Publications and Maps

Since its creation in 1890, the Washington Geological Survey has released over 1,000 publications and maps.

We announce the release of publications and other news through our blog, Washington State Geology News. If you'd like to receive notification when we publish something new, you can subscribe by email on the blog, or directly here.

Looking for our booklets, fact sheets, and posters? See a list with download links here.

WGS Publication Catalog

The publication catalog lets you find anything that we have published since 1890.

Publications List

Our downloadable Publications List contains all of our publications with links to their PDFs. The publications are listed in chronological order within each series. If you don't know the series and number, you can search the publications list using Ctrl+F (Find).

Washington Geology Library

The Washington Geology Library Online Catalog is a collection of all publications, regardless of publisher, having to do with Washington geology. There are over 80,000 items in the library and more are added every year.

National Geologic Map Database

The National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB) is a congressionally mandated project led by the U.S. Geological Survey and Association of American State Geologists. The purpose is to build a national archive of maps and related data about geology, hazards, earth resources, geophysics, geochemistry, geochronology, paleontology, and marine geology. You can access it through a searchable catalog that contains information on over 88,000 geoscience maps and reports dating back to the 1800s, with links to hundreds of publishers.

Washington State Geologic Information Portal

We have converted much of the State's geologic mapping at multiple scales to a digital format. Explore geologic maps, geologic hazard data, and earth resource information for your neck of the woods on the Geologic Information Portal. 

Geologic Maps

Surface Geology Maps

Visit our Washington State Geologic Map application to find surface geology maps throughout the state. Use the interactive filter and search tools to find geologic maps based on location and scale.

Google Earth Overlays

Click on the map below to download 1:100,000-scale geologic map KMZ files for use in Google Earth

Click here to open the map in full screen.

Instructions for KMZ Files

Download the instructions, or watch the following YouTube video:

Geologic Hazard Maps

Tsunami evacuation

Tsunami evacuation routes were developed to assist coastal residents and visitors find safer locations in case of an earthquake and tsunami. The published brochures are for specific areas.

The Geologic Information Portal has a Tsunami Evacuation single-topic map that allows you to search for addresses and locations of interest. The information on the portal and in the brochures is the same.

Evacuation Maps

This map shows all completed tsunami evacuation brochures and walk time maps for Washington. Clicking on a region will show you a link to download the map product. Use your scroll wheel or the zoom buttons in the upper left corner to zoom. For more information about these maps, visit our tsunami webpage.

Click on the areas of the map below to view and download walk time maps (in purple) and evacuation brochures (in green).

Click here to open the map in full screen.

Tsunami inundation

Inundation maps show areas at risk of inundation by tsunamis that are generated from large earthquakes. These maps are based on model results from hypothetical earthquake scenarios on the Cascadia subduction zone, Seattle Fault, or Tacoma fault.

Reports and Maps

These maps show all completed tsunami inundation maps for Washington. Clicking on a region will show you a link where you can download the publication. Use your scroll wheel or the zoom buttons in the upper left corner to zoom. For more information about these maps, visit our tsunami webpage.

Tsunami hazards from a Cascadia magnitude 9 earthquake scenario:

Click here for a full screen view of this map. Other Cascadia scenario tsunami maps can be found in our publications catalog.

Tsunami hazards from a Seattle Fault earthquake scenario:

Click here for a full screen view of this map.

Active faults and earthquakes

Geologists from the Washington Geological Survey map and characterize faults throughout the state every year. We also combine and publish these data for the entire state.

The Geologic Information Portal has a Natural Hazards single-topic map that shows active faults and earthquakes. Click the "Earthquake Data" button in the Map Contents window to display faults and earthquakes.

Reports and Maps

Click below to download the 2014 state-wide compilation of active faults and earthquakes.

Seismic Scenarios

The Washington State Seismic Scenario Catalog contains loss estimates for a suite of earthquake scenarios. These scenarios were selected to represent reasonable estimates of the most serious earthquake hazards everywhere in Washington as a basis for planning.

The seismic scenarios used to be available on our Geologic Information Portal but they have now been moved to a separate webpage that provides additional information and download options. The Cascadia subduction zone, Seattle Fault, and Tacoma Fault earthquake scenarios are still viewable on the Portal.

NEHRP site class and liquefaction susceptibility

In response to the Nisqually earthquake of 2001, the Survey was awarded a grant by FEMA and the Washington Emergency Management Division to develop two types of earthquake hazard maps for every county in the state-liquefaction susceptibility maps, which outline areas where water-saturated sandy soil loses strength during earthquake shaking, and NEHRP (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program) site class maps, which outline areas where soils amplify ground shaking. The maps will be used by state and local governments to update existing hazard mitigation plans and to delineate geologically hazardous areas under the Growth Management Act.

The Geologic Information Portal has a Natural Hazards single-topic map that contains the site class, liquefaction, and seismic design categories data. Click the "Ground Response" button in the Map Contents window.

Reports and Maps

This map shows all site class and liquefaction susceptibility maps for Washington, by county. Clicking on a county will display links to the published maps and reports.

Click here to open the map in full screen.

Seismic design categories

Seismic Design Category Maps for Residential Construction were developed and published in 2007 as two PDFs. Click below to download a .zip file with both maps.

The Geologic Information Portal has a Natural Hazards single-topic map that contains the site class, liquefaction, and seismic design categories data. Click the "Ground Response" button in the Map Contents window.

Hazardous minerals

The Survey maintains a database of hazardous mineral locations from mines or prospects known to have produced uranium, mercury, asbestos, or arsenic. The database also contains the locations of mapped ultra-mafic rocks that may potentially contain asbestos and a radon hazard map.

The Geologic Information Portal has data that shows known hazardous mineral locations and radon hazards. Click the "Minerals" button in the Map Contents window.

Lahar hazards

The Survey works with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Washington Emergency Management Division to study and develop response plans for lahars. Geologists with the Survey have studied lahars as a part of ongoing efforts to map the geology of Washington state. These publications can be searched on the Washington Geology Library catalog.

The Geologic Information Portal has a Natural Hazards single-topic map that contains lahar hazards and land parcels at risk from potential lahar scenarios. Click the "Volcanoes" button in the Map Contents window.

Reports and Maps

The following maps show generalized lahar hazards for each of the major volcanoes in Washington. Each map is associated with a report. Check out the Geologic Information Portal (below the table) for detailed hazards near Mount Rainier.

Mount Baker

Potential volcanic hazards from future activity at Mount Baker

 

Glacier Peak

Volcanic-hazard zonation for Glacier Peak volcano, Washington

 

Mount Rainier

Volcano hazards from Mount Rainier
Living with a volcano in your backyard: An educator's guide with emphasis on Mount Rainier
Digital data for volcanic hazards from Mount Rainier

 

Mount Adams

Volcano hazards in the Mount Adams region, Washington

 

Mount St. Helens

Volcanic-hazard zonation for Mount St. Helens, Washington

 

Landslides

The Geologic Information Portal has a geologic map theme that shows mapped landslides in the state. These landslides are compiled from existing geologic maps. The absence of a mapped landslide does not indicate the absence of landslide hazard. Click the "Landslides" button in the Map Contents window.

Landslide inventories have been completed for several counties in Washington. To see a map of the available publications, visit our landslides webpage.

Inactive and abandoned mines

Many of Washington's metal mines are now abandoned, and the Survey has steadily made headway in inventorying the history, physical characteristics, and geologic and environmental hazards of over 60 abandoned mine sites or districts. Only the mines with more than 2,000 feet of underground development, more than 10,000 tons of production, or had a known mill site or smelter have been evaluated at this point.

Resource Maps

Aggregate Resources

Click on the map below to download completed aggregate resources maps, and view our in progress and scheduled aggregate resource mapping areas.

Click here to open the map in full screen.

Oil and gas resources

Currently, there is no oil and gas production in Washington. About 600 exploratory gas and oil wells have been drilled in Washington, but large-scale commercial production has never occurred. Small amounts of gas (1.3 billion cubic feet of gas) were produced briefly from the Rattlesnake Hills Gas Field, north of Richland. A small amount (12,000 barrels) of oil was produced in the Ocean City area from 1957-1961.

Geothermal Resources