How To: Find GIS Thematic Data

The AAPG, under the direction and guidance of the GIS Publications Committee and AAPG Datapages, is building a GIS / spatial library comprised of peer-reviewed Global Framework, Geothematic and Geographic themed projects. The project files are free to the public and can be downloaded from this GIS Open Files page.

Geological quadrangle data in raster format.

Remotely sensed data available for download.
Raster data format. Various dates.
LANDSAT, MODIS and Aerial Imagery.
Coverage - State of Colorado.

An interactive tool for exploring the science of Earth's deep history. From molten mass to snowball earth, EarthViewer lets you see continents grow and shift as you scroll through billions of years. Additional layers let you and your students explore changes in atmospheric composition, temperature, biodiversity, day length, and solar luminosity over deep time.

Downloads to Raster data format for Geological quad sheets and vector file format for Geological boundary data.

The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (formerly the National Geophysical Data Center) provide scientific stewardship, products and services for sea floor and lakebed data, including geophysics (gravity, magnetics, seismic reflection, bathymetry, water column sonar), and data derived from sediment and rock samples.

Worldwide scale as well as continental scale (areas outside of the North America) Geological datasets that can be downloaded to KMZ files.

The Paleobiology Database (PaleoBioDB) is a non-governmental, non-profit public resource for paleontological data. It has been organized and operated by a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international group of paleobiological researchers. Its purpose is to provide global, collection-based occurrence and taxonomic data for organisms of all geological ages, as well data services to allow easy access to data for independent development of analytical tools, visualization software, and applications of all types.

NCEI offers search and download of Paleoclimatic proxy data and Paleoclimate Reconstructions from the NOAA/World Data Service for Paleoclimatology archives. Over 10,000 data sets are available, derived from natural sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments

Various software programs for working with structural Geology data.

Plate boundaries data in various formats: FORTRAN and ESRI file formats.

USGS is a primary source of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data. Our data and information is presented in a spatially and geographically including The National Map, Earth Explorer, GloVIS, LandsatLook, and much more.

MRDS is a collection of reports describing metallic and nonmetallic mineral resources throughout the world. Included are deposit name, location, commodity, deposit description, geologic characteristics, production, reserves, resources, and references. It subsumes the original MRDS and MAS/MILS.