I kind of think of a geologic map as
being like a weather forecast for the
land an effort to provide detailed
geologic maps to the public and other
customers is underway at the Virginia
Department of Mines minerals and energy
it starts out here I look for steep
places on the topographic map where the
contour lines are close together
typically rocks will present themselves
with the surface along a road cut or a
creek or a steep hill slide DMM a
geologist laurie coiner starts every map
in the field she looks for exposed rock
to begin her assessment of what's
beneath the earth's surface but this is
just like reading a book and each of the
fossils is a word each of the layers are
sentences the overall formation or this
rock over there
and all the way down the road is mix up
the book the each each layer on the
earth is another page each chapter is
another area and time once the rock type
is identified it is assigned a color and
a symbol that shows how rock layers are
aligned and the symbol represents the
engineering side of the rock the tilt
pointer is helping to develop detailed
maps of areas along the interstate 81
corridor d Mme is also doing similar
work in the Richmond metro area we only
have detailed geologic maps for about 30
percent of Virginia so that means that
70 percent of Virginia is still
unmatched in detail the idea is to stay
ahead of development so customers can
have the best available information land
developers can use these maps when
planning we're building a bridge or a
well should go home owners can see where
sinkholes might exist or where land is
more likely to slide and mining
companies will know where commodities
such as limestone coal and natural gas
are in the Commonwealth the Mme is
really well positioned to do geologic
mapping
and we we have a group of geologists
working for us with a lot of familiarity
of with the geology across Virginia as a
state agency we're really interested in
putting this information together and
what starts with observations in the
field eventually turns into a map
housing everything you need to know
about what is beneath the ground for
more information on geologic mapping in
Virginia visit our website at DMM e dot
virginia.gov