Geologic Synthesis Database Development
Active
By Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
July 11, 2022
Photograph looking up at an alluvial fan and glacial moraine sourced from an alpine catchment. Deposits like these are often important records of past changes in erosion, sedimentation, and tectonic activity throughout the Quaternary.
Photograph looking up at an alluvial fan and glacial moraine sourced from an alpine catchment. Deposits like these are often important records of past changes in erosion, sedimentation, and tectonic activity throughout the Quaternary.
A fault running up the center of the image divides accumulating sediments on the left from eroding mountains on the right. Colors on the left of the image highlight rough topography (warmer colors are rougher) created by active sedimentary processes.
A fault running up the center of the image divides accumulating sediments on the left from eroding mountains on the right. Colors on the left of the image highlight rough topography (warmer colors are rougher) created by active sedimentary processes.
This task supports the research, development, and maintenance of database-centric solutions that aggregate geologic map and related information at a national scale. To deliver a national geologic map, NGS has developed a “map synthesis engine” that enables the assembly of 2D geologic map databases into a single map by an automated process. Further opportunities for improved synthesis database content and capacity will be sought based on emerging techniques and methods (e.g., large language models), and feedback from stakeholders. This includes two primary areas of growth; (1) integration with other important types of geologic data (e.g., models of geologic surfaces stratigraphic columns), and (2) research and development into new methods for organizing and utilizing integrated geologic data to generate derivative products.
National Geologic Synthesis
Surface (2D) and subsurface (3D) geologic data are critical for resource management, infrastructure design, hazards characterization, and basic earth science research. To meet these needs in a digital landscape, geologic maps must transition from static publications to machine-readable and discoverable digital databases that enable spatial analyses and queries (Shelton and others, 2022). In 2019...
National Geologic Mapping
To “bring together detailed national, and continental resolution 2D and 3D data produced throughout the USGS and state partners,” NGS developed a model in which geologic map databases produced by the USGS and State Geological Surveys can be assembled into compilation maps by an automated process, enabling rapid delivery of a new national map that can grow thereafter with contributions from the...
3D Geologic Models of Regions and Provinces
Water, energy, mineral resource, hazard, and land-use assessments are central to the USGS mission and increasingly rely on subsurface data and 3-D geologic models. Watershed, regional, and national assessments are facilitated the availability of 3-D geologic data and models; in a typical assessment project, numerical simulations and process models cannot proceed without subsurface data and...
National Stratigraphic Synthesis
This task will work to develop standard libraries of geologic provinces and stratigraphic terms, and integrate fundamental sedimentary data (e.g., lithology, depth, thickness, age, depositional environments), enabling the definition of regionally significant "key surfaces" that define the geological framework of a broad region or province. Ongoing inventory and cataloging activities will compile...
National Geologic Synthesis
Surface (2D) and subsurface (3D) geologic data are critical for resource management, infrastructure design, hazards characterization, and basic earth science research. To meet these needs in a digital landscape, geologic maps must transition from static publications to machine-readable and discoverable digital databases that enable spatial analyses and queries (Shelton and others, 2022). In 2019...
National Geologic Mapping
To “bring together detailed national, and continental resolution 2D and 3D data produced throughout the USGS and state partners,” NGS developed a model in which geologic map databases produced by the USGS and State Geological Surveys can be assembled into compilation maps by an automated process, enabling rapid delivery of a new national map that can grow thereafter with contributions from the...
3D Geologic Models of Regions and Provinces
Water, energy, mineral resource, hazard, and land-use assessments are central to the USGS mission and increasingly rely on subsurface data and 3-D geologic models. Watershed, regional, and national assessments are facilitated the availability of 3-D geologic data and models; in a typical assessment project, numerical simulations and process models cannot proceed without subsurface data and...
National Stratigraphic Synthesis
This task will work to develop standard libraries of geologic provinces and stratigraphic terms, and integrate fundamental sedimentary data (e.g., lithology, depth, thickness, age, depositional environments), enabling the definition of regionally significant "key surfaces" that define the geological framework of a broad region or province. Ongoing inventory and cataloging activities will compile...