National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation

 

To preserve and provide access to geological, geophysical, and engineering samples (and any related data) extracted from the Earth to improve the breadth of information available and to inform science and decision making now and in the future.

Active 15.814 U.S. Geological Survey, Department of The Interior B - Project Grants Fiscal Year 2017 Thirty-seven states submitted applications. No further information is available, because funds have not yet been obligated. Thirty-three states submitted applications. Thirty states were awarded grants totaling $968,583. Successful state applicants funded 14,256 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts included: preserving, digitizing, and publicly exposing on the Web aerial imagery, engineering reports, and geologic hazards maps and documents; preserving unique and valuable rock samples and cores, often with associated geophysical logs, maps, and other data, by improving storage conditions, repackaging, and digitizing for public exposure on the Web; and scanning and archiving oil and gas well records to encourage natural resource development and inform geologic investigations. In partnership with Association of American State Geologists, the NGGDPP conducted a successful Data Rescue and Preservation Workshop, attended by 60 representatives primarily from state geological surveys, to educate and share information about reliable practices for the preservation and public exposure of valuable data and materials to promote their use in geoscience investigations.
Fiscal Year 2018 Thirty-six states submitted applications. Thirty states were awarded funds totaling $1,029,690. Successful state applicants funded 20,963 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts included: digitization and standardization of geologic maps to enable integration with other maps and spatially-relevant data; photographing rock thin sections for preservation and posting on the Web for direct study; preserving, photographing, and publicly exposing on the Web valuable rock cores, including rare cores drilled along the U.S. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, for study and analysis; and digitizing and posting on the Web historic mining documents, photographs, and videos to inform geologic studies and resource development.
Fiscal Year 2019 Thirty-six states submitted applications, and 36 states were awarded funds totaling $2,078,611. Awards will support 34,221 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts included: digitization and standardization of geologic maps and databases to enable integration with other maps and spatially-relevant data; compiling, digitizing and making available maps, geochemical data, geophysical logs, field notebooks and mining records relevant to critical minerals; developing databases for geochemical, oil and gas, and critical minerals data; compiling depth to basement maps, preserving, photographing, and publicly exposing on the Web valuable rock cores, including rare cores drilled along the U.S. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, for study and analysis; and preserving oil/gas well records and related cuttings collections to advance geologic studies and resource development. The geoscience data, collections, and artifacts preserved by state geological surveys are described in the National Digital Catalog https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4760e4b07f02db47dfb4) and information about the NGGDPP is available at datapreservation.usgs.gov.
Fiscal Year 2020 Thirty-six states submitted applications, and 36 states were awarded at least partial funds totaling $1,890,365. Awards will support 31,597 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts included: digitization and standardization to Geologic Map Schema (GeMS) format of geologic maps and databases to enable integration with other maps and spatially-relevant data; compiling, digitizing and making available maps, geochemical data, geophysical logs, field notebooks and mining records relevant to critical minerals; developing databases for geochemical, oil and gas, and critical minerals data; compiling depth to basement maps, preserving, photographing, and publicly exposing on the Web valuable rock cores for study and analysis; and preserving oil/gas well records and related cuttings collections to advance geologic studies and resource development. Tools to improve efficiency are also shared for use by others, i.e., GeMS conversion tools. A total of 324 geologic maps are planned for conversion to GeMS format. The geoscience data, collections, and artifacts preserved by state geological surveys are described in the National Digital Catalog https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4760e4b07f02db47dfb4) and information about the NGGDPP is available at https://datapreservation.usgs.gov.
Fiscal Year 2021 Thirty-six states submitted applications, and 33 states were awarded at least partial funds totaling $1,761,413. Awards will support 33,380 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts included: digitization and standardization to GeMS format of paper geologic maps and databases to enable integration with other maps and spatially-relevant data; compiling, digitizing and making available maps, geochemical data, geophysical logs, field notebooks and mining records relevant to critical minerals; developing databases for geochemical, oil and gas, and critical minerals data; compiling depth borehole information, preserving, photographing, and publicly exposing on the Web valuable rock cores for study and analysis; and preserving oil/gas well records and related cuttings collections to advance geologic studies and resource development. A total of 172 geologic maps are planned for conversion to GeMS format. The geoscience data, collections, and artifacts preserved by state geological surveys are described in the National Digital Catalog https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4760e4b07f02db47dfb4) and information about the NGGDPP is available at https://datapreservation.usgs.gov.
Fiscal Year 2022 In 2022, states submitted 34 applications, with 33 states awarded at least partial funding, to total $4,281,028. The funding supports 37,173 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts include: digitization and standardization to GeMS format of paper geologic maps and databases to enable integration with other maps and spatially-relevant data; compiling, digitizing and making available maps, geochemical data, geophysical logs, field notebooks and mining records relevant to critical minerals; developing databases for geochemical, oil and gas, and critical minerals data; compiling borehole information, preserving, photographing, and publicly exposing on the Web valuable rock cores for study and analysis and preserving well records and related cuttings collections to advance geologic studies and resource development. A total of 51 geologic maps will be converted to GeMS format. The geoscience data, collections, and artifacts preserved by state geological surveys are described in ReSciColl (Registry of Scientific Collections), at https://webapps.usgs.gov/rescicoll/index.html and information about the NGGDPP is available at https://datapreservation.usgs.gov.
Fiscal Year 2023 In 2023, states submitted 33 applications, with 32 states planned for award with at least partial funding, estimated to total $5,837,103. The estimated funding is planned to support 41,129 student hours. Funded data preservation efforts will include: digitization and standardization to GeMS format of paper geologic maps and databases to enable integration with other maps and spatially-relevant data; compiling, digitizing and making available maps, geochemical data, geophysical logs, mining records relevant to critical minerals; developing databases for geochemical, oil and gas, and critical minerals data; compiling borehole information, preserving, photographing, and publicly exposing on the Web valuable rock cores for study and analysis and preserving well records and related cuttings collections to advance geologic studies and resource development. Construction projects will provide long term storage conditions and access to valuable collections of cores, cuttings and other physical samples. A total of 52 geologic maps are planned for conversion to GeMS format. The geoscience data, collections, and artifacts preserved by state geological surveys are described in ReSciColl (Registry of Scientific Collections), at https://webapps.usgs.gov/rescicoll/index.html and information about the NGGDPP is available at https://datapreservation.usgs.gov.
Fiscal Year 2024 The NGGDPP anticipates receiving approximately 35 project proposals, and awarding 30 to 32 grants. The Program Announcement for NGGDPP grants is expected to be issued in June of 2023. No further information is available. The Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 351, Public Law 109-58.
Public Law 109th Congress and 117th Congress-109-58 and 117-58
The Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 351, Public Law 109-58 amended by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), Public Law 117-58. State geological surveys are eligible to apply. For State geological surveys organized under a State university system, such universities may submit a proposal on behalf of or through the State geological survey. Research scientists, engineers, and the general public will ultimately benefit from the program. Proposed research application responsive to the instructions issued by the USGS. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. This program is subject to the provisions of 2 CFR Part 200 and Department of the Interior regulations 2 CFR Part 1402 and 43 CFR Part 12. Application form Standard Form (SF) 424 must be used. The application requirements as contained in the announcement package and the above regulations must be used for this program. Applications may be made only through the internet site http://www.grants.gov. Notification of an award is by receipt of a grant or cooperative agreement from a U.S. Geological Survey contracting officer. Estimated: December 7, 2023 The FY 2023 proposal deadline was October 13, 2022. The Program Announcement was posted on grants.gov on June 13, 2022. Three to six months after submittal of proposal or bureau receipt of appropriations, whichever is later. Not applicable. Not applicable. Relevance to announced priorities, technical evaluation factors, and prospect of attaining program objectives. Specific objectives are identified in the annual program announcement. Applications from States for proposals not covered by one of the objectives are not solicited. For more information, please contact the Program Office. For further information, please contact the regional office. Specific objectives are identified in the annual program announcement. Applications from States for proposals not covered by one of the objectives are not solicited. For more information, please contact the Headquarters Office. Performance Reports: Recipients are responsible for monitoring performance for each award and sub-award under this program in accordance with 2 CFR 200. Recipients are subject to the audit requirements of 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F. Records shall be retained and made available for audit for three years after submission of final financial report. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching is voluntary. In order to gain the greatest leverage of limited Federal and State funds, each proposed State originated program must show a 1:1 Federal/State match of direct-and indirect-cost dollars.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. Program obligates funds and sends a notice of award to successful applicants. Recipients request funds in accordance with 2 CFR 200, Subpart E-Cost Principles, unless otherwise dictated by program-specific legislation or special award terms. Program will include any special payment terms and conditions in the notice of award. Recipients request payment as needed throughout the award period. None/Not specified. Lindsay Powers, NGGDPP Program Coordinator
Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
Core Science Systems
Box 25046, MS 975
Denver Federal Center, Bldg 810
Denver, CO 80225 US
lpowers@usgs.gov
Phone: (720) 292-8595

Michaela Johnson, NGGDPP Associate Program Coordinator
Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
Core Science Systems
Box 25046, MS 975
Denver Federal Center, Bldg 810
Denver, CO 80225 USA
mrjohns@usgs.gov
Phone: (720) 250-8763 https://datapreservation.usgs.gov 14-0804-0-1-306 (Project Grants (Discretionary)) FY 22$4,281,028.00; FY 23 est $5,837,102.00; FY 24 est $6,400,000.00; FY 21$1,761,413.00; FY 20$1,890,365.00; FY 19$2,078,611.00; FY 18$1,029,690.00; FY 17$968,583.00; - (Project Grants (Cooperative Agreements)) FY 22$4,328,893.00; FY 23 est $5,500,000.00; FY 24 FY 21$1,768,227.00; - Past Fiscal Year (2022): The range is $ 2,060 to $614,512; the average is $129,728 per award. Current Fiscal Year (2023): The estimated range is $750 to $635,640; the average is $182,409 per award. Budget Fiscal Year (2024): Estimate not available. The FY 2024 obligation estimate is subject to the availability of appropriations provided by Congress Not applicable. Fiscal Year 2017 Information not available, because successful projects have not yet been selected. Multiple state geological surveys received NGGDPP funds to preserve, digitize, and disseminate fragile and unique mining documents, including exploration information and mineral property files. The cataloged and accessible mineral property file collections provide users with assay results, geologic maps, and related data that would otherwise cost tens of thousands to millions of dollars to reproduce. These data help drive new exploration projects and are highly utilized by the mining industry. Mining properties that may have been uneconomical to mine when the reports were produced may now be mineable at a substantial profit. The states benefit from increased exploration activity, and successful exploration projects generate employment and tax revenue. The Mineral Property Files are also used by archeologists, historians, environmental consultants, legal community, and general public. Mining documents have assisted efforts to identify environmental contamination and safety issues, and mitigate abandoned mine sites.
Fiscal Year 2018 Annually, state geological surveys request NGGDPP funds to preserve, inventory, photograph, digitize, describe, and catalog valuable rock cores extracted during drilling operations for natural resource development (oil, gas, mineral, water) and other geoscience investigations. Drilling a borehole requires approximately $4 million. Rock core preservation and availability to researchers reduces the need for these expensive drilling operations. In FY18, NGGDPP funds are being used to prepare archival sets of diminishing and deteriorating core intervals from U.S. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) cores from wells drilled between 1975-1984. Geophysical logs that complement the core collection are also being digitized and made publicly available. The cores are important to a variety of research and commercial needs, including carbon sequestration, geologic stratigraphy, aquifer studies, and potential future oil and gas exploration. The persistent demand for access to these cores, combined with their declining and often fragmented physical states, as well as the prohibitive costs to users of acquiring new core samples from the OCS, underscore the need for imminent preservation actions to ensure sustainable access.
Fiscal Year 2019 NGGDPP funded an effort to inventory, create metadata, and digitize 1:1500‐scale maps contained in stope books for underground mines in the Summit Valley (Butte) Montana Mining District. In 1982, the Butte mines were shut down and allowed to flood; all but the shallowest workings are inaccessible. The books, compiled maps of mining and geologic data collected from the 1880s to 1982, are unique and in danger of loss by theft or damage. Should these books be lost, the data can be neither replaced nor duplicated. This data is essential for building safe infrastructure and avoiding numerous hazards related to the underground mine tunnels. Another project will develop a database to better catalog and provide web-based access to well logs, scout tickets, mud logs and rock core analysis reports. These assets are essential to the development of natural resources. A third project will develop and populate a database for rare earth element mining information, a geochemical database, and an interactive map layer linking these databases. Further, related rare earth element reports and unpublished data will be scanned and made publicly available. These projects are still active and Final Technical Reports documenting accomplishments have not been submitted yet.
Fiscal Year 2020 NGGDPP funded an effort to preserve historical records of mine and boring location maps and downhole / core logs, as well as supplementary information such as reserve calculations, exploration details and prospect reports, and cross-sections indicating ore deposits of the Ozark-Mahoning Mining Company. The data are essential for understanding the occurrence and distribution of fluorite resources but also critical minerals including rare earth elements (REE). Another project will inventory and preserve collections of field notebooks and detailed maps from retiring or recently retired geologists. The collection is essential to future geologists and describes features no longer accessible, degraded, or no longer in existence. In addition, published and unpublished data on the occurrence of chromium, tungsten, uranium and platinum-group elements will be compiled and summarized to identify areas prospective for undiscovered critical minerals. A third project will inventory and photograph approximately 2,200 oil exploration and gas storage well cores for inclusion in the web application, GeoCore. Most of the core collection will be publicly accessible to allow researchers to view the core collection and request core samples remotely. This project is essential to improve public access and provide cost savings to researchers without the need in-person inspection. NGGDPP is collaborating with the USGS Energy and Minerals Mission Area to fund data preservation activities to support critical minerals resource identification. These projects are still active and Final Technical Reports documenting accomplishments have not been submitted yet.
Fiscal Year 2021 NGGDPP funded a major effort to inventory, barcode, and photograph all cores housed at this geological survey's sample repository beginning with geothermal core. A web application will be developed to disseminate the photographs and metadata, increasing the searchability and discoverability of these data promoting sustainable energy development. A complementary effort will involve conversion of geothermal well logs into tabular data for integration into the relational database management system increasing usability and interoperability. This project will also include the digitization of mining district documents, maps, and historic data. Information related to critical mineral resources will be compiled and made public in a new interactive web application. Another project photographs core from 103 holes drilled by the state’s Department of Transportation and will provide online access to the photographs. A second component of this project delivers data from the Lafayette County portion of the Mineral Development Atlas online, to include geolocated boreholes, mine workings, and ore bodies in the lead-zinc district covering parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. A third task will rescue and inventory cores from the Lynne Deposit in Oneida County and then transport to the core repository for photography and physical archiving. These tasks preserve valuable resources for exploration, development, and management. A third project will assess, preserve, and inventory geological cores that were initially drilled for dam and infrastructure studies. This first task improves the existing database and provides public access. These cores are in despair and were not protected since the 1960’s-70’s. They cannot be reacquired as structures now overlie the sites. A second component of this project will digitize documents describing the drilled Elk Creek Anomaly/Carbonatite rock cores inventoried within the repository. The Elk Creek Anomaly/Carbonatite has many known rare earth minerals but is most notable for having the largest known deposits of niobium in the United States. The developed database accessed via the web will serve the scanned documents to disseminate the information for further geoscientific research. This project is essential to improve public access and preserve assets that are irreplaceable and vital for improving infrastructure planning and understanding of critical mineral resources. NGGDPP is collaborating with Energy and Minerals Program to fund data preservation activities to support critical minerals resource identification.
Fiscal Year 2022 NGGDPP funded a project to 30 convert paper geologic maps to the Geologic Map Standard format (GeMS) and to organize and compile historical mineral exploration and mining information into a single publication. The GeMS conversion enables access to integrate the geologic maps into modern GIS and modeling software supporting ready research. The mining compilation organizes historical mining information including prospect/mine locations, types of minerals and the quantities extracted for policymakers, researchers, and the public to have ready access to mineral resource potential. A second project rescued, preserved, and made publicly available for reuse 7,500 cuttings samples from underground injection control wells with an estimated replacement cost of $8.5 million. A third project improved digital access to physical materials through database updates facilitating web access and compiled critical minerals information. The project scanned and made public mining records and critical mineral documents and improved ease of use and access to cores (energy, mineral, and water resources) through development of a core photo center and database upgrades to support web access aiding oil and gas exploration and critical minerals potential. Additional project activities compiled mining districts, provided a database of chemical analyses from samples at prospects/mines, and compiled location and description information for mine wastes (mine dumps and tailings) with the potential to host critical minerals. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funded example activities included construction of a rock specimen storage facility and purchase of a hyperspectral scanner to enhance the digital access and data from physical samples. NGGDPP is collaborating with Energy and Minerals Program to fund data preservation activities to support critical minerals resource identification. These projects are still active and Final Technical Reports documenting accomplishments have not been submitted yet.
Fiscal Year 2023 NGGDPP funded a project that plans to convert 40 scanned images of geologic maps to the Geologic Map Standard format (GeMS), move inaccessible drill cores to a new workspace for public access, upgrade digital publication with workflows and automate metadata publication to ReSciColl, digitize historical mineral exploration and mining information, and submit preserved drill core samples for critical mineral geochemistry analysis. The GeMS conversion enables access to integrate the geologic maps into modern GIS and modeling software supporting ready research. The mining compilation organizes historical mining information including prospect/mine locations, types of minerals and the quantities extracted for policymakers, researchers, and the public to have ready access to mineral resource potential. Another project plans to add 4,000 new well logs with their associated borehole data into an enterprise database for public access. The project will improve interoperability for 550,000 feet of gamma and neutron logs through conversion to LAS files. A Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funded example activity included the purchase of a well-log scanner to preserve and increase public access to digital well logs. NGGDPP is collaborating with Energy and Minerals Program to fund data preservation activities to support critical minerals resource identification. These projects are still active and Final Technical Reports documenting accomplishments have not been submitted yet.
Fiscal Year 2024 Program has not yet submitted the Program announcement nor selected projects for funding. Program anticipates funding projects that preserve and update geological and geophysical data to make this data available to the public.