Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Features Of Geological Maps

By Grant Nicolaisen


Geology may be the study of earth's composition, rocks as well as the process by which they modify or acquire other forms. Geology also includes the study of the organism that inhibits the earth. Unlike the other typical maps which show physical location of areas and features, geological maps however are maps developed to show exactly where these features are, which is the distribution of those geological features such as the rocks and their faults. Geological maps are often placed in the leading normal element of the map.

There are many different types of geological maps, the most common being the surficial map. This kind of map is a graphic illustration that is representative of the surficial rocks and sedimentary as a scale representation of the real rocks and sediments.

Geological maps contain additional features that are not contained in the basic map, therefore resulting in elaborate and more details inside the entire study map. The facts in the map will always be restricted to scale, that, the representation of the actual distance or diameter of the physical features on the ground. This scale is often determined by the base map. A common example of such scales is 1:50,000 (1cm on paper represents 50,000m on the ground).

The geological map has many features that distinguish it using their company maps. One of the noticeable options that come with geological maps may be the different colors used. Different colors represent the different geological units, that's, the volume of a given kind of rock within a given range of time. For instance a single kind of stone may have different colors to differentiate the difference in their ages. The geological units receive names depending on where their characteristics are displayed or where the study first took place. For instance, the Briones sandstone was studied and discovered from Briones Valley, in California.

Aside from the colors which are assigned to the geological units in the geological maps, each of the geological unit is also assigned letters to represent it on the map. The combination of those letters is generally a mixture of a capital letter followed by a single or smaller letters. The main city letter always represent the age of the geological unit. The little letters on the contrary either indicate the unit's name or the type of rock should the unit doesn't have name.

Another striking feature of geological maps is the elevation of the contour lines. The elevation of the geological features is definitely important as their horizontal positions. The elevation resolution is definitely restricted to the contour intervals represented on the map. The contour intervals can vary from 10 to 40 feet depending on the terrain characteristics.

You will find different types of lines shown on the geological maps; wrinkles include contact that distinguishes two different geological units. There's two main contacts are depositional contacts and faults. Fold axis is also a kind of line based in the geological map. This really is a line that follows the crest or trough of fold formed by bending and warping of the geological units.




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