alaska

Geoscience in Your State: Alaska

Interactive database for geologic maps of the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey hosts the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB). This interactive tool serves as a national archive for high-quality, standardized geologic maps created by the U.S. Geological Survey and state geological surveys.

The MapView section of the NGMDB displays geologic maps from across the country dating back to 1879. The database is searchable by address, and results can be narrowed further using scale and date filters.

Interactive database for topographic maps of the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey hosts topoView, an interactive database of the survey’s topographic maps.

The map is searchable by address, and clicking on any point on the map brings up topographic maps of the area dating back to 1879. Map results can be narrowed further using scale and date filters.

Clicking the “show” option will overlay the selected map onto the coordinates of topoView’s base map. Adjusting the map overlay transparency allows comparison of historical and present-day topography.

All maps in topoView are downloadable in multiple formats.

Interactive map of groundwater monitoring information in the United States

The National Ground-Water Monitoring Network compiles information from over 7,000 groundwater monitoring wells across the country, including Federal, State, and local groundwater monitoring networks. Although the image above only shows the contiguous United States, the interactive map also includes wells from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

USGS releases new assessment of oil and gas resources in Alaska’s North Slope, following annual lease sale

Drilling rig

On December 22, the USGS released a new assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). Just weeks before release of the USGS report, the Bureau of Land Management held its annual oil and gas lease sale for all available tracts in the NPR-A on December 6. The sale lasted less than 10 minutes and received only 7 bids.

Interactive map of hazardous waste cleanups in the United States

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides an interactive map of hazardous waste cleanups across the United States. The "Cleanups in My Community" map provides a huge amount of information on thousands of cleanups of many kinds. For every cleanup, users can access and download reports, assessments, compliance actions, and the EPA's assessment of the potential for any contaminated land to be used for renewable energy development.

EarthScope's Transportable Array now spans Alaska, the last frontier

EarthScope Logo

Seismic station A19K, it’s called, and it’s now at the edge of an abandoned airstrip far above the Arctic Circle. The nearest population center is 127 miles northeast in Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), the northernmost city in the United States. What a way to celebrate Earth Science Week, Oct. 8-14, 2017.

Read the full news release from NSF.

Interactive map of historical oil and gas production in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey provides an interactive map of historical oil and gas production in the United States from 1859 to 2005, including Alaska and Hawaii. In this map, the country is split into quarter-mile cells and the production status of all wells in that cell are aggregated for each time period.

The map can be filtered to show oil and gas production pre-1900, for each decade of the 20th century, and for 2000-2005.

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