The use of soil surveys to aid in geologic mapping with an emphasis on the Eastern and Midwestern United States

After soil science became established as a scientific discipline, there has been a continued interplay between geologists and soil scientists, both fields benefiting from advancements made by the other. There is strong agreement between preliminary geology maps created from soil maps and traditional geology maps. Despite the results obtained when using soil maps to create surficial geology maps, there is a need for more quantitative studies to assess the degree of compliment between soil-based maps and traditional geology maps, expansion of the technique into a wider range of geologic and climatic environments, and more research in locations that use classification systems other than Soil Taxonomy.

Surficial Geology of Iowa

This raster is a highly detailed (delineations made at the 1:15,840 scale) map of geologic materials at the surface, covering the entire state of Iowa. The map is based on the interpretations of the US Soil Survey, which regularly needs to assess the soil parent material in their mapping activities. The raster was generated from …Continue reading “Surficial Geology of Iowa”

Comparison of surficial geology maps based on soil survey and in depth geological survey

Despite the widespread availability of relatively detailed soil maps in the USA, few areas have a surficial geology map published with as much spatial detail. This apparent gap between disciplines calls to question the accuracy of soil maps to represent the spatial distribution of surficial geologic materials. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to test the agreement between maps from these two sources.

Pre-settlement Water Regimes of Iowa Wetlands

This raster provides an estimate of the wetland water regimes in Iowa, prior to the implementation of drainage systems. These estimates are based on the spatial information in the USDA-NRCS gSSURGO database and soil series characteristics described in the official soil series descriptions (OSD). Soil series characteristics were matched as best as possible to the …Continue reading “Pre-settlement Water Regimes of Iowa Wetlands”

Physiography of the Des Moines Lobe

This GIS package contains a pair of spatial data sets that have been generated for the purpose of studying the physiography of the Des Moines Lobe landform region. One is a surficial geology map of the Des Moines Lobe and surrounding areas. This raster was generated from the USDA-NRCS gSSURGO spatial database. The attributes were extracted from …Continue reading “Physiography of the Des Moines Lobe”

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