Historic Geologic Map And The First Mapmakers

By Matthew Perry


Most often, when people think of maps, GPS devices are often the first thing that comes to mind. Although, there are a number of other types of maps. In one case, a geological or geologic map pertains to showing geological aspects and locations on geographical maps.

In most cases, geologic data and strata are shown by colors and symbols to indicate a location based on land surface. Whereas, structural data such as plunges, lineages, folds and faults are shown with strikes and dips or trend marks. As a result, these markings often create a 3-D effect in the object.

Identifying and marking the surface area of the object can often be complicated. The use of contour lines can often help in illustrating the subsurface, surface and topographical areas. Whereas, when making such calculations, it is important to consider whether or not the object had been exposed to topsoil, backfill, bedrock or other related factors which could have effected the overall surface area.

Currently, the Turin Papyrus which continues to be well preserved is considered to be the earliest geological map on record. For, the papyrus dates back to 1150 BCE and contains gold and stone deposits from different areas of Egypt. As such, some theorists have suggested that the map may have been used during the building of the ancient pyramids. While a number of geologists, historians, philosophy enthusiasts, researchers, scientists and theologians believe this could be the case, there is no concrete proof as to the map and pyramids having any type of connection.

While the map dating back to 1150 BCE is the oldest, the oldest map of modern times is believed to be one which dates back to 1771, showing part of Auyergne. In this case, the map was made out of basalt while using prisms, balls and rocks to denote different geographical locations. While there have been a number of geological maps created over time, these are considered to be the most important in relation to the earliest days of the world.

The first of these maps to be produced in the United States was produced by William Maclure in 1809. Maclure, undertook the task of taking a geological survey of the country in 1807. During the survey, Maclure traveled and mapped each state and geological aspects of each which were part of the Union at that time.

It was a journey and survey which would take over two years to complete. Reports show that the surveyor and mapmaker crossed over the Allegheny Mountains at least, if not more than fifty times in the process. As a result, findings show the distribution of five classes of different rocks now known only to exist in the Eastern most states of present-day United States.

While most all geological maps are similar to the first one created by Maclure, many are now superimposed over topographical maps with a letter, symbol and color mark to describe the type of geological aspects in the area. While the color relates to the exposure of the bedrock from the surface, symbols are often used to show fossils, fault lines and other data. As such, these maps are used in a number of different areas including marine biology, geology, history, topology and earthquake sciences.




About the Author: