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National Results

A primary objective of this study is to map (locate and describe) the extent of recent human geomorphic activity, as indicated by significant changes to the land surface topography. The inventory of topographic changes completed for this study includes features mapped to the nominal 30-meter resolution of the input multitemporal elevation datasets. Consequently, spatially explicit change maps have been produced and statistics accumulated for a number of different accounting and reporting units, some broad (states and ecoregions) and some small (quadrangle base maps).

 

Maps of the location of the individual change polygons are useful for presenting and describing the overall nature of 20th century human geomorphic activity across the conterminous United States. In addition, accumulating summary statistics within various accounting and reporting units helps describe the density of topographic change areas within subdivisions of the landscape with which researchers and resource managers are familiar.

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1x1-degree tiles that contain topographic change polygons

1x1-Degree Tiles

Summary statistics were also accumulated on the basis of the 1x1-degree tiles used for data management and processing. A total of 500 tiles contain topographic change polygons (see figure below), which represents over 53 percent of the conterminous United States tiles.
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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1x1-Degree Tiles

Summary statistics were also accumulated on the basis of the 1x1-degree tiles used for data management and processing. A total of 500 tiles contain topographic change polygons (see figure below), which represents over 53 percent of the conterminous United States tiles.
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7.5-minute quadrangle maps that contain topographic change polygons

Quadrangle Base Maps

Many resource managers and geospatial data users are familiar with the USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle map series. Also, much of the geospatial data managed by the USGS was originally produced in tiles corresponding to the 7.5-minute maps. The topographic map quadrangles are still commonly used as base maps for outlining data collection strategies and defining project boundaries. Thus, it is useful to...
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Quadrangle Base Maps

Many resource managers and geospatial data users are familiar with the USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle map series. Also, much of the geospatial data managed by the USGS was originally produced in tiles corresponding to the 7.5-minute maps. The topographic map quadrangles are still commonly used as base maps for outlining data collection strategies and defining project boundaries. Thus, it is useful to...
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Managed areas (Federal, State, tribal, and military lands) that contain topographic change polygons

Managed Areas

A delineation of managed areas (Federal, State, tribal, and military lands) from the USGS National Atlas was overlaid on the topographic change inventory. Note that this representation of managed lands is from a small-scale map source and does not include all Federal lands, while others are generalized. About 11 percent of the change polygons fall within the general boundaries of the managed areas...
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Managed Areas

A delineation of managed areas (Federal, State, tribal, and military lands) from the USGS National Atlas was overlaid on the topographic change inventory. Note that this representation of managed lands is from a small-scale map source and does not include all Federal lands, while others are generalized. About 11 percent of the change polygons fall within the general boundaries of the managed areas...
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Counties containing topographic change polygons

Counties

Because so many other statistics and phenomena are reported and mapped on a county basis, they are a useful accounting unit with which to view the occurrences of topographic change. The counties that contain topographic change polygons are shown below. A total of 1,170 counties contain change polygons, which represents 37.6 percent of the counties in the conterminous United States. In some states...
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Counties

Because so many other statistics and phenomena are reported and mapped on a county basis, they are a useful accounting unit with which to view the occurrences of topographic change. The counties that contain topographic change polygons are shown below. A total of 1,170 counties contain change polygons, which represents 37.6 percent of the counties in the conterminous United States. In some states...
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Level III ecoregions containing topographic change polygons

Ecoregions

Ecoregions have been developed and are being used to study the place dependency of environmental processes, including anthropogenic transformations of the land surface. Ecoregions are also the basis for reporting on the status and trends of land cover and land cover change. As a geographic framework that is useful for studying the response of the environment to human activities, ecoregions form a...
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Ecoregions

Ecoregions have been developed and are being used to study the place dependency of environmental processes, including anthropogenic transformations of the land surface. Ecoregions are also the basis for reporting on the status and trends of land cover and land cover change. As a geographic framework that is useful for studying the response of the environment to human activities, ecoregions form a...
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Watersheds (8-digit hydrologic cataloging units) that contain topographic change polygons

Watersheds

Because they are a natural partitioning of the land surface, watersheds have been used extensively to study and report on environmental conditions. As such, they provide another useful way to view and present the extent of topographic changes. The connectivity of watersheds may be an important condition when assessing the impacts of land surface transformations. For instance, an important...
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Watersheds

Because they are a natural partitioning of the land surface, watersheds have been used extensively to study and report on environmental conditions. As such, they provide another useful way to view and present the extent of topographic changes. The connectivity of watersheds may be an important condition when assessing the impacts of land surface transformations. For instance, an important...
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Map of the 5,263 polygons that delineate areas of significant topographic change in the conterminous United States

States

The spatial distribution of the topographic change polygons across the states is shown in the figure below. Some noteworthy patterns seen on the map are a dense concentration of polygons in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, a distinct cluster of polygons in northern Minnesota, several larger groups of polygons in Wyoming and southern Arizona, a concentration of polygons in the highly...
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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States

The spatial distribution of the topographic change polygons across the states is shown in the figure below. Some noteworthy patterns seen on the map are a dense concentration of polygons in eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia, a distinct cluster of polygons in northern Minnesota, several larger groups of polygons in Wyoming and southern Arizona, a concentration of polygons in the highly...
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Topographic Change Results Information

Results Information

The primary result of the data processing explained in the Methods section is a polygon feature dataset that locates and describes the areas in the conterminous United States that have experienced significant topographic change during the 20th century.
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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
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Results Information

The primary result of the data processing explained in the Methods section is a polygon feature dataset that locates and describes the areas in the conterminous United States that have experienced significant topographic change during the 20th century.
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