Overview
In addition to being available online or in libraries, free publications that are still in print may be ordered from the Pennsylvania Geological Survey by email. These include most of the:
- Educational series booklets
- Park guides (part of the Trail of Geology series)
- Page-size maps
- Poster maps
- Information circulars
The Pennsylvania Geological Survey has been collecting and disseminating geologic and topographic data since 1836.
Over the years, the survey has published hundreds of reports and maps, many in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The current (fourth) series of publications includes printed and digital products, mostly technical, but also many popular and educational in scope.
What to include in your email request
When emailing your request, please include:
- The publication series and number
- The quantity you desire
- The ship-to address
- A telephone number where you can be reached if necessary
- The school affiliation if relevant
Other places you can obtain geological publications
You can also obtain copies of Pennsylvania Geological Survey publications online or through a library system.
The Fourth Pennsylvania Geological Survey assigns reports to different publication series according to their content, technical complexity, and intended audience. These publications are available as ZIP or PDF files.
Pennsylvania Geological Survey Publications (ZIP) contains descriptions of each series, individual report information, and hyperlinks to all publications. Publications can also be selected and downloaded through geographical searches on PaGEODE.
The American Geosciences Institute maintains a database of Geological Survey publications, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Geologic Map Database includes close to 700 of the survey's publications.
Almost all formal Pennsylvania Geological Survey publications can be borrowed from the survey library or through an interlibrary loan.
Additional geological resources
Learn more about additional geological resources and publications.
The Pennsylvania Geological Survey’s most popular group of datasets -- Bedrock Geology of Pennsylvania (ZIP) -- consists of 1:250,000-scale ArcGIS shapefiles for geologic units, geologic contacts, dikes, and faults that were created and slightly modified from the materials used to produce the 1980 printed Geologic Map of Pennsylvania (ZIP).
Pennsylvania Geology is the Pennsylvania Geological Survey’s free online magazine.
It includes articles about the geology of Pennsylvania, earth science education, topographic mapping, and announcements of new publications, conferences, and other geologic and topographic items of interest.
To receive a hyperlink to each new issue as it becomes available, email the Pennsylvania Geological Survey.
To view past editions of the magazine, use the hyperlinks provided in this list of magazine volumes (PDF).
Check out these publications from the past six months:
August 2024
- Map 24–04.0 (ZIP), Surficial Geologic Map of the Catawissa 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Columbia County, Pennsylvania
July 2024
- Pennsylvania Geology (Volume 54, Number 2) (PDF), featuring the article “The Wheatley Mines of Chester County, Pennsylvania”
June 2024
- Map 24–03.0 (ZIP), Compilation Bedrock Geologic Map of Nine 7.5-Minute Quadrangles, Centre, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry Counties, Pennsylvania
May 2024
- Map 24–02.0 (ZIP), Bedrock Geologic Map of the South Mountain Region in South-Central Pennsylvania
April 2024
- Pennsylvania Geology (Volume 54, Number 1) (PDF), featuring the articles “Past and Present -- Some Outstanding Women Geologists of Pennsylvania,” “Modeling Bedrock Elevation of Pennsylvania Using an Adaptive GIS Methodology -- the First Steps Toward a Three-Dimensional Geologic Model of Pennsylvania,” and “The Pennsylvania Geological Survey and Its Role in Education, Student Recruitment, Skills Building, and Retention in Geoscience”
GIS datasets are included with many of the geologic maps and reports released since the year 2000. Databases exist for the following:
PaGEODE stands for Pennsylvania Geologic Data Exploration. In addition to the publication-searching capability mentioned above, it can be used for geographical searches of Survey data.
With PaGEODE, GIS datasets related to bedrock or surficial geology, mineral resources, or geologic hazards can be viewed in your web browser and downloaded for specified areas.