USGS 3D Geologic Model Inventory
December 14, 2022
This Webapp can be used to visualize and explore the inventory of published USGS 3D geological models. The inventory covers the time period from 2004 through 2022. The geological models vary widely in their spatial extent, type, purpose, number of subsurface units characterized, and software platforms used to create the models. Some of these characteristics can be explored through this viewer. These data were compiled as part of ongoing development of subsurface geologic information by the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program.
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National 3D Geology
Water, energy, mineral resource assessments, and hazard and land-use assessments are central to the USGS mission and increasingly rely on subsurface information and 3D geologic models. There are also many emerging societal issues in which 3D geology becomes increasingly relevant, including assessment of brackish groundwater resources, unconventional oil and gas plays, geothermal systems...
National Geologic Synthesis
The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) Strategic Plan of 2020 calls for the creation of a “variable-scale, national, integrated 2D and 3D geologic-framework model that enables the seamless construction of geologic maps within user-defined regions of interest across the United States by the year 2030” (USGS Open-File Report 2021-1013*). Congress recently directed NCGMP to “bring...
Spatial data from An Inventory of U.S. Geological Survey Three-Dimensional Geologic Models, Volume 1, 2004–2022
Within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), three-dimensional (3D) geologic models are created as part of geologic framework studies, to support energy, minerals, or water resource assessments, and to inform geologic hazard assessments. Such models are often used within the organization as digital input into process and predictive models. 3D geological modeling typically supports research...
Related
National 3D Geology
Water, energy, mineral resource assessments, and hazard and land-use assessments are central to the USGS mission and increasingly rely on subsurface information and 3D geologic models. There are also many emerging societal issues in which 3D geology becomes increasingly relevant, including assessment of brackish groundwater resources, unconventional oil and gas plays, geothermal systems...
National Geologic Synthesis
The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) Strategic Plan of 2020 calls for the creation of a “variable-scale, national, integrated 2D and 3D geologic-framework model that enables the seamless construction of geologic maps within user-defined regions of interest across the United States by the year 2030” (USGS Open-File Report 2021-1013*). Congress recently directed NCGMP to “bring...
Spatial data from An Inventory of U.S. Geological Survey Three-Dimensional Geologic Models, Volume 1, 2004–2022
Within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), three-dimensional (3D) geologic models are created as part of geologic framework studies, to support energy, minerals, or water resource assessments, and to inform geologic hazard assessments. Such models are often used within the organization as digital input into process and predictive models. 3D geological modeling typically supports research...