illinois

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.

Geologic Mapping to Empower Communities: Examples from the Great Lakes

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Less than one-third of the U.S. is mapped at the level of detail necessary to make informed planning decisions on a local scale concerning natural resources, natural hazards, infrastructure planning, and environmental stewardship. In the Great Lakes region, the Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition (GLGMC), a group including U.S. and Canadian state and provincial geological surveys, is producing detailed 3D geologic maps that are helping to provide decision-relevant information to Great Lakes state communities. Due to similar regional geology, these state surveys can work together, sharing their expertise and resources so that each can better address geologic issues in their area. Working with the communities, the GLGMC provides and makes maps that solve problems such as groundwater contamination and resource development.

Our speakers are:

This webinar is co-sponsored by the American Association of State Geologists, Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists, American Institute of Professional Geologists, Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society, Geological Society of AmericaNational Association of State Boards of GeologySociety for Sedimentary Geologyand the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ International Exposition and 88th Annual Meeting in Anaheim.

Resources to learn more:

Search the Geological Surveys Database for reports and factsheets about geologic mapping.

Geologic Mapping to Empower Communities: Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition

Interactive map of coal resources in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey's National Coal Resources Data System comes with an interactive map that provides a huge amount of information on the distribution, thickness, and classification of coal in the United States.

The interactive map contains over 250,000 data points, each typically representing a core sample, drill hole, or driller's log in a specific location. You can use the "Filter" tool to focus in on specific areas, or on data collected by specific organizations. Commonly available data include:

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.

Interactive map of wind farms in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey's interactive windFarm map provides detailed information on wind farms across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.

By zooming in on the map, users can find the precise location of tens of thousands of individual turbines, with information for each turbine including the owner, generating capacity, on-line date, type of tower, blade length, total height, and the confidence with which this information can be given.

Interactive map of tight oil and shale gas plays in the contiguous United States

The U.S. Energy Information Administration provides an interactive map showing the major tight oil and shale gas plays in the lower 48 states.

Tight oil and shale gas are two of the main types of "unconventional" oil and gas resources, and played an important role in the early-21st-century resurgence in domestic production of oil (beginning around 2009) and natural gas (beginning around 2006).

Visualization of water use in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey has produced a visualization that shows how much freshwater is used by each state for a variety of purposes. The visualization resizes the states according to how much freshwater they use.

The visualization shows freshwater withdrawals for thermoelectric power generation, public supply, irrigation, industrial use, or total withdrawals, with data available in 5-year intervals from 1950 to the present.

Click here to access the visualization of state water use.

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