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Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains: total thickness of Quaternary sediments

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains: total thickness of Quaternary sediments
Abstract:
This file contains data for the total thickness of Quaternary sediments, which is one layer of information on this CD-ROM, USGS Digital Data Series #38 (Soller and Packard, 1998). Together, all layers (10 of them) compose the digital version of a 1:1,000,000-scale map of Quaternary deposits (including both glacial and Holocene sediments) compiled for the glaciated area of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains (that is, the area covered by the Laurentide ice sheets). Parts of southern Ontario, areas beneath the Great Lakes, and parts of the submerged eastern seaboard are also included on the map. The paper version of the map is Soller (1993a, b, 1994, 1998, and in press). The map is a regional synthesis and interpretation of available geologic data derived from about 850 sources of information. The map has three components that together provide the first regional three- dimensional view of these deposits. These components are the surface distribution of Quaternary sediments, the total thickness of Quaternary sediments, and the distribution of significant buried Quaternary units. (Subsurface information is not available for most of the mapped area, and therefore the depiction of buried units is uneven). Text and references to support the map are provided in paper format by Soller (1992) and on this CD-ROM (Soller and Packard, 1998). The digital version of the map is supported by a rudimentary base map adapted from existing paper and digital bases. To allow this large map to be digitized, it was first subdivided into 23 4-degree-by-6-degree quadrangles, and each quadrangle was processed separately. Because the file size of the entire map area is quite large, the data are provided by quadrangle. This file contains data for a 4-degree-by-6-degree quadrangle.
Supplemental_Information:
The geologic map was reviewed for its interpretations and general positional accuracy by Albert J. Froelich and James P. Owens (both USGS) and by representatives of the Geological Survey of Canada and the 23 State Geological Surveys in the map area. Other data layers on USGS DDS-38 (qsurf, qsubsurf, qveneer, qmiscln, qmiscpt, streams, roads, cities, polbnds).
References_Cited:
Soller, D.R., 1992, Text and references to accompany "Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains": U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1921, 54 p.
-----1993a, Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains--Northeastern States, the Great Lakes, and parts of southern Ontario and the Atlantic offshore area (east of 80deg 31min West longitude): U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1970-A, scale 1:1,000,000.
-----1993b, Preliminary map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 93-543, scale 1:3,500,000.
-----1994, Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains--Northern Plains States (west of 102deg West longitude): U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1970-D, scale 1:1,000,000.
-----1998, Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains--Northern and Central Plains States (90deg to 102deg West longitude): U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1970-C, scale 1:1,000,000.
-----in press, Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains--Northern Great Lakes States and central Mississippi Valley States, the Great Lakes, and southern Ontario (80deg 31min to 93deg West longitude): U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1970-B, scale 1:1,000,000.
Soller, D.R., and Berg, R.C., 1992, Using regional geologic information to assess relative aquifer contamination potential--an example from the central United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 92-694, scale 1:1,000,000.
Soller, D.R., and Packard, P.H., 1998, Digital representation of a map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-38, one CD-ROM.
Soller, D.R., Stettner, W.R., Lanfear, K.J., and Aitken, D.S., 1990, A user's manual for a method of map scanning and digital editing for thematic map production and data-base construction: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1054, 38 p.
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Soller, David R. , 1998, Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains: total thickness of Quaternary sediments: U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS-38, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -114.00
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -66.00
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 50.00
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 36.00

  3. What does it look like?

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Calendar_Date: 1998
    Currentness_Reference:
    Geologic data were compiled prior to 1987. Therefore, newer mapping may alter some information shown on this map.

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: map

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Point
      • String
      • GT-polygon composed of chains

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      The map projection used is Albers Conical Equal Area.

      Projection parameters:
      Standard_Parallel: 29.5
      Standard_Parallel: 29.5
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -96
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 23
      False_Easting: 0.00000
      False_Northing: 0.00000

      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 1.0
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 1.0
      Planar coordinates are specified in METERS

      The horizontal datum used is Unknown.
      The ellipsoid used is Clarke 1866.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378206.4.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/294.98.

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    QTHICK.PAT
    item "CODE" -- Total thickness of Quaternary sediments, in feet. These values represent an interval (e.g., 50-100 ft), not a precise value at a particular location. Valid attribute values are 201 through 211. Attributes are further described below in "Related_Spatial_and_Tabular _Data_Sets" and in "Entity_and_Attribute_Information". item "SOURCE" -- Source of feature (e.g., brief citation of source map).
    QTHICK.AAT
    item "TCONT" -- Thickness contour value. Valid attribute values are 0 to 1600; -1 is reserved for lines that are not contour lines (these are map edges and lake borders). item "TCONTMN" -- The lowest of two or more thickness contour value that, because of limits to resolution, are stacked one upon another in a common line. Valid attribute value are 0 to 1600; -1 is reserved for lines that are not stacked contours. item "SOURCE" -- Source of feature (e.g., brief citation of source map).
    Brief descriptions of codes for geologic features are listed below in "GEOLTABLE" under "Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation". All ARC/INFO-generated and author-generated attributes are described in further detail under "Detailed_Description". More complete descriptions are provided in published reports by Soller (especially 1992, 1993a, and 1994). On the printed version of this map, codes 205-206 and 207-211 are combined into a single thickness category.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    Contents of GEOLTABLE:
    CODE DESCRIPTION 
    0 no data
1 contact between sediment units at the land surface
2 contact between areas of patchy and continuous sediment
3 contact in Delaware Valley where glacial origin uncertain
4 contact between sediment unit and unmapped areas under water
5 arbitrary extent of mapped area
7 boundary between no data and mapped or water areas
101 coarse-grained stratified sediment
102 fine-grained stratified sediment
103 till
104 patchy Quaternary sediment
105 exposed bedrock or sediment not of glacial origin
106 organic-rich sediment
107 water where no geologic data are shown
201 Quaternary sediment 0-50 ft thick
202 Quaternary sediment 50-100 ft thick
203 Quaternary sediment 100-200 ft thick
204 Quaternary sediment 200-400 ft thick
205 Quaternary sediment 400-600 ft thick
206 Quaternary sediment 600-800 ft thick
207 Quaternary sediment 800-1000 ft thick
208 Quaternary sediment 1000-1200 ft thick
209 Quaternary sediment 1200-1400 ft thick
210 Quaternary sediment 1400-1600 ft thick
211 Quaternary sediment more than 1600 ft thick
300 areas enclosed by mapped veneer or buried units
301 significant mapped area of buried coarse-grained strat. sed.
302 veneer of coarse-grained stratified sediment
303 significant mapped area of buried fine-grained strat. sed.
304 veneer of fine-grained stratified sediment
305 significant mapped area of buried till
306 veneer of till
307 veneer of loess more than 20 ft thick
308 veneer of organic-rich sediment
401 drumlins and other elliptical landforms shaped by moving ice
402 isolated outcrops of pre-Woodfordian drift in Pennsylvania
403 location of selected lithologic logs -- see Soller (1993a, 1994, and in press a,b)
404 maximum extent of glacial ice
405 maximum extent of glacial ice during the Late Wisconsinan
406 maximum extent of Late Wisconsinan marine transgression
407 approximate maximum extent of Late Wisc. marine transgression
408 projected position of Late Wisc. lake levels in MT and ND
    QTHICK.PAT
    An ARC/INFO-generated polygon attribute table. (Source: ARC/INFO Version 7.04)

    QTHICK.PAT
    Total thickness of Quaternary sediments (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    Range of values
    Minimum:201
    Maximum:206

    AREA
    Area of poly/region in square coverage units (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    ValueDefinition
    Positive real numbersArea of poly/region in square coverage units

    PERIMETER
    Perimeter of poly/region in coverage units (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    ValueDefinition
    Positive real numbersPerimeter of poly/region in coverage units

    QTHICK#
    Internal feature number (Source: Assigned and maintained by ARC/INFO)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:65535

    QTHICK-ID
    User-assigned feature number (Source: Arbitrary number assigned by originator)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:65535

    CODE
    Total thickness of Quaternary sediments (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    ValueDefinition
    201Quaternary sediment thickness between 0 and 50 feet
    202Quaternary sediment thickness between 50 and 100 feet
    203Quaternary sediment thickness between 100 and 200 feet
    204Quaternary sediment thickness between 200 and 400 feet
    205Quaternary sediment thickness between 400 and 600 feet
    206Quaternary sediment thickness between 600 and 800 feet
    207Quaternary sediment thickness between 800 and 1000 feet
    208Quaternary sediment thickness between 1000 and 1200 feet
    209Quaternary sediment thickness between 1200 and 1400 feet
    210Quaternary sediment thickness between 1400 and 1600 feet
    211Quaternary sediment thickness more than 1600 feet

    SOURCE
    Abbreviated citation of source map (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    ValueDefinition
    USGS MAP I-1970Abbreviation of the source of the feature

    QTHICK.AAT
    An ARC/INFO-generated arc attribute table (Source: ARC/INFO Version 7.04)

    QTHICK.AAT
    Thickness contour values (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    Range of values
    Minimum:-1
    Maximum:6

    FNODE#
    Internal number of from-node (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:65535

    TNODE#
    Internal number of to-node (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:65535

    LPOLY#
    Internal number of poly to left of arc (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:65535

    RPOLY#
    Internal number of poly to right of arc (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:65535

    LENGTH
    Length of arc in coverage units (Source: Assigned by ARC/INFO)

    ValueDefinition
    Positive real numbersLength of arc in coverage units

    QTHICK#
    Internal feature number (Source: Assigned and maintained by ARC/INFO)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:65535

    QTHICK-ID
    User-assigned feature number (Source: Arbitrary number assigned by originator)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:65535

    TCONT
    Thickness contour value (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    ValueDefinition
    -1Arc is the map edge or a lake border
    0 to 1600Thickness contour, in feet

    TCONTMN
    Lowest thickness contour, where contours are stacked one upon another (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    ValueDefinition
    -1Where thickness contours are not stacked
    0 to 1600Lowest thickness contour, where contours are stacked

    SOURCE
    Abbreviated citation of source map (Source: USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D)

    ValueDefinition
    USGS MAP I-1970Abbreviation of the source of the feature

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

    Content and structure of all files defined and coordinated by David R. Soller. Digital cartography for geology files by: Patricia H. Packard and David R. Soller (assisted by Kenneth J. Lanfear, Cynthia M. Crampsy, Leslie W. McElroy, Teresa A. Pitts, Susan D. Price, and Will Stettner (all usgs)) Digital cartography for base map files by: Wai-See Moy and David R. Soller (assisted by Patricia H. Packard)
    NOTE 1: contributors to individual quadrangles or data files are not specified. NOTE 2: persons assisting with geology files are listed alphabetically after the first contributor (K.J. Lanfear).

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    David R. Soller
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 908
    Reston, VA 20192
    USA

    (703) 648-6907 (voice)
    (703) 648-6937 (FAX)
    drsoller@usgs.gov

    Contact_Instructions: Prefer E-Mail Contact

Why was the data set created?

This map is a regional overview and is intended to supplement the more detailed work on which it is based. Particularly in populated areas, detailed mapping is vital to site-specific planning. In contrast, regional maps such as this serve to place local, detailed mapping in context, to permit the extrapolation of data into unmapped areas, and to depict large-scale regional geologic features and patterns that are beyond the scope of local, detailed mapping. This map is also intended as a regional planning document that can assist in setting priorities for areas in need of more detailed mapping and assessment. It can be used to support regional decisionmaking on societal issues such as susceptibility of ground water in aquifers to contamination from surface-applied chemicals (see Soller and Berg, 1992). The map has also been used to help locate earthquake liquefaction features, by providing the regional framework needed to prioritize areas for search.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

    Soller (1993a) (source 1 of 1)
    Soller, D,R., 1993, Map showing the thickness and character of Quaternary sediments in the glaciated United States east of the Rocky Mountains--Northeastern States, the Great Lakes, and parts of southern Ontario and the Atlantic offshore area (east of 80deg 31min West longitude): U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1970-A, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.

    Type_of_Source_Media: paper
    Source_Scale_Denominator: 1000000
    Source_Contribution:
    All geologic data layer information contained in this dataset was obtained from USGS MAP I-1970-A,-B,-C,-D.

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 1998 (process 1 of 1)
    This file is derived from a conventionally compiled map prepared in the following manner. Source map information, in paper format, was photographically resized to compilation scale for interpretation and manual compilation. The map base was composed of hand-mosaicked 4-degree-by-6-degree 1:1,000,000-scale quadrangles from the International Map of the World Series (Lambert Conformal Conic projection) or the Army Map Service (Modified Polyconic projection of the International Map of the World). To facilitate map printing, map data were divided into quadrangles for digitization, preparation of files in geographic information system format, and computer generation of printing negatives, according to techniques described in Soller and others (1990). To facilitate other uses for the digital map files, they were reprocessed for public release on this CD-ROM, USGS Digital Data Series DDS-38.

    Data sources used in this process:

    • Soller (1993a)

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

    Reliability of map data varies by State and is addressed in greater detail in USGS Bulletin 1921, "Text and References To Accompany 'Map Showing the Thickness and Character of Quaternary Sediments in the Glaciated United States East of the Rocky Mountains'"(Included on this CD-ROM). Geologic data were compiled prior to 1987. Therefore, newer mapping may alter some information shown on this map. The map is intended for use at the scale of its compilation (1:1,000,000).

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    Only sparse information on the nature of buried geologic units is available, so the file "qsubsurf" is far from comprehensive.

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    Note that the "qsurf" and "qveneer" files both show texture and origin of surficial geologic units; the distinction between the files is based on estimated thickness of the unit, quality and completeness of source information, and the cartographic design requirements of the paper map.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints: None

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    USGS Information Services
    Box 25286, Denver Federal Center
    Denver, CO 80225

    1-888-ASK-USGS (voice)
    303-202-4693 (FAX)

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    USGS DDS-38

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    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 USGS as to the accuracy of the data and related materials or 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 these data, software, or related materials.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 15-Jan-1998
Metadata author:
David R. Soller
U.S. Geological Survey
Geologist
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive MS 908
Reston, VA 20192
USA

(703) 648-6907 (voice)
(703) 648-6937 (FAX)
drsoller@usgs.gov

Contact_Instructions: Prefer E-Mail Contact
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

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