Objectives:

The National Park Service is in the midst of a system-wide major inventorying and monitoring project to catalog baseline natural resource data. Among the "themes" are geology, soils, vegetation, and hydrography.

The main goals of the GRI are the following, for each natural resource NPS unit:
1) conduct an on-site scoping session to identify major geologic resource issues;
2) develop a park specific geologic bibliography;
3) compile a digital geologic map for use in a Geographic Information System (GIS); and
4) produce an encompassing report on each park's geology including the following components:

HISTORY OF GEOLOGIC EXPLORATION
GEOLOGIC SETTING
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY
UNIQUE GEOLOGIC FEATURES (caves, dunes, glaciers, etc.) PALEONTOLOGY
DISTURBED LANDS
GEOLOGIC HAZARDS AND ISSUES
GEOLOGIC DATA
REFERENCES
OTHER SECTIONS AS NEEDED (minerals, oil and gas issues, etc.)

This task is presently in the planning stage, with work to commence in the Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores in late 2001.