Geological Maps made in research projects in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University at Albany

Many of these maps formed part of the MS thesis or PhD dissertation of the various authors;
 some are from senior undergraduate or graduate independent study projects,
 or from compilation of information obtained in the field while supervising the Albany Geological Mapping field camp.
 (most are outcrop maps at large scales)

The maps completed prior to 1994 are on diazo/blueline paper, fading, and deteriorating by acid embrittlement and discolouration. The files linked represent an attempt to preserve these data (especially the outcrop locations, and the lithological, stratigraphic, and structural information), the product of much sweat, hard work, and intellectual effort in imperfectly exposed and geologically complex regions.

All the map files linked are pdf format, most of them of several megabytes to several tens of megabytes in size
 - if your internet connection is slow, you have been warned.
Most of the files are the product of scanning of paper copies in overlapping pieces limited by the size of the scanner, and the reassembly of the pieces and output to pdf using Canvas. Imperfections of fit of the pieces can be seen in places, an inevitable result of these procedures (given the nature of the paper originals, and the lack of time and resources to fix these small misfits).

1. Geological Maps of the Taconic Allochthon and adjacent Ordovician flysch and melange, and the N. Appalachian fold-thrust belt
    (includes parts of eastern New York, western Vermont, S. Quebec, central Pennsylvania)  [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]

2. Geological Maps of other parts of the Appalachians  [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]
    Vermont    [Field Mapping course GEO 400 pictures]
    S. Quebec
    Maine        [Field Mapping course GEO 400 pictures, map]
    Nova Scotia
    Newfoundland [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]
    N/S Carolina

3. Geological Maps of the Adirondack Grenville  [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]

4. Geological Maps in the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic system [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]
    Switzerland
    Greece
    Turkey
    Pakistan Himalaya
    Tibetan Himalaya
    Tibetan Plateau

5. Geological Maps of areas in the Caribbean, Western US, Alaska
    Caribbean [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]
    N. California-Oregon-Washington, Alaska [Google Earth kmz file showing map locations]

Unofficial (and tongue-in-cheek) awards for the maps with these properties:
The most outcrops: Louise Delano - Geological Map of the Taconic Allochthon near Granville NY
The largest map: (multi-sheet category) Mark Hempton - Geological map of the Sivrice area, SE Turkey [sheet1; sheet2; sheet3]
                            (multi-sheet, runner-up) Calvin Cooper - Geological map of the Fondo Negro - Martin Garcia Region, Dominican Republic [W sheet; E sheet]
                            (single unmanageable piece of paper)  - Dave Rowley - Geological Map of the Lake Bomoseen area, Vermont
The smallest map (fold out category): Bill Gregg (Overlook Pegmatite, Adirondacks); several competitors in the page-in-thesis category were ruled disqualified
Smallest scale map (containing new data): Mike Edwards (1:250,000, Northeast Nyainqentanglha, Tibet)
Largest scale map: (of an outcrop) - Lauren Bradley (1:150, Geologic map of Mispec Beach, New Brunswick)
                               (of part of an outcrop) - Mark Swanson (1:2, York Cliffs layer-parallel sinistral brittle shear structure)
                              (but if a thin section counts) - Zong-Guo Xia (14:1, Map of a thin section containing anastomosing cleavage)
Most topographic relief: Mike Edwards - Geologic map of outcrops in southern Nanga Parbat - Haramosh massif (1100 from 5200 meters in one 3-day traverse; be impressed!)
Least topographic relief (bedrock map category): Fred Vollmer - Geological map of a portion of the Albany 15 minute quadrangle, New York
                                       (surficial map category): Jim Young - Sampled wells and partial geology of the Saratoga Quadrangle
and special categories:
"Albula Ospiz award" for persistence in the face of topographic adversity - Celal Sengor -  Geological Map of the Albula Pass Area (Switzerland)
"W.L. Coughtry award" for map rescued from nearest brush with diazo machine destruction before thesis defence - Louise Delano (see above, most outcrops)
"Ink blot medal", for not killing those who swapped a hugely blotted copy of his final coloured map for the one he had just finished the night before - Jack Casey

and if you have got this far you may also wonder who wins for:
    thickest dissertation (multivolume category) - Stefan Kosanke (754+22pp) [runners-up Paul Mann (688+21pp); Jack Casey (620+22); Dave Rowley (602+26)]
                                     (single volume category) - Bruce Idleman (542+20pp) [runners-up Richard Thiessen (489+9pp); Jeff Karson (474+22pp)]
                                     (single volume including appendices) - Antonios Marsellos (156+19pp+598app); [runner-up Soumava Adhya (346+11pp+186app)]
    thickest MS thesis (single volume category) - Andreas Plesch (265+19pp+34app); [runner up Volker Bruchert (262+12pp)
                                         (including appendix) - Stephanie Perry (376+13pp)
    most map plates - PhD - Mark Swanson (10); Jeff Karson (9); MS - Andreas Plesch (12);

and it should be remembered that the committee members did read these.....in detail, from start to finish.
 
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