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National Geologic Map Database Gets a Face Lift


National Geologic Map Database Gets a Face Lift

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) partner to launch a redesigned database of standardized geoscience information, the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB).

In concert with the inaugural, multi-agency Geologic Map Day, the USGS and AASG are pleased to release a significantly updated infrastructure and a new “look” to the NGMDB. For example, the MapView features a visually compelling new interface that uses the latest technology to portray the Nation’s geologic maps published by the USGS, the state geological surveys, and many others. These maps, available from the NGMDB in several popular and easy to use formats, can be viewed in detail and downloaded from the various publishers.

“Students, resource professionals, government managers, and anyone else who needs easy access to large amounts of geologic information that is authoritative, quality controlled, and accurately georeferenced are going to appreciate the new map viewer for geoscience information,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “We are grateful to the enduring partnership with our colleagues at the many State geological surveys which has enabled coordinated data delivery to the public at large.”

This online resource, mandated by Congress as a State-Federal partnership, is the result of a 17-year joint venture. The mandate is to provide rapid access for resource managers, scientists, and the general public to well-documented and standardized geoscience information that can be used to support research, understanding, and decisions on a wide breadth of societal needs. With this redesign, the NGMDB further enhances its ability to fulfill that mission.

For more information, visit The National Geologic Map Database website

USGS Newsroom


More information

Parameter Value Description
Magnitude mb The magnitude for the event.
Longitude ° East Decimal degrees longitude. Negative values for western longitudes.
Latitude ° North Decimal degrees latitude. Negative values for southern latitudes.
Depth km Depth of the event in kilometers.
Place Textual description of named geographic region near to the event. This may be a city name, or a Flinn-Engdahl Region name.
Time 1970-01-01 00:00:00 Time when the event occurred. UTC/GMT
Updated 1970-01-01 00:00:00 Time when the event was most recently updated. UTC/GMT
Timezone offset Timezone offset from UTC in minutes at the event epicenter.
Felt The total number of felt reports
CDI The maximum reported intensity for the event.
MMI The maximum estimated instrumental intensity for the event.
Alert Level The alert level from the PAGER earthquake impact scale. Green, Yellow, Orange or Red.
Review Status Indicates whether the event has been reviewed by a human.
Tsunami This flag is set to "1" for large events in oceanic regions and "0" otherwise. The existence or value of this flag does not indicate if a tsunami actually did or will exist.
SIG A number describing how significant the event is. Larger numbers indicate a more significant event.
Network The ID of a data contributor. Identifies the network considered to be the preferred source of information for this event.
Sources A comma-separated list of network contributors.
Number of Stations Used The total number of Number of seismic stations which reported P- and S-arrival times for this earthquake.
Horizontal Distance Horizontal distance from the epicenter to the nearest station (in degrees).
Root Mean Square sec The root-mean-square (RMS) travel time residual, in sec, using all weights.
Azimuthal Gap The largest azimuthal gap between azimuthally adjacent stations (in degrees).
Magnitude Type The method or algorithm used to calculate the preferred magnitude for the event.
Event Type Type of seismic event.
Event ID Id of event.
Event Code An identifying code assigned by, and unique from, the corresponding source for the event.
Event IDS A comma-separated list of event ids that are associated to an event.

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