The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information.
A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the subsurface of a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. A geological survey employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outcrops and landforms, to intrusive methods, such as hand augering and machine driven boreholes, to the use of geophysical techniques and remote sensing methods, such as aerial photography and satellite imagery.
A Geological Survey can also be a national or federal institution employed to maintain the geological inventory and advance the knowledge of geosciences for the benefit of the wealth and health of the nation.
In the United States, the 50 state surveys are coordinated by the Association of American State Geologists.
Some examples of national geological surveys are listed here:
- Geoscience Australia - known from 1992 to 2001 as the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO)
- Geological Survey of Canada
- Geological Survey of India
- Saudi Geological Survey
- British Geological Survey
- United States Geological Survey
Individual states or provinces may also have a geological survey. Examples include:
- Alberta Geological Survey
- Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Pennsylvania Geological Survey
- Utah Geological Survey
- Delaware Geological Survey
Famous quotes containing the words geological and/or survey:
“The crystal sphere of thought is as concentrical as the geological structure of the globe. As our soils and rocks lie in strata, concentric strata, so do all men’s thinkings run laterally, never vertically.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“By contrast with history, evolution is an unconscious process. Another, and perhaps a better way of putting it would be to say that evolution is a natural process, history a human one.... Insofar as we treat man as a part of nature—for instance in a biological survey of evolution—we are precisely not treating him as a historical being. As a historically developing being, he is set over against nature, both as a knower and as a doer.”
—Owen Barfield (b. 1898)