The East Asia geographic map series

During the last 15 years, the Circum-Pacific Map Project Northwest Quadrant Panel (NWQP) has created a map inventory of geoscience data at a scale of 1:10,000,000. Now, for East Asia, a second set of thematic maps is being initiated cooperatively by the Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources and the Committee for Coordination of Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in Asian Offshore Areas (CCOP). These new maps will constitute the East Asia Map Project, and they will present geoscience parameters at a scale of 1:2,000,000 that can be used to evaluate the potential for undiscovered resources with the application of new deposit modeling methodologies. The following map series are being compiled or are under consideration: geography, geotectonics, geophysics, mineral resources, energy resources, and hazards. The U.S, Geological Survey (USGS) is compiling the East Asia Geographic Map Series. Shorelines, rivers, and international boundaries have been computer plotted by the National Mapping Division from the most detailed version of the World Data Bank II (WDB II). This publicly available bank was hand digitized from a 1:3,000,000-scale global map compiled from a variety of sources. The East Asia series is composed of eight overlapping sheets with Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area Projection having amore » common point of origin at 120{degree}E and 15{degree}N; neatlines for each sheet are 39{degree} {times} 54.4{degree}. Titles reflect each map's coverage: Sheet 1, Japan/Korea/Northeast China; Sheet 2, Southeast China; Sheet 3, Southeast Asia; Sheet 4, Philippines; Sheet 5, Malaysia/ West Indonesia; Sheet 6, East Indonesia; Sheet 7, Papua New Guinea/ Solomon Islands; and Sheet 8, Western Pacific Islands. Contours have been scribed by the USGS's Office of International Geology.« less