One world, one map of what lies beneath

Cooking up a new map of the world
Within the OneGeology project, each country’s geological survey follows the directions of a guidebook dubbed the “Cookbook” and deposits map data on its own Web server or on an associated “buddy” server linked to a common portal in Orleans, France.

In the coming months and years, more sophisticated searches will be available through the portal, along with three-dimensional and even four-dimensional geological models, the latter of which will include the element of time. The site is also accelerating the development of a common Web language specific to geology, known as Geoscience Markup Language, which could allow programmers to incorporate the data into scores of other online applications.

The Minnesota and U.S. Geological Surveys, among the roughly 90 surveyors contributing to OneGeology, have long charted out rock formations to assist engineers and officials with state and national projects. But with the geologic information now available digitally, Lyttle said, anyone can easily download a layer of relevant information, like a county zoning board trying to restrict new home construction over sinkholes or areas susceptible to landslides. With a common computer language, tools and standards, Jackson agreed, previously inaccessible data can be integrated into a seamless whole no matter where the location.

A collaboration among Afghani, U.S. and British geologists, for example, yielded the first-ever digital geological map of Afghanistan. When geologists returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban, the whole of the country’s geological map collection “could fit onto a kitchen table,” Jackson said, “and some of it was covered with AK-47 bullet holes.” A color-coded map on the OneGeology site now details the country’s bedrock stratigraphy and age as well as its major fault lines.

As for the color codes, some of the conventions date all the way back to 1815, when British surveyor William Smith first produced a hand-tinted geological map. England’s famous White Cliffs of Dover still show up as green streaks despite their chalky composition, for instance.

A more global view reveals that the green-coded chalk formations extend beyond the British Channel well into France. In OneGeology's map, as well as on many other versions, West Virginia’s coalfields appear as more somber grays. In northern Italy, a horizontal strip of pale yellow defines the Po Valley and its relatively recent sediments that have swept down the Alps. And in Sicily and Japan, angry red dots denote rocks of volcanic origin.

The evidence for these identifications may come in the form of bore holes drilled deep into the ground, naturally exposed bedrock, or even a new highway that cuts into a hillside. As a young field geologist, Jackson said he visited graveyards so he could peer at the exposed layers within six-foot-deep plots otherwise covered in grass. But even with the evidence in hand, he said, “no two geologists will agree on the interpretations.”

With the global initiative as a guide, however, greater access to varying opinions could help color researchers’ thinking about their own patch of ground.

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