After
more than half a century, Montana has a new official geological map,
with more than triple the detail of the last edition.
The previous version of the state geological map, published in 1955,
included 76 distinct geological units. The map unveiled Monday in a ceremony
in the Capitol Rotunda features 324. A geological unit is a rock formation
that is distinctively recognizable from everything else around it and
extends over a distance, according to Ed Deal, state geologist and director
of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology at Montana Tech in Butte.
"I never thought I'd get so old that the geology changed," joked
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who said a framed version of the new map will
hang in the Montana Room in the governor's office.
Deal said the new map, roughly 50 by 80 inches and accommpanied by a
separate legend and detailed comb-bound brochure with additional information,
was authored by four mappers in the bureau.
"But they compiled the work of hundreds of mappers who did the more
detailed work over several decades," he said. "In 55 years
we've learned a lot more about the state, there's been more mapping and
better accessibility."
Speaking
to students from Helena High as well as the Project for Alternative
Learning at the unveiling, Schweitzer said understanding what
lies beneath the surface of the Treasure State has economic ramifications.
Schweitzer said he intends to ask the next Legislature to designate
one particular formation, the Madison limestone, as Montana's
official State Geologic Feature.
Evident in the Bridger Mountains, the Little Belts
and
in Lewis and Clark Caverns, Schweitzer said Madison limestone, the state's "most
important" feature, is also valuable as an underground aquifer and
as a source of trapped natural gas and oil. In the future, Schweitzer
said the formation may prove beneficial as a storage place for carbon
dioxide, or for "carbon sequestration," the trapping of the
greenhouse gas beneath the ground to slow global warming.
"We have some of the most remarkable geology in the world," Schweitzer
said. "The geology that's exposed today won't change during your
lifetime, but it will change during the next thousands and millions of
years."
It shouldn't be a half-century before the map is updated this time around.
Deal said that unl
ike
the previous edition, this map is stored electronically and printed on
demand, meaning the computer files can be updated as needed to accommodate
new information about the state's bedrock layers.
Copies of the map are available starting this morning for $60 (high-quality
plain paper) or $85 (glossy) through the Bureau of Mines and Geology
Web site at www.mbmg.mtech.edu.
Reporter John Harrington:406-447-4080
or john.harrington@helenair.com.
Leslie McCartney / The
Montana Standard
After 52 years, the state of Montana is getting a geologic update, thanks
to the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology.
 |
| Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology compilers
Jeffery Lonn and Susan Vuke display the new, just released, geologic
map of Montana. |
The newly released Geologic
Map of Montana — a color-coded treasure
of geologic data — was unveiled Monday in Helena for Gov.
Brian Schweitzer.
"The last new map was in 1955," said Ed Deal, director and
state geologist for the bureau, based at Montana Tech.
The new map's release coincides with National Earth Science Week, which
raises awareness of the importance of Earth sciences.
While it took longer than the expected to
complete, Deal said that actually worked
out in the bureau's favor, since new programs and equipment meant that
didn't have to pay another entity to publish the map.
"Technology has changed so much; now we have a 'plotter' and we
can produce it ourselves," Deal said.
New technology also allows the map to be updated easily and more frequently.
Years of work went into the project, from geologists in the field and
cartographers, to four bureau employees who compiled the voluminous information.
They include Susan Vuke, Karen Porter, Jeffrey Lonn and David Lopez.
The information — billions of years of geologic formations — will
be used by various people, including contractors, developers, consultants,
geologists, state agencies,
seismologists and students.
"It gives a fairly broad
overview of the state's geology " Deal said
"Several people devoted decades to this"
He added that not everyone will be happy with the changes and how they
are presented.
"Geology doesn't change, but our interpretations do," he
said.
For example, 1955's map the age of the rocks, shows 76 geologic
units; 2007's shows 324 such units.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, geologic units are named
and defined by the geologists who made tne map based on their
observations of the kinds of rocks and their investigations of rhe age of the
rocks.
"And you can compile things a thousand different ways," Deal
said.
Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached at leslie.mccartney@mtstandard.com.