GIS Data for Geologic Maps of Ravalli Group and other Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup Strata Based on Mapping by ASARCO in Northern Idaho and Northwestern Montana

The data release for geologic maps of Ravalli Group and other Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup strata in northern Idaho and northwestern Montana is a digital, Geologic Map Schema (GeMS)-compliant version of maps published in U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Open-File Report 2001-438 (Boleneus and others, 2001). The new digital data present attribute tables and geospatial features (points, lines, and polygons) in the format that meets GeMS requirements. This data release presents the geologic maps as shown on the plates and captured in geospatial data for the published maps. 

The database represents the geology for the 2.7 million acre, geologically complex study area in eleven plates at a publication scale of 1:48,000, and two plates at a publication scale of 1:12,000. The maps cover primarily Sanders, Shoshone, Kootenai, and Lincoln Counties, but also include minor parts of Benewah and Bonner Counties. Geologic mapping was undertaken between 1979 and 1984 by ASARCO Inc. as part of their program to explore for sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits in northern Idaho and western Montana, and in 2001 maps were scanned, georeferenced, and published by USGS (Boleneus and others, 2001).

Boleneus, D.E., Applegate, L.M., Joseph, N.L., and Brandt, T.R., 2001, Raster images of geologic maps of middle Proterozoic Belt strata in parts of Benewah, Bonner, Kootenai, and Shoshone Counties, Idaho and Lincoln, Mineral, and Sanders Counties, Montana: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report OF-2001-438, scales 1:48,000 and 1:12,000, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr2001438.