Geologic Map of Pottawatomie County, Kansas

The geologic map of Pottawatomie County, Kansas, presents the surface geology and a generalized stratigraphic column for Pottawatomie County. The map area is located at the northern end of the Flint Hills and lies in the southern extent of glacial deposits in northeast Kansas. Most rock units in Pottawatomie County are sedimentary, typically sequences of alternating limestones and shales of Upper Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian age. In the higher Permian rock units, the limestones are characterized by the prevalence of chert (or flint) nodules, which give the Flint Hills its name.

The geologic features on the map were compiled in 23 databases corresponding to 7.5-minute, 1:24,000-scale topographic quadrangles of the U.S. Geological Survey that cover the map area. Geologic basemaps were prepared on these quadrangles through interpretation of geologic information from maps showing construction materials and geology of Pottawatomie County by Scott, Foster, and Crumpton. The map is a composite of 45 different feature classes. Data was captured directly from each 7.5-minute quadrangle paper map into a single countywide geodatabase.

Custom fonts for the different rock types and geologic annotations were created and later incorporated directly into ArcGIS Style Manager. Development of symbology for representation of rock types in the stratigraphic column and for geological map annotations was greatly simplified using the tools available in ArcGIS 8.3.