A new seamless digital 1:500 000 scale geological map of Greenland

Abstract

For around 40 years, the Geological Survey of Greenland (GGU) and later the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) conducted systematic geological overview mapping of Greenland, leading to the production of 14 printed map sheets on a scale of 1:500 000 which covers the entire country (Fig. 1). The mapping was completed in 1999 and the map sheets were published between 1971 and 2004. Revised 2nd editions of two of the sheets have been published (Table 1). As a result of the development of the Internet, the publi-cation platform for geological maps has increasingly moved from traditional paper sheets to digital publications for most geological surveys worldwide. This tendency has changed the requirements to the underlying production, storage and publication platforms for map data. For the same reason, it has over the past decade been a strategy of GEUS to bring the 1:500 000 geological maps of Greenland together as a seamless, digital product with a homogeneous legend. This has been further motivated by the increasing number of Geo-graphic Information System (GIS) and web applications to which such a map would provide a valuable background, as well as to many international projects such as OneGeology. The harmonisation of the geological maps was carried out by a project team at GEUS comprising both geological and GIS expertise. The first version of the new seamless map was finished in 2012 and will be released in various web applications in 2013.