Geologic Maps

Introducing the art of reading a geologic map.

Geologic maps of all 50 states.

Digital Earth promises a vast active global geographic database, a live 3D world map.

Reading the colors of geologic maps and the hundred-year-old argument over them.

The USGS colors are used in American geologic maps.

The basic color set used by European countries for geologic maps.

Who wants to be a geo-whiz? The trivia game: GEOLOGIC MAPS

GeoLex is a nearly complete database of U.S. geologic names, including both rock units and time units.

A good introduction to those information-packed maps from the U.S. Geological Survey.

What geologists need to know about townships, ranges and the Public Land Survey System.

This awesome online map collection includes many classic geologic maps from the last three centuries—just do a search for "geology."

Here's a table of the traditional colors used on old geologic maps, USGS and International standards.

The U.S. Geological Survey allows you to slice and dice map data for all surveyed planets and the Moon.

Follow this effort to put an increasingly detailed map of world geology online.

There's no better application for just browsing the globe, and many geologic entities are marked on it already.

This hot technology allows precise mapping of large tracts (for instance, ground zero in New York City) in just hours, like aerial photos but fully digital. The University of Florida does leading research with this tool.

A collaboration of the USGS, Smithsonian Institution and Naval Research Laboratory brings you an an excellent interactive world tectonic map.

Download worldwide data and maps of tectonic stress, or create your own custom map with the software on this site, run by the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

View the world's bathymetry and topography, anywhere you like, from Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.

The Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin serves up the latest satellite map of the global ocean temperature.

Click on it for gorgeous enlargements; includes the continents too. From UC San Diego.

This gravity map, compiled by satellite measurements, is subtly different from the topography map listed below. Compiled by Scripps Insitute of Oceanography, it's a better depiction of the seafloor in remote areas where ships rarely go. Click for detailed images and read the accompanying articles.