USGS Geoscience Data Catalog
Additional USGS Geoscience data can be found by geographic location or by publication series.
Schruben, Paul G., Arndt, Raymond E., Bawiec, Walter J., King, Philip B., and Beikman, Helen M., 1994, Geology of the Conterminous United States at 1:2,500,000 Scale -- A Digital Representation of the 1974 P.B. King and H.M. Beikman Map: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-11, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.Online Links:
This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
The map projection used is Albers Conical Equal Area.
Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 1000
Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 1000
Planar coordinates are specified in meters
The horizontal datum used is NAD27.
The ellipsoid used is Clarke 1866.
The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378.
The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/295.
(703) 648-6142 (voice)
(703) 648-6057 (FAX)
pschruben@usgs.gov
Conversion of the geologic map of the U.S. to a digital format was undertaken to facilitate the presentation and analysis of earth-science data. Digital maps can be displayed at any scale or projection, whereas a paper map has a fixed scale and projection. However, the geology on this disc is not intended to be used at any scale finer than 1:2,500,000.
King, Philip B. , and Beikman, Helen M. , 1974, Explanatory text to accompany the geologic map of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 901, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.
Data sources used in this process:
King, Philip B., and Beikman, Helen M., 1974, Explanatory text to accompany the geologic map of the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 901, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.
The linework was captured by hand digitizing as well as scanning from
the paper map and negatives. The digital map was assembled and edited in
ARC/INFO on a State-by-State basis, which caused some edge-matching
problems. The final mosaic was adjusted several times to correct for
registration problems. The coastline was taken from the 1:2,000,000 scale
Digital Line Graph data (U.S. Geological Survey, 1987), generalized to 1 km.
Construction of a geologic map of an area as large and complex as the
conterminous United States requires a great deal of generalization: geologic
units shown on larger scale maps are combined into broader map units and
their contacts are simplified to produce a pattern that is legible at the
scale of publication. The process of generalization used in the compilation
of the Geologic Map of the United States is described in King and Beikman
(1974a, p. 20).
Furthermore, the Geologic Map of the United States is primarily a bedrock
map, which depicts geologic materials present beneath the soil or relatively
thin mantles of surficial deposits, not necessarily the surficial materials
themselves. For example, the map does not depict the glacial deposits in
the northern States, the widespread eolian deposits in the High Plains, and
the high-level gravels that mantle older Tertiary and pre-Tertiary units in
much of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains.
The users of the geologic map on this disc should respect the intentions of the compilers of the map and some of its limitations. The Geologic Map of the United States (King and Beikman, 1974b) is intended to be used at a scale of 1:2,500,000; it is not intended to be used at a more detailed scale. For instance, Colorado is about 10 inches wide at the published scale of the King and Beikman map.
The map does not include coverage of Alaska, Hawaii, or territories.
The Geologic Map of the United States is primarily a bedrock map, which
depicts geologic materials present beneath the soil or relatively thin mantles
of surficial deposits, not necessarily the surficial materials themselves.
For example, the map does not depict the glacial deposits in the northern
States, the widespread eolian deposits in the High Plains, and the high-level
gravels that mantle older Tertiary and pre-Tertiary units in much of the
Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains.
The coverages on this disc for the digital geologic map of the conterminous
United States differ in several ways from the published map. The county
outlines, cities, drainage, and other base-map information are not present
on the digital version except as overlays in MAPPER. Only the larger water
bodies are included.
The larger geology polygons are split into several smaller polygons to avoid
problems with color and pattern fill on screen plots and paper plotters.
The maximum polygon size is 1476 vertices, which is PostScript compatible.
The rock-unit names are stored in uppercase letters as well as the published
mixed case. For instance:
TMC Tmc TMOE Tmoe UTA uTaThe uppercase names are used in the coverage because an INFO sort in ARC/INFO is case sensitive. The lookup tables must be sorted to work correctly. The mixed-case rock-unit names are in the kbcolor.lut lookup table. Longer rock-unit descriptions such as:
Cretaceous granitic rocks Washita Groupare in the ROCKDESC column of the .pat file of the KBLEG coverage. Some of the unit names have been modified to avoid ambiguity.
PP PP1 PP1a PP2 PP3 PP4The Triassic symbol is stored as Tr in:
JTr Tr TrPe Trv Tri TrgThe Cambrian symbol is stored as C in:
C Cq OC Ce Cv Cg m1 is replaced with mm1 to avoid confusion with M1 m2 is replaced with mm2 to avoid confusion with M2 m3 is replaced with mm3 to avoid confusion with M3 m4 is replaced with mm4 for consistencyThe extent of glaciation appears in the legend but is not present in the coverage.
Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
- Access_Constraints: none
- Use_Constraints: none
1-888-ASK-USGS (voice)
1-303-202-4693 (FAX)
USGS DDS-11
This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and/or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of this data, software, or related materials.
Graphical map depictions on this disc are intended to be used within the map scale limits applicable to the source data. Although software enables the user to show images on the disc at various scales, the user is cautioned to refer to the source documentation for the appropriate map scale limitations.
Data format: | Geological bedrock units and faults, also state outlines including coastlines (from 1:2,000,000-scale DLG of USGS). in format ARCE Size: 17 Mb |
---|---|
Media you can order: |
CD-ROM
(format ISO-9660)
|
Data format: | Geological bedrock units and faults in format Digital Line Graph Optional format (version DLG-3) Size: 25 Mb |
---|---|
Media you can order: |
CD-ROM
(format ISO-9660)
|
Data format: | Geological bedrock units and faults in format Drawing Exchange File (DXF) Size: 20 Mb |
---|---|
Media you can order: |
CD-ROM
(format ISO-9660)
|
Data format: | Geological bedrock units and faults in format Map Overlay Statistical System (MOSS) Size: 17 Mb |
---|---|
Media you can order: |
CD-ROM
(format ISO-9660)
|
Geographic data included in DDS-11 are intended for use in a Geographic Information System (GIS).
This CD-ROM was produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 standard and thus allows access to the map data files and MAPPER by computers with ISO 9660 software drivers.
In addition, the disc contains menu and display programs that operate on DOS-compatible computers with the following configuration:
IBM or compatible personal computer 640 kb RAM (at least 540 kb free memory) Math coprocessor MS- or PC-DOS version 5.0 or later Microsoft MSCDEX version 2.1 or later CD-ROM drive with ISO 9660 software driver Hard disk drive (5 Mb free) Super VGA graphics card (640x480 pixels with 256 colors) VGA color monitor Mouse
703-648-6142 (voice)
703-648-6057 (FAX)
pschruben@usgs.gov
This Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) publication was prepared by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. Any views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
Although all data and software published on this CD-ROM have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials and/or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of this data, software, or related materials.
Graphical map depictions on this disc are intended to be used within the map scale limits applicable to the source data. Although software enables the user to show images on the disc at various scales, the user is cautioned to refer to the source documentation for the appropriate map scale limitations.
Data format: | Geology and fault coverages in format ArcInfo export (version 7.1.1) Size: 22 |
---|---|
Network links: |
<http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds11/kbexport.tar.gz> |
Data format: | Bedrock map unit and fault coverages in format ARC/INFO coverage (version 7.1.1) Size: 16 |
---|---|
Network links: |
<http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds11/kb.tar.gz> |
(703) 648-6533 (voice)
(703) 648-6560 (FAX)
pschweitzer@usgs.gov