Digital data set describing surficial geology in the conterminous

US 

Identification Information:

Citation: 

Citation Information: 

Originator: Clawges, Rick 

Originator: Price, Curtis 

Publication Date: 1999 

Title: Digital data set describing surficial geology in the conterminous US 

Edition: 1.0 

Geospatial Data Presentation Form: map 

Series Information: 

Series Name: Open-File Report 

Issue Identification: 99-77 

Publication Information: 

Publication Place: Rapid City, SD 

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey 

Online Linkage: http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?ofr99-77_geol75m 

Description: 

Abstract: This digital data set describes surficial geology of the conterminous United 

States. The data set was generated from a U.S. Geological Survey 1:7,500,000-scale 

map of surficial geology published as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Atlas 

map series. 

Purpose: This data set is a generalized representation of surficial geology in the 

conterminous United States and was created for use in the analysis of ground-water 

quality data on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by the U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) VOC National Synthesis 

Team. 

Supplemental Information: The source map for this data set is a map of surficial 

geology published as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Atlas map series 

(Hunt, 1979) Coastlines and political boundaries are modified from a digital version of 

U.S. Geological Survey 1:2,000,000 county boundaries (USGS, 1984). REVIEWS This 

electronic report was subjected to the same review standard that applies to all U.S. 

Geological Survey reports. Reviewers were asked to check the topological consistency, 

tolerances, attribute frequencies and statistics, projection, and geographic extent. The 

reviewers checked the metadata and a_readme.1st files for completeness and 

accuracy. REFERENCES Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), 1997, 

Arc/INFO 7.1.1 Help, Redlands, California, [on-line documentation]. Hunt, Charles D., 

1979, National Atlas of the United States of America--Surficial Geology: U.S. Geological

Survey, NAC-P-0204-75M-O, [map]. Lanfear, K.J., 1984, Digital map of counties and 

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county equivalents in the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey data 

available on the World Wide Web, accessed July 21, 1998, at URL 

http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?county2m NOTES Any use of trade, product, 

or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the 

U.S. Government. Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, 

U.S. Department of the Interior, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. 

Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of 

distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by 

the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of this data, software, or related materials. 

Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended 

to document the data set in nonproprietary form, as well as in ARC/INFO format, this 

metadata file may include some ARC/INFO-specific terminology. 

Time Period of Content: 

Time Period Information: 

Single Date/Time: 

Calendar Date: 1979 

Currentness Reference: The data is based on the a map by Hunt (1979). 

Status: 

Progress: Complete 

Maintenance and Update Frequency: None planned. 

Spatial Domain: 

Bounding Coordinates: 

West Bounding Coordinate: -127.87106262 

East Bounding Coordinate: -65.35692717 

North Bounding Coordinate: 48.2441996 

South Bounding Coordinate: 22.87753347 

Keywords: 

Theme: 

Theme Keyword Thesaurus: None 

Theme Keyword: surficial 

Theme Keyword: geology 

Theme Keyword: inlandWaters 

Place: 

Place Keyword Thesaurus: None 

Place Keyword: Conterminous 48 United States 

Access Constraints: None 

Use Constraints: None 

Point of Contact: 

Contact Information: 

Contact Person Primary: 

Contact Person: Curtis V. Price 

Contact Organization: U.S. Geological Survey 

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Contact Position: Physical Scientist 

Contact Address: 

Address Type: mailing address 

Address: 1608 Mountain View Rd 

City: Rapid City 

State or Province: South Dakota 

Postal Code: 57702 

Country: United States of America 

Contact Voice Telephone: 1-888-275-8747 

Contact Facsimile Telephone: (605) 355-4523 

Contact Electronic Mail Address: cprice@usgs.gov 

Contact Instructions: none 

Data Set Credit: Compilation of the data sets was supported by the National Water-Quality 

Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. The objectives of the NAWQA 

Program are to: (1) describe current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's 

freshwater streams, rivers, and aquifers, (2) describe how water quality is changing over 

time, and (3) improve the understanding of the primary natural and anthropogenic factors 

that affect water-quality conditions. National analysis of data, based on aggregation of 

comparable information obtained from across the United States, is a major component of the 

NAWQA Program. These data sets were created in support of NAWQA national data analysis 

activities. 

Security Information: 

Security Classification System: Public 

Security Classification: Unclassified 

Security Handling Description: None 

Native Data Set Environment: Operating System: dgux, 5.4R3.10, AviioN UNIX, ARC/INFO

version 7.1.1 

Data Quality Information: 

Logical Consistency Report: Polygon topology present. 

Completeness Report: This data set includes all of the surficial geology boundaries 

presented in Hunt (1979). 

Positional Accuracy: 

Horizontal Positional Accuracy: 

Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report: The linework was plotted on mylar 

and checked against the original separate on a light table. All linework matched 

within 1 millimeter. 

Vertical Positional Accuracy: 

Vertical Positional Accuracy Report: No tests performed, except a visual 

check to see how well the data set lines corresponded to those on the paper map.

Lineage: 

Source Information: 

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Source Citation: 

Citation Information: 

Originator: Charles B. Hunt, U.S. Geological Survey 

Publication Date: 1979 

Title: The National Atlas of the United States of America: Surficial 

geology 

Geospatial Data Presentation Form: map 

Publication Information: 

Publication Place: Reston, VA 

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey 

Source Scale Denominator: 7500000 

Type of Source Media: mylar 

Source Time Period of Content: 

Time Period Information: 

Single Date/Time: 

Calendar Date: 1979 

Source Currentness Reference: publication date 

Source Citation Abbreviation: none 

Source Contribution: geology boundaries and geology polygon attributes 

Source Information: 

Source Citation: 

Citation Information: 

Originator: Lanfear, K.J. 

Publication Date: 19840816 

Title: Counties and county equivalents in the conterminous United 

States 

Geospatial Data Presentation Form: map 

Publication Information: 

Publication Place: Reston, Virginia, USA 

Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey 

Online Linkage: http://water.usgs.gov/lookup/getspatial?ofr99-

77_geol75m 

Type of Source Media: online 

Source Time Period of Content: 

Time Period Information: 

Single Date/Time: 

Calendar Date: 19840816 

Source Currentness Reference: as of 1983 

Source Citation Abbreviation: county2m 

Source Contribution: US boundary and coastlines 

Process Step: 

Process Description: Original source material was a mylar separate of surficial 

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geology boundaries and tics provided by James Witmer of the U.S. Geological 

Survey in Reston, Virginia. The mylar separate then was scanned to create a twocolor tiff file at U.S. Geological Survey GIS laboratory in Denver, Colorado. 

Details of the scanning procedure follow: ascan Version 7.2 - 16-Dec-1992 V6000

(SCSI) output file = geology.tif creation date = 25-Jan-96 11:47:20 density = 

400 pixels / inch x (in) = 1.000 28.000 y (in) = 3.000 21.000 output file x pixel 

limits = 1 10800 output file y pixel limits = 1 7200 speed = 100 % scan line 

orientation = 4 (top left horizontal) output file size = 9720512 bytes scan time = 

112 seconds sensitivity = 155 10 0 min width = 0.000 bi-level compression type 

1 (uncompressed) ARC/INFO software and commands (ESRI, 1997) then were 

used to convert the image file to a coverage. ARC/INFO commands and modules 

are shown below in capitals. Step 1. Convert image to a grid using IMAGEGRID 

command. Step 2. Convert from raster to vector using GRIDLINE command and 

the following tolerances: thickness = .018, dangle = .01 and weed = .002. Step 

3. Set tolerances for the coverage to the following: fuzzy = .002, dangle = .002, 

nodesnap = .01, weed = .002, and tic_match = .005. Step 4. Remove 

extraneous arcs from coverage including tic marks and legend lines from scanned

image. Step 5. Transform coverage to Albers coordinates: Scale (X,Y)=

(190422.687,190730.033) Skew (degrees)=(0.039) Rotation (degrees)=(-0.019)

Translation=(-2508905.057,3384430.027) RMS Error (input,output)=

(0.002,313.795) Affine X = Ax + By + C Y = Dx + Ey + F A = 190422.677 B = 

192.898 C = -2508905.057 D = -63.547 E = 190729.979 F = 3384430.027 tic id 

input x input y output x output y x error y error ------ -------------- -------------- -

----------- ------------ 1 1.170 -12.186 -2288722.374 1059890.036 251.885 

144.651 2 1.370 -3.110 -2248342.323 2791386.719 -276.145 -158.583 3 

19.767 -4.360 1253984.253 2551463.021 291.588 167.451 4 21.248 -13.026 

1534880.079 898857.189 -267.328 -153.520 Step 6. Added United States 

boundary using coverage /home/vocgis/lib/pol/stategen, which is a generalized 

version of county2m coverage. Step 7. Clean up any intersect error or dangles. 

Step 8. Build topology. Step 9. Create labels and rebuild. Step 10. Assign 

attribute data to polygons. Step 11. Mylar plots were made to check linework 

against original separate. 

Process Date: 19960619 

Process Step: 

Process Description: Step 12. Used UNSPLIT in Arcedit to remove unnecessary 

pseudo nodes. Step 13. Rebuild topolgy Step 14. Copied coverage from DOUBLE 

to SINGLE precision and CLEANed. Used fuzzy tolerance of 0.920 and dangle 

length of 0.002. Step 15. Used RENODE to sequentially number nodes. 

Process Date: 19981028 

Spatial Data Organization Information: 

Direct Spatial Reference Method: Vector 

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Point and Vector Object Information: 

SDTS Terms Description: 

SDTS Point and Vector Object Type: Point 

Point and Vector Object Count: 2514 

SDTS Terms Description: 

SDTS Point and Vector Object Type: String 

Point and Vector Object Count: 4815 

SDTS Terms Description: 

SDTS Point and Vector Object Type: GT-polygon composed of chains 

Point and Vector Object Count: 2515 

Spatial Reference Information: 

Horizontal Coordinate System Definition: 

Planar: 

Map Projection: 

Map Projection Name: Albers Conical Equal Area 

Albers Conical Equal Area: 

Standard Parallel: 29.5 

Standard Parallel: 45.5 

Longitude of Central Meridian: -96 

Latitude of Projection Origin: 23 

False Easting: 0.00000 

False Northing: 0.00000 

Planar Coordinate Information: 

Planar Coordinate Encoding Method: coordinate pair 

Coordinate Representation: 

Abscissa Resolution: 0.92 

Ordinate Resolution: 0.92 

Planar Distance Units: METERS 

Geodetic Model: 

Horizontal Datum Name: North American Datum of 1927 

Ellipsoid Name: Clarke 1866 

Semi-major Axis: 6378206.4 

Denominator of Flattening Ratio: 294.98 

Entity and Attribute Information: 

Overview Description: 

Entity and Attribute Overview: There is a polygon attribute table associated with 

this file: GEOL75M.PAT: COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE N.DEC ALTERNATE 

NAME 1 AREA 8 18 F 5 9 PERIMETER 8 18 F 5 17 GEOL75M# 4 5 B - 21 GEOL75M-ID 4 

5 B - 25 GEOUNIT 9 9 C - 34 CODE 2 2 I - 36 SYMBOL 4 5 B - AREA is the area of the 

polygon in square meters PERIMETER is the perimeter of the polygon in meters 

GEOL75M# is a program-generated feature identity number GEOL75M-ID is a userDigital data set describing surficial geology in the conterminous US Page 6 of 10

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assigned feature identity number GEOUNIT is the code for geologic unit from Hunt 

(1979): si Sea islands cr Coral bm Backshore deposits pW Pre-Wisconsinan drift tg Till, 

or ground moraine ts Ice-laid deposits, like tg but mostly sand and silt ts/K,T Thin icelaid deposits, like ts but thin and discontinuous. Extensive exposure of underlying 

Cretaceous- and Tertiary-age formations mg Deposits of mountain glaciers w Gravel, 

sand and clay deposited by glacial streams adjacent to or downstream from temporary 

ice fronts al Floodplain and alluvium gravel terraces fg Fan gravels fs Fan sands osg 

Pliocene-age and older stream deposits on the Great Plains l Lake deposits s Sand 

sheets, mostly with dunes or sand mounds at surface s/osg Sand sheets on sandy and 

gravelly Ogallala Formation in southern Great Plains wl Wisconsinan loess es Deeply 

weathered loess b Basalt br Bedrock rsh Micaceous residuum without much quartz; 

clay, mostly kaolinite rgr Residuum with abundant quartz; much less mica than rsh, but

equal to clay rga Clay residuum with little mica or quartz; mostly massive kaolinitic clay

rls Red clay, massive clay that is generally kaolinitic rlc Cherty red clay; similar to rls, 

but with chert from the parent rock rtr Residuum on Triassic-age formations; depths 

less than most other saprolite, reddish color, largely inherited from from parent rock rs 

Sandy residuum, derived by intensive weathering of sandstone formations. Sand locally

is in dunes rc Clay residuum that swells when wet; developed by weathering of poorly 

consolidated shale, containing the clay mineral montmorillonite, generally less than 10 

feet rl Loam; texture variable, ranging from sand to clay, mostly non-swelling clay 

mineral, kaolinite; otherwise similar to rc rg Intensively weathered upper Tertiary- and 

Quaternary-age gravels; thickness generally less than 30 feet, distribution not 

completely known rph Phosphatic clay; poorly sorted clay and phosphate pebbles or 

nodules in sandy matrix. Thickness 10 to 50 feet, commonly overlain by loose sand. 

Major source of phosphate fertilizer rsi Sandy or silty residuum; probably includes 

loess. Depth generally less than 10 feet ls Silt on limestone; probably includes 

considerable loess; extensive bare rock ss Sandy ground; mostly on poorly 

consolidated sandstone formations sh Shaley or sandy ground; on mixed sandstone 

and shale formations; where shaley, contains considerable swelling clay gyp Sandy 

gypsiferous ground; many sinks, local dunes; vegetation scanty or lacking where there 

is much gypsum or other salt c Clayey ground on weathered Permian- and/or Triassicage red beds m Marshes, swamps, peat deposits; only locally thicker than 12 feet gp 

Sandy coastal ground with organic layer over a shallow water table, ground water 

podsols co/ss,sh Sandy and stony colluvium derived mostly from sandstone and shale 

co/ls Stony colluvium on limestone; considerable admixed silt, possibly of loess origin 

co/m Stony colluvium on metamorphic rocks; less silt and clay than in co/ls co/v 

Colluvium on volcanic rocks co/gr Bouldery and sandy colluvium on granitic rocks co/c 

Clayey and loamy colluvium; on poorly consolidated rocks on lee sides of Pacific Coast 

Ranges CODE is an assigned geologic unit number ranging from 1 to 45. SYMBOL is an 

assigned number for shading symbol that can be used with the SHADESET 

COLORNAMES and the POLYGONSHADES command in ARC/INFO's ARCPLOT module. 

Entity and Attribute Detail Citation: none 

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Distribution Information: 

Distributor: 

Contact Information: 

Contact Organization Primary: 

Contact Organization: U.S. Geological Survey 

Contact Position: Ask USGS - Water Webserver Team 

Contact Address: 

Address Type: mailing 

Address: 445 National Center 

City: Reston 

State or Province: VA 

Postal Code: 20192 

Contact Voice Telephone: 1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS) 

Contact Electronic Mail Address: 

http://water.usgs.gov/user_feedback_form.html 

Distribution Liability: Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, 

U.S. Department of the Interior, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the U.S. 

Geological Survey as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution

shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. 

Geological Survey in the use of this data, software, or related materials. Any use of trade, 

product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by 

the U.S. Government. 

Standard Order Process: 

Digital Form: 

Digital Transfer Information: 

Format Name: Export 

Format Information Content: Full coverage 

File Decompression Technique: zipped 

Transfer Size: 1 

Digital Transfer Option: 

Online Option: 

Computer Contact Information: 

Network Address: 

Network Resource Name: 

http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-

77_geol75m.e00.gz 

Network Resource Name: 

http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-

77_geol75m.e00.zip 

Digital Form: 

Digital Transfer Information: 

Format Name: DLG 

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Format Information Content: Full coverage 

File Decompression Technique: zipped 

Transfer Size: 1 

Digital Transfer Option: 

Online Option: 

Computer Contact Information: 

Network Address: 

Network Resource Name: 

http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-

77_geol75m.dlg.tgz 

Network Resource Name: 

http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-77_geol75m.dlg.zip

Digital Form: 

Digital Transfer Information: 

Format Name: SDTS 

Format Information Content: Full coverage 

File Decompression Technique: zipped 

Transfer Size: 1 

Digital Transfer Option: 

Online Option: 

Computer Contact Information: 

Network Address: 

Network Resource Name: 

http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-

77_geol75m.sdts.tgz 

Network Resource Name: 

http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-

77_geol75m.sdts.zip 

Fees: None. This dataset is provided by USGS as a public service. 

Metadata Reference Information: 

Metadata Date: 20041108 

Metadata Contact: 

Contact Information: 

Contact Organization Primary: 

Contact Organization: U.S. Geological Survey 

Contact Position: Ask USGS -- Water Webserver Team 

Contact Address: 

Address Type: mailing 

Address: 445 National Center 

City: Reston 

State or Province: VA 

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Postal Code: 20192 

Contact Voice Telephone: 1-888-275-8747 (1-888-ASK-USGS) 

Contact Electronic Mail Address: http://answers.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/gsanswers?

pemail=h2oteam&subject=GIS+Dataset+ofr99-77_geol75m 

Metadata Standard Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata 

Metadata Standard Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998 

ESRI Metadata 

Creation Date: 20100122 

Creation Time: 07154800 

Published Document ID: {C432E588-CDFB-4CE3-5070-4870290BF0F9} 

(PubSourceCd):0 

Modification Date: 20051004 

Modification Time: 07154800 

(issecured):false 

(resourceType):002 

(primaryOnlink):http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/ofr99-77_geol75m.e00.gz 

Close

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