04/08/96 Metadata for the Physiographic Provinces, Late Wisconsinan Glacial Border, and Pennsylvania County Border Datasets Abstract: Late in 1994, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey was asked to develop a digital physiographic provinces map at 1:100,000 scale. The then-available physiographic provinces map was compiled by the Survey at 1:500,000 scale and published at 1:2,000,000 scale in 1989. A new physiographic provinces map was recompiled on county 1:50,000-scale topographic maps having 20-foot contour intervals. Boundaries based primarily on geology were positioned using published geological maps. Most boundaries were positioned by topographic interpretation. The use of a 20-foot contour interval (a 200-foot interval was used in 1989) resulted in the repositioning of some boundaries. New scale- enhanced understanding of topographic/geologic patterns in the Appalachian Plateaus province resulted in the creation of three new sections and the revision of other section boundaries. The new compilation was reduced 50 percent and transferred to 1:100,000-scale mylar base maps. The province and section boundaries and the late Wisconsinan glacial border were digitized from the mylars, edgematched, assembled into a single dataset, and attributed with physiographic province and section names using UNIX-based Arc/Info. The late Wisconsinan glacial border, which coincides with province and section boundaries in some places, was copied to a separate dataset and removed from the dataset containing the province and section boundaries. There are two datasets for the late Wisconsinan glacial border and the physiographic province and section boundaries. The original datasets are accurate at 1:100,000 scale. The other datasets have been generalized to 1:500,000-scale accuracy for more regional work. A companion dataset consisting of the state and county boundaries of Pennsylvania was compiled from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 1:100,000-scale digital-line-graph (DLG) files for boundaries. The dataset has been attributed with the county names. Descriptors: Physiographic provinces Physiographic sections Geomorphology Glacial border (late Wisconsinan) Purpose: These datasets are intended for use in geographic-information-system (GIS) applications and other software applications where vector digital data are needed for the physiographic provinces and sections, and the late Wisconsinan glacial border in Pennsylvania. The data can be used for spatial analysis and for preparation of cartographic displays. Limitations_of_Data: The datasets for the physiographic provinces and the late Wisconsinan glacial border were compiled on 1:50,000-scale paper county topographic maps having 20-foot contour intervals. The data were then hand- transcribed to stable-base mylar USGS 30- by 60-minute quadrangle maps at 1:100,000 scale having contour intervals of either 10 or 20 meters. Edgematching of the mylar USGS 30- by 60-minute quadrangle maps was also done by hand. The state and county boundary dataset was modified from the USGS 1:100,000-scale DLG files for boundaries. Modifications were necessary when assembling a single dataset from the individual 30- by 60- minute boundary panels. Several small mismatches occurred at the quadrangle boundaries. These were checked against both the 7.5-minute and 30- by 60-minute published paper quadrangle maps, and corrections were made by midpoint arc edgematching. Two errors required correction of the boundaries by digitizing from stable-base prints of the USGS 30- by 60-minute quadrangle maps. Entity_and_Attribute_Overview: Line Attributes The line attributes for these datasets define the boundaries depicted. A user may sort by line attribute to define line type when using data in a graphic presentation. There are only three valid line codes for the physiographic provinces datasets: state, province, and section. State defines the Commonwealth boundary, province defines a physiographic province boundary, and section defines a physiographic section boundary. Where multiple line code values apply to a single line, priority is given in the following order: state, province, and section. The datasets for the late Wisconsinan glacial border have only two valid line codes: glacial and state. Priority is not necessary. The dataset for the state and county boundaries also has only two valid line codes: state and county, with priority given in that order. Polygon Attributes. The polygon attributes of the physiographic provinces datasets define the name of the physiographic province and the name of the physiographic section within the area that the polygon represents. There are no valid code listings, because all of the codes are names. All of the polygons (except the ôworld polygonö) have entries for both the section name and province name. The dataset for the late Wisconsinan glacial border does not have any user-defined polygon attributes. The polygon attributes of the dataset for the state and county boundaries define the name of the county. There are no other valid codes. Procedures_Used: The physiographic provinces dataset is a revision of Pennsylvania Geological Survey Map 13, compiled and published in 1989. In late 1994, W. D. Sevon, a Pennsylvania Geological Survey staff geologist, began a project to revise the physiographic provinces map at a minimum accuracy of 1:100,000 scale. Sevon started with boundaries shown on the 1989 map, which had been compiled on the USGS 1:500,000-scale base map of Pennsylvania, having a contour interval of 200 feet. Sevon revised and recompiled the boundaries on paper copies of USGS 1:50,000-scale county topographic maps having a contour interval of 20 feet. Boundaries based primarily on geology were positioned using published geologic maps. Most boundaries were positioned by topographic interpretation. The project resulted in the repositioning of some boundaries and the creation of three new physiographic sections. Data sources used by Sevon for the compilation and revisions are as follows: (1) Boundaries that are based primarily on contacts between bedrock units and secondarily on topography occur in the Piedmont, Blue Ridge, New England, and Atlantic Coastal Plain provinces. The geologic information is from Berg and Dodge (1981), Drake (1967), Drake and others (1967), Fauth (1968), Longwill and Wood (1965), MacLachlan (1979), MacLachlan and others (1975), Root (1968, 1971, 1977, 1978), Willard and others (1959), Wilshusen (1979), and Wood (1980). (2) Boundaries that are based primarily on the interpretation of topography and secondarily on contacts between bedrock units occur in the Appalachian Plateaus province. The topographic interpretation was done on 1:50,000-scale topographic maps of the following counties: Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Elk, Indiana, Jefferson, Monroe, Pike, and Venango. The geologic information is from Berg and others (1980). (3) Boundaries that are based entirely on interpretation of topography occur in the Ridge and Valley, Appalachian Plateaus, and Central Lowland provinces. The topographic interpretation was done on 1:50,000-scale topographic maps for the following counties: Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Indiana, Lackawanna, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Potter, Sullivan, Tioga, Wayne, Westmoreland, and Wyoming. (4) The position of the late Wisconsinan glacial border is from Crowl and Sevon (1980) and Shepps and others (1959). The linework on the 1:50,000-scale county topographic maps was reduced 50 percent and hand-transcribed by Sevon onto USGS 30- by 60-minute 1:100,000-scale topographic quadrangle stable-base mylar maps. The contour intervals on these maps is either 10 or 20 meters. The transcribing of the linework was done by matching cultural, transportation, and hydrographic features, without reference to the topographic contours. Sevon edgematched the linework on the mylars by hand. Each 1:100,000-scale mylar 30- by 60-minute panel was digitized on a backlit CalComp 9500 digitizer with a 2x magnifier. This model digitizer has a stated resolution of +/-0.005. Most of the data were digitized into a UNIX-based Sun Sparc IPX running Arc/Info software (6.1.3 for some panels and 7.0.3 for later ones). Because of a department-wide network failure that occurred for several days early in the project, some 30- by 60-minute panels were digitized from the CalComp 9500 digitizer into PC Arc/Info (v. 4.3.2), then transferred to UNIX Arc/Info via PC-NFS. The RMS error for digitizer-to-manuscript positioning was 0.004 or less for all panels. All corrections were done in UNIX Arc/Info. The digitized vector set for each 30- by 60-minute mylar panel was checked for accuracy and correctness by numerous pen plots on paper from a Hewlett Packard 7596C Draftmaster pen plotter. All redigitizing or line corrections were done in digitizer units. This gave the best one-to-one matching of input and output prior to converting the dataset to real-world coordinates. Each of the 30- by 60-minute panels was converted to real-world coordinates using the ôtransformö command in Arc/Info. The dataset panels were projected into Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), which is the projection of the stable-base mylar compilation maps. Transformation RMS errors ranged from 0.000 (two panels) to 0.005 (two panels); five panels had RMS errors of 0.004, and the remainder had errors of 0.003 or less. Because Pennsylvania is divided into two UTM zones, zone 17 and zone 18, the datasets were transformed accordingly. Panels in each respective UTM zone were assembled into one panel and edgematched. Edgematching was done using a midpoint method in which both arcs (one on each side) are adjusted to meet a midpoint. Once the clean-up was completed, the UTM panels for zones 17 and 18 were reprojected into a Lambert Conformal Conic projection. The two panels were edgematched using the midpoint method described above and were appended into one dataset. Current Projection COORDINATE SYSTEM DESCRIPTION Projection LAMBERT Units METERS Spheroid CLARKE1866 Parameters: 1st standard parallel 33 0 0.000 2nd standard parallel 45 0 0.000 central meridian -78 0 0.000 latitude of projection's origin 0 0 0.000 false easting (meters) 0.00000 false northing (meters) 0.00000 The newly assembled dataset contained all of the physiographic provinces and sections, and the late Wisconsinan glacial border. The glacial border defines both physiographic province and section boundaries in certain areas of the Commonwealth. In order to distinguish the glacial border as one dataset and the physiographic boundaries as a separate dataset, a copy of the glacial border was made and saved as a separate dataset (GLAC1K). The line representing the glacial border was then removed from the dataset for the physiographic provinces and sections. Where the line of the glacial border coincides with a physiographic province or section boundary line, the line is thus present in both datasets with vertical integration. The excess nodes were removed from the vectors in the physiographic provinces dataset to aid in plotting. All of the vectors were attributed with their proper designation in the PHYS_BOUND field in the AAT. Only three codes are valid in this field: state, province, and section; where multiple line code values apply, priority is given in the order indicated. All of the polygons are attributed in two fields in the PAT: PHYS_PROVINCE and PHYS_SECTION. The names of the physiographic provinces and sections are entered in their respective fields. Because these fields contain only names, there no valid or invalid code entries. The physiographic provinces dataset also contains annotation. Annotation was entered in order to facilitate map labeling. Annotation depicting the physiographic province name is centered and scaled to show the overall designation for the given area. Section names are placed and scaled to show their respective areas without interfering with other annotation. In some cases, the annotation text strings are larger than the areas they depict or are too close together and interfere with other annotation. These annotation strings were moved outside their respective areas and provided with leaders. The original physiographic provinces dataset (PHYSMAP1K) has 1:100,000-scale accuracy. A copy was made and generalized on screen to 1:500,000-scale accuracy for regional work (PHYSMAP5K). The excess nodes were also removed from the dataset for the late Wisconsinan glacial border (GLAC1K). The vectors were attributed with their proper designation in the PHYS_BOUND field in the AAT. Only two codes are valid in this field: state and glacial. Priority is not necessary. There are no user-defined polygon attribute codes. A copy of GLAC1K was made and generalized on screen to 1:500,000-scale accuracy for regional work and named GLAC5K. The dataset for the state and county boundaries, PACOUNTY, was modified from the USGS 1:100,000- scale DLG files for boundaries. All of the 15-minute panels from the DLG files were imported into UNIX- based Arc/Info (v. 6.1.3 and, later, v. 7.0.3) on a Sun workstation. All of the DLGÆs had been converted to Arc/Info format previously from USGS DLG 9-track tapes on a DEC Vax using Vax Arc/Info (v. 6.1.2) by personnel in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Information Services. The 15-minute panels were appended into 30- by 60-minute quadrangle panels. Edgematching was minimal. All boundaries (township, municipal, etc.) except for those for the state and counties were removed from each 30- by 60-minute panel. When assembling a single dataset from the individual 30- by 60-minute panels, several small mismatches occurred at the 30- by 60-minute quadrangle boundaries. These were checked against both the 7.5-minute and 30- by 60-minute published paper quadrangle maps, and corrections were made by midpoint arc edgematching. Two errors required digitizing of short segments from stable-base 30- by 60-minute quadrangle maps, using the same digitizer and method described above for the physiographic provinces dataset. The excess nodes were removed, and the lines were attributed as either state or county boundaries in the BOUNDARY field of the AAT. County names were entered in the COUNTY field of the PAT. The PACOUNTY dataset was projected into a Lambert Conformal Conic projection to match the other datasets described above. This dataset has 1;100,000-scale accuracy. Revisions: This is version 1 of the datasets (released in late 1995). There are no previous public releases of these datasets. Reviews_Applied_to_Data: The digitized linework for the physiographic provinces dataset received detailed internal review in the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey. Multiple checkplots were made to ensure line-placement accuracy for each 30- by 60-minute panel. During this process, some questions concerning placement of inked linework on the original mylars were referred to Sevon for clarification. An intermediate copy of the physiographic provinces dataset was assembled, prior to removal of the late Wisconsinan glacial border, for review by Sevon, who found no errors in line placement. The final linework, metadata, attributing, annotation, and other text associated with the datasets for the physiographic provinces and the late Wisconsinan glacial border were reviewed by C. E. Miles, Division Chief, and T. G. Whitfield, staff geologist, of the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey. Several changes and corrections were made as a result of this review. Related_Spatial_and_Tabular_Data_Sets: The datasets for the physiographic provinces and the late Wisconsinan glacial border are companion datasets having the same accuracy. The PACOUNTY dataset can be used as an underlay for these datasets. Other datasets that may be of use as base layers are hypsography, hydrography, transportation, and latitude/longitude. References_Cited: Berg, T. M., Barnes, J. H., Sevon, W. D., and others, 1989, Physiographic provinces of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Map 13. Berg, T. M., and Dodge, C. M., compilers and eds., 1981, Atlas of preliminary geologic quadrangle maps of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Map 61, 636 p. Berg, T. M., Edmunds, W. E., Geyer, A. R., and others, compilers, 1980, Geologic map of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Map 1, scale 1:250,000, 3 sheets. Crowl, G. H., and Sevon, W. D., 1980, Glacial border deposits of late Wisconsinan age in northeastern Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., General Geology Report 71, 68 p. Drake, A. A., Jr., 1967, Geologic map of the Easton quadrangle, New Jersey-Pennsylvania: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ-594, scale 1:24,000. Drake, A. A., Jr., McLaughlin, D. B., and Davis, R. E., 1967, Geologic map of the Riegelsville quadrangle, Pennsylvania-New Jersey: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ-593, scale 1:24,000. Fauth J. L., 1968, Geology of the Caledonia Park quadrangle area, South Mountain, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 129a, 133 p. Longwill, S. M., and Wood, C. R., 1965, Ground-water resources of the Brunswick Formation in Montgomery and Berks Counties, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Water Resource Report 22, 59 p. MacLachlan, D. B., 1979, Geology and mineral resources of the Temple and Fleetwood quadrangles, Berks County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 187ab, 71 p. MacLachlan, D. B., Buckwalter, T. V., and McLaughlin, D. B., 1975, Geology and mineral resources of the Sinking Spring quadrangle, Berks and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 177d, 228 p. Root, S. I., 1968, Geology and mineral resources of southeastern Franklin County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 119cd, 118 p. ___________, 1971, Geology and mineral resources of northeastern Franklin County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 119ab, 104 p. ___________, 1977, Geology and mineral resources of the Harrisburg West area, Cumberland and York Counties, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 148ab, 106 p. ___________, 1978, Geology and mineral resources of the Carlisle and Mechanicsburg quadrangles, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Atlas 138ab, scale 1:24,000. Shepps, V. C., White, G. W., Droste, J. B., and Sitler, R. F., 1959, Glacial geology of northwestern Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., General Geology Report 32, 59 p. Willard, Bradford, Freedman, Jacob, McLaughlin, D. B., and others, 1959, Geology and mineral resources of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., County Report 9, 243 p. Wilshusen, J. P., 1979, Environmental geology of the greater York area, York County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Environmental Geology Report 6, scale 1:50,000, 3 pls. Wood, C. R., 1980, Groundwater resources of the Gettysburg and Hammer Creek Formations, southeastern Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Water Resource Report 49, 87 p. Notes: The datasets for the physiographic provinces and late Wisconsinan glacial border are provided as matched datasets in their respective accuracies of 1:100,000 scale and 1:500,000 scale. Overlaying the datasets for physiographic provinces or glacial borders that have 1:100,000-scale accuracy with the datasets that have 1:500,000-scale accuracy will yield inconsistent results. The user is also advised not to use the datasets beyond their stated accuracy. To do so may yield unusual, undesirable, or incorrect results. Currentness_Reference: The data presented here are current as of the release date (late 1995). Maintenance_and_Update: There are no plans for further revision at this time. Access_Constraints: The data for the physiographic provinces and late Wisconsinan glacial border may be used provided that credit for the original (unaltered) datasets is given to the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Data_set_Credit: Physiographic boundaries and the late Wisconsinan glacial border were compiled by W. D. Sevon on 1:100,000-scale mylar maps. Digitizing by W. H. Stoner (photogrammetric technician) from the mylar maps. Map editing and layout by C. E. Miles; map design by C. E. Miles and T. G. Whitfield. Intermediate digital work by W. H. Stoner, C. E. Miles, J. G. Kuchiniski (cartographic supervisor), and T. G. Whitfield. Final digital work by T. G. Whitfield and C. E. Miles. All are staff members in the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Completeness_Report: The datasets that have 1:500,000-scale accuracy were generalized by smoothing out or removing some of the very tight vector curves in the physiographic province and section lines and late Wisconsinan glacial border. Generalization was done on screen using the 1:100,000-scale-accuracy dataset as back cover for reference. Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report: The horizontal positional accuracy of the datasets for the physiographic provinces, late Wisconsinan glacial border, and state and county boundaries at 1:100,000 scale is comparable to that of the USGS 30- by 60- minute quadrangle maps at 1:100,000 scale (i.e., accurate to within 1,667 feet). The horizontal positional accuracy of the datasets that have been generalized to 1:500,000 scale is at least that of the USGS state map of Pennsylvania at 1:500,000 scale (i.e., accurate to within 8,333 feet). Vertical_Positional_Accuracy_Report: The vertical positional accuracy of the datasets for the physiographic provinces, late Wisconsinan glacial border, and state and county boundaries is comparable to that of the USGS 30- by 60-minute quadrangle maps at 1:100,000 scale (i.e., accurate to within 10 meters). The vertical positional accuracy of the datasets that have been generalized to 1:500,000 scale is at least that of the USGS state map of Pennsylvania at 1:500,000 scale (i.e., accurate to within 100 feet). Cloud_Cover: Does not apply. Metadata Custodial Liability: The USER shall save the Commonwealth harmless from any suits, claims, or actions arising out of the use of or any defect in the data files or accompanying documentation. The Commonwealth excludes any and all implied warranties and makes no warranty or representation with respect to the data files or accompanying documentation, including quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. These data files and documentation are provided ôas isö and the user assumes the entire risk as to their quality and performance. Obtaining the Datasets: To obtain copies of the digital datasets, please contact the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, P. O. Box 8453, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8453, voice phone 717-787-8162, fax 717-783-7267.