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Show material is a geologic material, as sandstone, shale, glacial till, granite, and basalt. The soil scientist, then, is aided greatly in his mapping by having available a geologic map which shows the areal distribution of the parent materials from which the soils he maps are derived. The entire program of mapping soils would be executed more accurately and faster were geologic maps available. Extensive research by soil and agricultural scientists in the past 10 or 15 years has demonstrated that the minor plant nutrient constituents ( cobalt, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, and others) are of great importance to crop growth and quality. They are also vital to the health and productivity of animals and humans that feed on these crops. An understanding of the relative abundance and availability of these minor elements ( and the equally important but more abundant mineral constituents) can be had only from a geologic map, which will show the distribution of the rock formation and a geologic report, which will give the chemical and mineralogic constitution of the rocks from which the soils derive their nutrient elements. Some minor elements in the rocks and soils are seriously dangerous as they give rise to plant poisons that each year kill great numbers of sheep and cattle in the Western States. A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF THE PUBLIC LAND HAS NEVER BEEN APPRAISED TO SEE WHETHER IT IS CURRENTLY, OR POTENTIALLY, VALUABLE FOR ANY KIND OF MINERAL RESOURCE CLASSIFYING THE PUBLIC AND FEDERALLY OWNED LANDS A large percentage of the public land in the West and in Alaska has never been appraised to see whether it is currently, or potentially, valuable for any kind of mineral resource. The Conservation Division of the United States Geological Survey is charged with classification of these and all other federally owned lands. It is their responsibility to prevent the alienation of Government- owned mineral lands under inapplicable laws. They are charged not only with determining whether to lease or sell such federally owned lands, but also with determining which parts of the public and federally owned lands are valuable for any kind of mineral resources. Whatever geologic mapping is done in the public land States and Alaska for the three preceding purposes helps to relieve this deficiency of necessary basic data. More important, however, is the need for some provision whereby the geology of these withdrawn lands can be mapped systematically so that the land can become a valuable asset in the national economy. GAINS THROUGH ACCELERATION ALL PROGRAMS CAN BE CARRIED OUT IN LOGICAL SEQUENCE COST OF THE ACCELERATED SURVEYING AND MAPPING PROGRAMS The total cost of the accelerated programs should not be greater than the eventual cost required to complete the same programs over a longer period of years, provided that the larger programs can be scheduled and carried out as efficiently as programs of the size now in operation. Neither will the total cost be less by an amount sufficient to be a dominant consideration. The advantages of accelerating these programs are mainly in gains from having suitable surveys and maps for use on all projects involving the use of the surface of the earth or its resources. Some of the gains that may come through acceleration may be summarized as follows: COORDINATION All programs can be planned and carried out in logical sequence. In general, this would be control surveying, followed by cadastral surveying where necessary, then by topographic mapping, geologic mapping, soil mapping, and hydrologic mapping. 16 |
