The 'Australian Antarctic Territory coastline 2003' dataset is a digital vector representation of the coastline of Antarctica, between 45 to 160 degrees east, based on both the edge of permanent ice and grounding line, derived by means of remote sensing interpretation.

A 'proof of concept' methodology over a test area was carried out to compare a number of complementary remote sensing techniques, including interferometry and airborne ice radar profiling, to confirm validation of grounding line as mapped from Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery. This methodology concept then served to validate grounding line locations elsewhere along the coast of the AAT.

The National Mapping Division of Geoscience Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division developed this dataset as a joint project.

Where available, Australian Antarctic Division supplied large-scale vector data of various areas around the AAT, which were included as part of the main coastline dataset. These included:

• Holme Bay 1:25,000 GIS dataset
• Larsemann Hills - Mapping from aerial photography captured February 1998
• Rauer Group 1:50000 Topographic GIS Dataset
• Vestfold Hills Topographic GIS Dataset
• Windmill Islands 1:50000 Topographic GIS Dataset
• Cape Denison and McKellar Islands GIS dataset from Ikonos satellite imagery

Refer to the metadata record for each of these datasets for further information.

The coastline dataset is comprised of three parts: one polygon coverage consisting of ice features, and another one consisting of coastal features. A third coverage consists of only island point features (islands too small to be shown as polygons).

This dataset supersedes the Australian Antarctic Territory Coastline 2001 dataset which is also part of SCAR's Antarctic Digital Database (ADD) version 4 and version 5. It replaces data digitised from Landsat 4 and 5, with that from Landsat 7 ETM+, because of its more reliable positional accuracy and more recent acquisition.

The Australian Antarctic Territory Coastline 2001 dataset and metadata record have been archived. Please contact the Australian Antarctic Data Centre if you would like a copy of this data and metadata.

The map and descriptions offer information that may be used for: land-use planning (e.g. selecting land fill sites, greenbelts, avoiding geologic hazards), for finding aggregate resources (crushed rock, sand, and gravel), for study of geomorphology and Quaternary geology. Geologic hazards (e.g., landslides, swelling soils, heaving bedrock, and flooding) known to be located in, or characteristic of some mapped units, were identified.

Surficial deposits in the quadrangle partially record depositional events of the Quaternary Period (the most recent 1.8 million years). Some events such as floods are familiar to persons living in the area, while other recorded events are pre-historical. The latter include glaciation, probable large earthquakes, protracted drought, and widespread deposition of sand and silt by wind. At least twice in the past 200,000 years (most recently about 30,000 to 12,000 years ago) global cooling caused glaciers to form along the Continental Divide. The glaciers advanced down valleys in the Front Range, deeply eroded the bedrock, and deposited moraines (map units tbg, tbj) and outwash (ggq, gge). On the plains (east part of map), eolian sand (es), stabilized dune sand (ed), and loess (elb) are present and in places contain buried paleosols. These deposits indicate that periods of sand dune deposition alternated with periods of stabilized dunes and soil formation.

Thirty-nine types of surficial geologic deposits and residual materials of Quaternary age are described and mapped in the greater Denver area, in part of the Front Range, and in the piedmont and plains east of Denver, Boulder, and Castle Rock. Descriptions appear in the pamphlet that accompanies the map. Landslide deposits, colluvium, residuum, alluvium, and other deposits or materials are described in terms of predominant grain size, mineral or rock composition (e.g., gypsiferous, calcareous, granitic, andesitic), thickness of deposits, and other physical characteristics. Origins and ages of the deposits and geologic hazards related to them are noted. Many lines between geologic units on our map were placed by generalizing contacts on published maps. However, in 1997-1999 we mapped new boundaries, as well. The map was projected to the UTM projection. This large map area extends from the Continental Divide near Winter Park and Fairplay ( on the west edge), eastward about 107 mi (172 km); and extends from Boulder on the north edge to Woodland Park at the south edge (68 mi; 109 km).

Compilation scale: 1:250,000. Map is available in digital and print-on-demand paper formats. Deposits are described in terms of predominant grain size, mineralogic and lithologic composition, general thickness, and geologic hazards, if any, relevant geologic historical information and paleosoil information, if any. Thirty- nine map units of deposits include 5 alluvium types, 15 colluvia, 6 residua, 3 types of eolian deposits, 2 periglacial/disintegrated deposits, 3 tills, 2 landslide units, 2 glaciofluvial units, and 1 diamicton. An additional map unit depicts large areas of mostly bare bedrock.

The physical properties of the surficial materials were compiled from published soil and geologic maps and reports, our field observations, and from earth science journal articles. Selected deposits in the field were checked for conformity to descriptions of map units by the Quaternary geologist who compiled the surficial geologic map units.

FILES INCLUDED IN THIS DATA SET:

denvpoly: polygon coverage containing geologic unit contacts and labels. denvline: arc coverage containing faults. geol_sfo.lin: This lineset file defines geologic line types in the geologically themed coverages. geoscamp2.mrk: This markerset file defines the geologic markers in the geologically themed coverages. color524.shd: This shadeset file defines the cmyk values of colors assigned to polygons in the geologically themed coverages.

The Geographic Information Retrieval and Analysis System (GIRAS) was developed in the mid 70s to put into digital form a number of data layers which were of interest to the USGS. One of these data layers was the Hydrologic Units. The map is based on the Hydrologic Unit Maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey Office of Water Data Coordination, together with the list descriptions and name of region, subregion, accounting units, and cataloging unit. The hydrologic units are encoded with an eight- digit number that indicates the hydrologic region (first two digits), hydrologic subregion (second two digits), accounting unit (third two digits), and cataloging unit (fourth two digits).

The data produced by GIRAS was originally collected at a scale of 1: 250K. Some areas, notably major cities in the west, were recompiled at a scale of 1: 100K. In order to join the data together and use the data in a geographic information system (GIS) the data were processed in the ARC/INFO GUS software package. Within the GIS, the data were edge matched and the neatline boundaries between maps were removed to create a single data set for the conterminous United States.

This data set was compiled originally to provide the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) study units with an intermediate- scale river basin boundary for extracting other GIS data layers. The data can also be used for illustration purposes at intermediate or small scales (1:250,000 to 1:2 million).

[Summary provided by EPA]

An area roughly bounded by the Matusevich Glacier (157°, 30'E) in the west to the Tucker Glacier in the east and from 72° S north to the Oates Land coast was examined in reconnaissance fashion, including geological mapping and triangulation surveys. The southern limits mapped extended to the northern edge of the regions mapped in the 1962-63 season parties. Continuity of the geology was achieved between the western boundary of the Hallett geological map and the most eastern point, north of the Tucker Glacier. A total of 510 geological specimens were taken from 145 examined localities and used for age determination and bulk chemical analysis. The areas examined geologically include the Pennell Glacier to Arctic Institute Range, Central Rennick Glacier area, the east side of the Rennick Glacier to Lillie Glacier and from the Lillie Glacier to Tucker Glacier. More than 30 determinations of gravity were made during the course of the operation. 50 specimens of lichen, 14 soil and 10 moss samples were collected with precise positions located with reference to survey points. Biological observations while undertaking survey work was recorded also.

A seismotectonic map shows geologic, seismological, and other information that is pertinent to seismic hazards but previously was scattered among many sources. Afghanistan is part of the Eurasian plate. Afghan seismicity is driven by the relative northward movements of the Arabian plate past western Afghanistan at 33 mm/yr and of the Indian plate past eastern Afghanistan at 39 mm/yr or faster as both plates subduct under Eurasia. Afghanistan is laced with faults. Known faults large enough to have been mapped at a scale of 1:500,000 are least abundant in the stable North Afghan platform, more abundant in the accreted terranes of southern Afghanistan, and most likely to slip rapidly and generate earthquakes in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan in the broad transpressional plate boundary with the Indian plate. Crustal earthquakes are most abundant in and around northeastern Afghanistan as a result of the northward subduction of the Indian plate. Crustal earthquakes are somewhat less abundant in much of the transpressional plate boundary with India. Central and western Afghanistan are least seismically active. Beneath the Hindu Kush of northeastern Afghanistan and the Pamirs of adjacent Tajikistan, numerous mantle earthquakes occur within a steeply dipping, northeast-trending, tabular zone that is 700 km long and extends nearly to 300 km depth. Except for the Chaman fault that forms part of the western edge of the transpressional plate boundary in Pakistan and Afghanistan, published evidence for or against the activity of individual Afghan faults is sparse.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]