. The link below the map window will click to full screen viewing.

The California Geological Survey has an area on their website where you can download a large number of geologic maps in .pdf format. There you can find 7.5 minute and 30×60 minute geologic maps, landslide maps, mineral production maps and more. A few other states are placing maps like these online and the USGS has an online National Geologic Map Database where you can do research and download some of the maps.

Brian Romans has a another interesting post that features seafloor mapping. This one illustrates how salt tectonics has contributed to the morphology of the continental slope in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Medusae Fossae Formation is one of the youngest surficial deposits on Mars. This young age is assumed because it shows very few craters. The radar system on the ESA Mars Express orbiter is collecting data on the depth and electrical properties of these materials.

The California wildfires were a disaster that impacted a very broad area and millions of people. Communications and data updates can be very difficult in a disaster that widespread. This article explores how a tool such as Google Earth and Google Maps can be used to make geographic information quickly available to anyone with a web connection at very low cost.

Examples of some of these information sharing services can be found at the Google Earth blog.

The Google Earth Blog has links and KML files that provide information and visuals on the California wildfires. The one that we think does the best job is the KPBS Fire Map.

Montana has a new geologic map, the first one since 1955. It was compiled by staff of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology using data from hundreds of sources. The new map is 50×80 inches in size and features the state at a scale of 1:500,000. You can get one in glossy finish, matte or digital at the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology website.

Take a look at this swatch from a county map of Mississippi. Is Leake County square? A letter to the staff of the Clarion Ledger in Mississippi asked this very question and after asking around they finally got a good answer from a GIS guy.

Montana has unveiled sixteen road signs that point out features of geological significance and explain them. These signs were inspired by Donald Hyndman’s “Roadside Geology of Montana”. Sixteen additional locations have been selected to receive a sign. The Roadside Geology Series is a collection of books that provide introductory-level explanations and road logs for a number of US states. More about the Roadside Geology Series.

Google has expanded the street view feature to a total of fourteen US cities. You can now use it for San Francisco, New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver, Houston, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orlando, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, Phoenix, Tucson, and Pittsburgh - shown below. Street View gives you photographs taken at ground level. Here’s one for Pittsburgh. Note that you use the “Street View” button in the top of the map window to turn it on.

Scientists from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and the U.S. Geological Survey are producing maps of Cape Cod Bay. These maps will be of value for mitigating natural hazards, protecting fisheries and monitoring environmental change. This article describes some of the procedures used and the potential use of the data.