This GIS dataset is part of a digital compilation of the bedrock geology of Alberta. It is one of the datasets used to produce Alberta Geological Survey (AGS) Map 600.
This dataset contains lines representing linear structural elements. In the Rocky Mountains and Foothills these include thrust faults, normal faults and transverse faults as well as the axes of folds (anticlines and synclines). In the Canadian Shield and the Athabasca Basin all faults are given the same symbol (i.e., fault, type unspecified).
The data were created in geodatabase format and output for public distribution in shapefile format.
AGS Open File Report 2013-02 presents additional information on data sources related to this dataset.
To produce this dataset we combined digital versions of 117 existing and several newly mapped areas into an Alberta-wide GIS dataset. We processed the data as follows:
1. Collected and assessed input data. This involved collecting datasets from various sources, assessing quality, and standardizing the attribute table in the ArcGIS environment. When necessary, we corrected datasets that were digitized by third parties.
2. Created a standard provincial schema to house selected original and new map attributes.
3. Merged input data into one seamless layer, edge-matched the boundaries.
4. Generalized the original line features dataset by selecting only structural elements applicable to the 1 000 000 scale map.