LibGuides: Geology: Map Collection

Geological Map Collection

The Tobin International Geological Map Collection of the Walter Geology Library consists of more than 47,000 maps, atlases and map texts on geology and related subjects worldwide, but is particularly strong in maps of Texas and select U.S. and foreign areas of geologic interest. With the Map Room of the Perry-Castañeda Library, it serves as a federal map depository for U.S. Geological Survey maps, having an almost complete set of the series maps published by this agency.

Resources

Search the Library Catalog for Printed Maps
Ex: [name of area] ; then limit results by Resource Type = "Maps" in left side menu.

This will find only print maps, while excluding books and other publications that may contain maps. It's a more precise search if you're only looking for flat or folded maps in the collection.

When you do a more general catalog search for particular places and time periods, you will find books and other publications that may contain maps. In most cases, the descriptive catalog records will indicate the presence of maps in a publication.

catalog snapshot

Search in GeoRef to find a citation
Like the catalog, the GeoRef database can be useful in finding publications about the geology of a specific area, many of which contain maps.

Browse the Map section.

In flat map drawers by geographic area. Maps of a given area may be in the flat map drawers, or in the filing cabinets. For browsing a given area, the flat map drawers are best because each drawer has a list showing contents, which is kept on top of the maps. Maps are arranged geographically, following the general outline of the Library of Congress G (Geography) classification schedule.
In the Geologic Atlas of Texas 1:250,000 in filing cabinets. The Bureau of Economic Geology's Geologic Atlas of Texas 1:250,000 set, in the distinctive orange envelopes, located in the Texas filing cabinets (little orange envelopes on the drawers) Immediately following the Atlas is the Bureau's GQ- series of (mostly older) geology maps of smaller areas of Texas, with drawers marked by a little brown envelope. There is a list of the GQ- series titles at the beginning of the drawer.
In the U.S. filing cabinets under G 3701 C5 svar (name of state). At the beginning of the U.S. filing cabinets are paper map indexes. Indexes to geologic mapping for each state are found under the call no. G 3701 C5 svar (name of state) They are out of date (latest 1980's) but can be useful in locating maps of a given area.
In the Austin, Texas topographic map drawer. Sheets are arranged alphabetically by title (quadrangle name), regardless of scale. A full collection of United States topographic maps is located at the PCL.

Remove map(s) from the flat map drawers.

Pull the drawer out to its fullest extent, and if the desired map is close to the top of the stack, roll back the upper maps and remove it. If it is close to the bottom of the drawer, particularly if the drawer is heavily loaded, remove the maps on top in small batches, stacking each batch crosswise to the one below, so that when they are refilled, they will be in order. There is a map scanner at located at a computer station and a drafting table located in the map room.

Consult with Geology Library staff for further assistance.

Pointers to print map collections, online resources, and GIS data that are curated at the university, city, and state level.

Geologic Atlas of Texas (Texas Water Development Board)
Displays various geological features and shows the surface extent of geologic formations (and aquifers).
Central Texas Geology Index Map
Index map for original and collarless versions of geologic maps for central Texas compiled in TIF and KML format and georeferenced for the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District Central Texas GIS Geologic Map Project. Material originally compiled by Dr. Mark Helper in cooperation with the Walter Geology Library.
Bureau of Economic Geology Store
Catalog of BEG maps of all types, available for purchase.
UT Libraries GeoData Portal
Developing site offering a wide variety of data types available for download, including georeferenced scanned maps from the PCL Map Collection, vector datasets developed from collections in the Alexander Architectural Archives, geospatial data from the Benson Latin American Collection, and more.
PCL Map Collection
50,000+ scanned maps in the public domain, including topographic.

Other Austin Sources

Texas State Agencies

Web Resources

USGS National Geologic Map Database
Catalog and repository of over 100,000 publications covering geology, hazards, earth resources, geophysics, geochemistry, geochronology, paleontology, and marine geology. Search the catalog, or use stratigraphy (Geolex), MapView, or TopoView.
USGS National Geospatial Program: Small-Scale Data
USGS National Map
The National Map is a collaborative effort among the USGS and other Federal, State, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information. The National Map is a suite of products and services that provide access to base geospatial information to describe the landscape of the United States and its territories.
Geologic Atlas of the United States
"A set of 227 folios published by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1894 and 1945. Each folio includes both topographic and geologic maps for each quad represented in that folio, as well as description of the basic and economic geology of the area." (Texas A&M Library)
USGS Topographic Maps
The USGS took over responsibility for mapping the country in 1879 and has been the primary civilian mapping agency of the United States ever since.
USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer
178,000 legacy quadrangles dating from 1882 to 2006. Previously available only as printed lithographic copies, now available as web viewable images and as free, downloadable high-resolution georeferenced GeoTIFF images for use in web mapping applications and GIS.
Geographic Names Information System
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)
Source of satellite information on land changes.

Print Maps in the Geology Library Collection

Search for maps in the library catalog by title, author, or series. Descriptions of the map series are listed in this guide under Series Descriptions and in the USGS Publications Warehouse.

Topographic Maps

Topographic maps of Texas are located in the map cases in the Southeast corner of the library. Topographic maps are shelved alphabetically by series or quadrangle name. The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection houses topographic maps of the United States (including Texas) and foreign countries. Digitized versions can be found in United States 1:250,000.

USGS Maps

USGS Maps are shelved by series in the green, vertical cabinets. Call numbers follow this form: MAP USGS [series abbreviation] [number]

Series	Abbreviation
Antarctic Geologic Map	A
Circum-Pacific Map	CP
Coal Investigations Map	COAL or C
Folios of the Geologic Atlas	GF
Geological Quadrangle Map	GQ
Geophysical Investigations	GP
Hydrologic Investigations Atlas	HA
Hydrologic Unit Maps	HUM
Land Use and Land Cover Map	L
Mineral Investigations Resource Map	MR
Miscellaneous Field Studies Map	MF
Missouri Basin Study	MB
Oil and Gas Investigations Charts	OC
Oil and Gas Investigations Map	OM
Scientific Investigations Map	I (SIM)
Topographic	None

Regional Geological Survey Map Services

Arizona Geological Survey Map Services
California Geologic Map
CA Dept. of Conservation/CA Geological Survey.
Colorado Geological Survey: GIS and Maps
Louisiana Geological Survey - Maps and Atlases
New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources
New Mexico Geologic Map Search
New Mexico State Land Office
Oklahoma Geological Survey Maps

Deep Time Maps

Deep Time Maps
Collection of paleogeographic maps showing the landscapes and oceans of ancient Earth through hundreds of millions of years of geologic time. (Free thumbnails for browsing; JPG files for sale.) UT Austin offers six DTM series for affiliated users to log in and view.

Miscellaneous

Aerial Photography Field Office
U.S. Department of Agriculture- Farm Service Agency has over 10,000,000 images, 1955-present.
AfricaMap
Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University.
Building the Digital Earth
Cornell GIS Interactive Map Server.
Canada Open Maps
Open Maps provides access to the Government of Canada’s geospatial information.
Natural Resources Canada - Maps
Maps, imagery, geodetic and geospatial tools, and publications.
Color Landform Atlas of the US (Johns Hopkins APL)
Very dated.
Consol Energy Mine Map Preservation Project (Univ of Pittsburgh)
Faunmap
Electronic database for the late Quaternary distribution of mammal species in the U.S. (Illinois State Museum)
GeoSpatial Training and Analysis Cooperative (GeoSTAC)
GeoSTAC currently contains 123GB of data and six spatial analysis tools.
Himalaya Atlas of Aerial Panoramas
Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York (UNH)
Irish Historical Geological Maps
Displays a range of historical geological maps, sections and memoirs of Ireland, mostly from the 19th century.
National Center for Environmental Information - Maps and Geospatial Products
Map viewers and data visualization tools covering marine geology, natural ecosystems, natural hazards, and climate monitoring. (NOAA)
OneGeology
Geological map of the world with over 480 datasets.
PALEOMAP Project
Plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea. Very dated site with some broken links. (C. Scotese)
Spain: Cartografía del IGME
Map portal of the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España.
TerraServer
Subscription database of maps and aerial photographs of the United States.
US Forest Service Maps

Historical Maps

Cal State Northridge Map Collection
California Historic Topographic Maps
UC Berkeley provides web access to the topographic quadrangles produced by the US Geological Survey between 1885 and 2003. It includes selected editions of 7.5- & 15-minute quads covering the San Francisco Bay Area and the Monterey Bay regions.
David Rumsey Map Collection
The collection of over 150,000 maps focuses on rare 16th through 21st century maps of North and South America, as well as maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, wall maps, globes, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children's, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from about 1550 to the present.
Historic Cities
Department of Geography, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jewish National and University Library.
Library of Congress Maps
Map History - History of Cartography
A round-up of national and international digital projects concerning early mapping.
Mapdawg
Links to historic map collections.
MapFly
WebGIS catalog that allows you to search on a geographic basis 30,000 geothematic and historical maps held by the University of Padua.
Old Maps Online
Gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world.
Strange Maps: Cartographic Curiosities
Univ. of Georgia - Historical Maps Database
A collection of more than 1,000 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years, from the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century.
William Smith's Maps Interactive
An interactive database of digitized maps by William Smith. These include English county maps, geological sections, and versions of the map of England and Wales produced from 1815 onwards. (UKOGL)

Funding Support

The Tobin Fund was established in 1980 by a major donation from Tobin Research of San Antonio. The endowment provides all materials and support funds for the Geology Library's map collection, and has permitted the Geology Library to acquire some outstanding map materials and atlases.

(Note: While our map collection is named for the former firm that provided initial funding for the supporting endowment, the UT Libraries do not hold any historical Tobin aerial surveys or current GIS/mapping data that are used in the oil and gas exploration industry.)