Fresh Digital Data Packages for 22 extant Digital Geologic Maps

/ 3 September 2020 / 0 Comments

We believe that preserving and updating our digital geologic maps and map data is the highest priority issue for the AZGS and the geologic community in Arizona. P.A. Pearthree, Arizona State Geologist

In the final days of August 2020, the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) released digital data packages (Table 1) for 22 extant Digital Geologic Maps (Table 2). Funding was provided by the US Geological Survey’s National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP) program grant # G19AP00099.

Over the past several years, the AZGS Geoinfomatics team has worked with AZGS geoscientists to add geodatabases and open source GIS data to our catalog of extant digital geologic maps (DGM). This multi-format digital data package increases the value and utility of DGMs for stakeholders in the mining industry, government, environmental, geologic hazard and hydrologic communities, and academia.

In Mar. 2019 and again in Dec. 2019, we released digital database packages for 20 extant DGMs; for a total of 40 enhanced DGM products. For lists and URL links to those DGM digital database packages, see Arizona Geology blog posts: ‘Enhancing AZGS Digital Geologic Maps with GIS Data Formats’ (Dec. 2019), and ‘The Next Generation of Digital Geologic Map Products’ (Mar. 2019). Digital copies of nearly all materials published by the AZGS and its predecessors between 1915 and 2020 are freely available at the AZGS Document Repository.

Table 1. Digital map package elements for revised and new DGM products.

PDF (map sheets and, if available, reports)
Open Source version of GIS data (geopackage .gpkg extension)
Google Earth KMZ
Simplified version of the geodatabase
GeMS V1.1 Geodatabase (GeMS was previously referred to as NCGMP09)

For those lacking GIS software, the PDF and Google Earth KMZ files may prove most useful. The PDF opens by double-clicking the URL link. To deploy the KMZ (Figure 1) simply download the ‘Goggle Earth-KMZ’ ZIP file, then extract the KMZ file and load it directly to Google Earth’s free software application.

We anticipate manufacturing and releasing digital data packages for 20 extant DGMs in 2021. All new DGM products will include the map package elements bulleted in Table 1.

Repository redundancy. AZGS map products and geologic reports will continue to be served from the AZGS Document Repository. To assure for long-term preservation, the University of Arizona Library Services built the Arizona Geological Survey Collection at the University of Arizona Campus Repository. This repository will mirror the existing AZGS repository; all new geologic map and reports will be hosted at both repositories. This redundancy of data archiving assures for long-term sustainability of more than a century of published geologic maps and reports.

Table 2. August 2020 release of 22 extant DGMs with geodatabases, opensource data, and *KMZ files. DGM serial numbers that are bolded have a fresh map layout.

DGM #	Quadrangle / County	Author(s)
DGM-05	West of Avra 7.5' Quadrangle, Pima County, Arizona, v. 2.0	Pearthree, P.A. and others
DGM-06	Cocoraque Butte 7.5' Quadrangle, Pima County, Arizona, v. 2.0	Pearthree, P.A. and Skotnicki, S.J.
DGM-10	Narrows 7.5' Quadrangle and the Southern Part of the Rincon Peak 7.5' Quadrangle, Eastern Pima County, Arizona, v. 2	Spencer, J.E. and others
DGM-12	Southern Part of the Vail 7.5' Quadrangle, Eastern Pima County, Arizona, v.2	Richard, S.M. and others
DGM-20	Desert Peak 7.5' Quadrangle, Southeastern Pinal County, Arizona, v. 2.0	Youberg, A. and others
DGM-35	McGrew Spring 7.5' Quadrangle, Cochise County, Arizona, v. 2	Shipman, T. C. and Ferguson, C. A.
DGM-36	Huachuca City 7.5' Quadrangle, Cochise County, Arizona, v. 3	Pearthree, P. A. and Youberg, A.
DGM-37	Buckeye NW 7.5' Quadrangle, Maricopa County, Arizona, v. 2	Field, J.J. and others
DGM-39	Daggs Tank 7.5' Quadrangle, Maricopa County, Arizona, v. 2	Pearthree, P.A. and others
DGM-44	Rincon Valley Area, Pima County, Arizona, v. 2	Richard, S.M. and others
DGM-46	Flatiron Mountain 7.5' Quadrangle, Maricopa County, Arizona, v. 2	Ferguson, C.A. and House, K.P.
DGM-54	Boundary Cone 7½' Quadrangle, Mohave County, Arizona v. 2	Richard, S.M. and others
DGM-63	Geological Map of the Antelope Peak NE 7.5’ Quadrangle and the southern 2/3rd of the Maricopa 7.5’ Quadrangle, Pinal County, Arizona, v 2	Pearthree, P.A. and others
DGM-70	Grasshopper Junction 7.5' Quadrangle, Mohave County, Arizona, v. 2	Ferguson, C.A. and others
DGM-71	Surficial Geologic Map and Flood Hazard Assessment, Rainbow Valley, Maricopa County, Arizona, v. 2	Pearthree, P.A. and others
DGM-72	Armenta Well 7 1/2' Quadrangle and part of the Gunsight 7 1/2' Quadrangle, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Pima County, Arizona	Young, J. J. and Pearthree, P.A.
DGM-73	Tillotson Peak 7 1/2' Quadrangle and part of the Mount Ajo 7 1/2 Quadrangle, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Pima County, Arizona	Pearthree, P.A. and others
DGM-74	Geologic Map of Parts of the Lukeville, Diaz Peak, South of Lukeville and Blankenship Wells 7 1/2' Quadrangles, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Pima County, Arizona	Youberg, A. and Pearthree, P.A.
DGM-145*	Mitchell Peak, Greenlee County, Arizona	Ferguson, C.A. and Enders, M.S.
DGM-146*	Coronado Mountain, Greenlee County, Arizona	Ferguson, C.A. and Enders, M.S.
DGM-147*	Clifton, Greenlee County, Arizona	Ferguson, C.A. and Enders, M.S.
DGM-148*	Copperplate Gulch, Greenlee County, Arizona	Ferguson, C.A. and Enders, M.S.

*DGMs-145 through -148 are derivative maps split off from DGM-01, “Digital geologic map and cross sections of the Clifton-Morenci area, Greenlee County, Arizona” by Ferguson and Enders (2000). Additionally, layouts (PDF files) for DGM-145 through DGM-148 are a work in progress and will be added to the Document Repository as completed.

Figure 1. Google Earth display of DGM-74 KMZ situated in south-central Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument adjacent to the US-Mexico frontier.

GE display of AZGS DGM KMZ

BACKGROUND. The Arizona Geological Survey launched the Digital Geologic Map (DGM) series in 2000. Since then we have published more than 145 digital maps; all are freely available for download at the Arizona Geological Survey Online Document Repository (http://repository.azgs.az.gov/).

Geologic maps display the distribution of bedrock and alluvium, lithologic age relationships, and geologic structures – faults, folds and lineaments. Since 1915, the AZGS and its predecessor agencies have conducted geologic mapping and research. The resulting geologic maps and reports (e.g., bulletins, circular and open-file reports) have informed mineral exploration, infrastructure planning and construction, and geologic hazard identification and mitigation.