New digital data base helps to map North America

Abstract

A new effort is underway to compile an upgraded digital magnetic anomaly data base and map for the North American continent by 2002. This program is a joint effort by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Consejo de Recursos Minerales de Mexico (CRM). An integrated, readily accessible, modern digital data base of magnetic anomaly data spanning North America will be a powerful tool for evaluating the structure, geologic processes, and tectonic evolution of the continent, and may also be used to help resolve societal and scientific issues that span national boundaries. Maps derived from the digital data base will provide a view of continentalscale trends not available in individual data sets, help link widely separated areas of out‐crop, and unify disparate geologic studies.

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“…Extrapolation of contacts and structural trends into areas covered by Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks (~90% of the continental U.S.) is aided by interpretation of aeromagnetic data (North American Magnetic Anomaly Group, 2002). Aeromagnetic maps have been used in the interpretation of basement lithotypes and structure, including the western United States (e.g., Lidiak, 1974;Ramberg and Smithson, 1975;Cordell and Grauch, 1985;Finn et al, 2001;Sims and Stein, 2003;Grauch et al, 2003;Finn and Sims, 2005), Canada (e.g., Pilkington et al, 2000;Ross et al, 1991), Australia (e.g., Gunn et al, 1997), and elsewhere (e.g., Henkel, 1991).…”