Geology News
Maps Current Events

The most recent issue of Pennsylvania Geology has an article titled: “The Role of Geology and Terrain in the Defeat of Stuart East of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863″.

USGS has published: “Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Fayette and Lycoming Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010″ as an open file report.

The folks at MyTopo.com are offering 20% off on their custom-printed topographic maps and aerial photos. This discount is good until June 19, 2013.

With their easy-to-use website you can center the map anywhere you want in the 48 states, have it printed in vertical or horizontal format, and they will promptly ship it to your door. Try their TopoPhotos – an aerial photo lightly overprinted with contour lines.

We are affiliates of MyTopo and receive a commission on sales.

Earth Science week for 2013 will be held on October 13-19 and the theme will be “Mapping Our World”. They are having three contests…

1) Photography, “Mapping My Community”, for US residents and AGI Affiliates.

2) Visual Arts, “Making Maps Through the Ages”, for US students in grades K-5.

3) Essay Contest, “How Geoscientists Use Maps”, for US students in grades 6-9.

From the Earth Science Week Newsletter.

“Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey have been working with a host of international collaborators to present the most detailed map yet of Antarctica’s landmass. [...] The map allows scientists to analyse, in much greater detail, the bed below the Antarctic ice sheet.” Quoted from the British Antarctic Survey press release.

“Using an innovative satellite technique, NASA scientists have determined that a previously unmapped type of wildfire in the Amazon rainforest is responsible for destroying several times more forest than has been lost through deforestation in recent years.”

This is a video tutorial that will demonstrate how to use USGS topographic maps in PDF format.

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.

Pamela Gore and William Witherspoon have recently published “Roadside Geology of Georgia“, a new guidebook in the Mountain Press Roadside Geology Series.

This is a field guidebook for the state of Georgia with road logs and maps that describe the physical and historical geology.

How did Greenwich, England become Earth’s zero-degree longitude reference point?

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, teachers, students and others who are interested in the Earth.

“Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn’s moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earth-like and interesting worlds in the solar system.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

Earth Science Week 2013 Toolkits are available for advance orders now! The kit contains everything you need to prepare for Earth Science Week (October 13-19, 2013), which celebrates the theme “Mapping Our World.” Quoted from the American Geosciences Institute announcement.

The Arizona Geological Survey published a mineral resource evaluation for the proposed Arizona Sonoran Desert Heritage Area in western Maricopa County.

A partial map of the area is shown at right.

Five copper coins about 1000 years old found on a beach by an Australian soldier during WWII may be strong evidence that ships from distant lands reached Australia hundreds of years earlier than what is written in history books.

USGS has redesigned their PDF topo maps! Just released are complete map sets for Tennessee (694 maps) and Kentucky (671 maps) with more states coming soon (Alaska and Hawaii).

These maps are beautiful. If you want to see a sample we have Mammoth Cave, Kentucky unzipped and ready for you to download – but be warned that it is a really big file (30 megs) and will take quite a while to download – but well worth the wait…

If you have Adobe Reader or equivalent software, click here, get the download started, go for coffee, come back to a great map. Be sure to zoom in to see the great detail.

NOAA has published a Google Map that displays near-real-time coastal water temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit for hundreds of locations around the United States.

“Android and iPhone users can now use their mobile devices as digital topo maps, leveraging USGS maps together with the power of GPS to zoom in on their precise location while hiking, biking, running, or any other activity that benefits from precision navigation.” Quoted from the USGS announcement.

The Association of American Geographers, the United States Geological Survey, NatureServe and The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development are major contributors to a collection of standardized terrestrial ecosystem maps for the African continent.

“The newest sets of US Topo maps cover the states of Texas and New York. The 4,309 quadrangles for Texas and 972 quads covering New York replace the existing US Topo maps for those states, and will be added to the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection. All of these maps are available for free download from The National Map.” Quoted from the USGS press release.

The California Geological Survey has a collection of landslide hazard maps online for viewing as pdf documents. They are plotted on 7.5 minute topographic maps.

“Over a trial period of ten months, 143 volunteers collected, improved, or deleted data on more than 6,400 structures in Colorado. The volunteers’ actions were accurate and exceeded USGS quality standards. In the Colorado pilot project the volunteer-collected data showed an improvement of approximately 25 percent in both location and attribute accuracy for existing data points. Completeness, or the extent to which all appropriate features were identified and recorded, was nearly perfect.” Quoted from the USGS summary.

“For the first time, U.S. Geological Survey scientists have mapped long-term average evapotranspiration rates across the continental United States – a crucial tool for water managers and planners because of the huge role evapotranspiration plays in water availability. Why are evapotranspiration rates so important to know? It’s because the amount of water available for people and ecosystems is the amount of annual precipitation – that is, snow or rain – minus the amount of annual evapotranspiration.” Quoted from the USGS publication announcement.

The United States Geological Survey has published: Geology of the Prince William Sound and Kenai Peninsula region, Alaska as a geologic map and 38 page report.

The folks at MyTopo.com are now printing supersized topo maps; large enough make a huge 8′ x 5′ (or 5′ x 8′) 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.

We are affiliates of MyTopo.com and receive a commission on sales.

Last month the Arizona Geological Survey published a new Geologic Map of Petrified Forest National Park. Instead of charging people $25 or more as geological surveys have traditionally done for a paper map, AZGS made it available for free downloading on their website. The result was 1100 downloads in a couple of weeks. It might have taken years or decades to “sell” that many maps.

Now anybody anywhere can learn about petrified forest geology at any time without charge as long as they can use an internet connection. Isn’t this a great way to fulfill the duties of a geological survey?

Divide project costs by the number of people who will be educated by a downloadable product and compare that to print publication. Which will have a lower cost per person educated?

North Korea is a very closed country. This Business Week video explains how Google has been able to use crowd-sourcing to construct maps of North Korea beyond what can be obtained from satellite images.

The Department of Energy’s Geothermal Annual Report includes information about: play fairway mapping, geothermal demonstration projects, induced seismic events, the National Geothermal Data System and outreach to educational institutions.

“A new NASA-led study finds that when it comes to combating global warming caused by emissions of ozone-forming chemicals, location matters. Research scientists [...] set out to quantify, down to areas the size of large metropolitan regions, how the climate-altering impacts of these chemical emissions vary around the world.”

The Arizona Geological Survey has released a new Geologic Map of Petrified Forest National Park. The map is accompanied by a booklet that contains information about the geologic setting of the Park, its historical geology, stratigraphy, descriptions of mapped rock units and macrofossil occurrences.

Related: What is Petrified Wood?