World Geologic Provinces

Description:

This shapefile includes arcs and polygons that describe U.S. Geological
Survey defined geologic provinces of the World. Each province has a set of
geologic characteristics distinguishing it from surrounding provinces.
These characteristics may include the dominant lithologies, the age of the
strata, and the structural style. Some provinces include multiple
genetically-related basins. Offshore province boundaries are generally
defined by the 2000 meter bathymetric contour, but where appropriate are
defined by the 4000 meter bathymetric contour. In some cases province
boundaries are delineated by political boundaries, as in the case of The
United States and Canada, because United States petroleum resources were
assessed separately by the U.S. Geological Survey. Provinces are
classified as either Priority or Boutique. A priority province is one of
76 non-U.S. geologic provinces defined by the U.S. Geological Survey that
together contain 95 percent of the world's non-U.S. known petroleum
volume. All priority provinces were analyzed for undiscovered
petroleum-resources. A boutique province is a geologic province, other
than a priority province, as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey,
considered for petroleum-resource assessment. Boutique provinces can be
chosen for a variety of geologic, political, technical and geographic
reasons. Resource-assessments are conducted by scientists of the U.S
Geological Survey's World Petroleum Assessment 2000 by means of a
combination of Petroleum System analysis based on available geologic
information, and statistical analysis of production and exploration
information. Total petroleum systems are defined in provinces considered
for assessment analysis. Total petroleum systems are subdivided into
Assessment Units. Assessment results from the analysis of assessment units
and total petroleum systems are aggregated and allocated to geologic
provinces. Summary results are presented as attributes of this coverage.

Identifier:

ark:/88435/bc386n71d

Creator:

Lee M. Osmonson, USGS, Denver, CO (comp.)

Publisher:

U.S. Geological Survey

Provider:

Princeton

Resource Class:

Datasets

Temporal Coverage:

2000 and 2000

Spatial Coverage:

World, Former Soviet Union, The Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Antarctica, and South Asia

Access Rights:

Restricted

Format:

Shapefile