Surficial geology map of Canada, 1:5 000 000

The map identifies surficial materials and associated landforms left by the retreat of the last glaciers and non glacial environments. The surficial geology is based on compilation of existing maps. This work provides new geological knowledge and improves our understanding ofthe distribution, nature and glacial history of surficial materials. It contributes to resource assessments and effective land use management.

This new surficial geology map product represents the conversion of the map "Surficial Materials of Canada" (Fulton, 1995) and its legend, using the Geological Survey of Canada's Surficial Data Model (SDM version 2.0) which can be found in Open File 7631 (Deblonde et al.,2014). All geoscience knowledge and information from map 1880A that conformed to the current SDM were maintained during the conversion process. However, only terrestrial units are depicted on this map. Map units below modern sea level or major lake levels are not shown but are maintained in the digital data of this publication. Where additional information was required in certain regions of the Arctic and Cordillera, legacy geology map data were used. These maps are listed in the digital "Map Information" document. All other source maps used in map 1880A are not relisted here. The purpose of converting legacy map data to a common science language and common legend is to enable and facilitate the efficient digital compilation, interpretation, management and dissemination of geologic map information in a structured and consistent manner. This provides an effective knowledge management tool designed around a geo-database which can expand following the type of information to appear on new surficial geology maps.

Datasets available for download

• Carte de la géologie des formations...HTML
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• Surficial geology map of Canada, 1:5 000 000 - FrenchHTML
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• ESRI REST Service - Surficial geology map of...Esri REST
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• ESRI REST Service - Surficial geology map of...Esri REST
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• WMS Service - Surficial geology map of Canada - EnglishWMS
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• WMS Service - Surficial geology map of Canada - FrenchWMS
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• Surficial geology map of Canada - dataset - EnglishFGDB/GDB
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• Surficial geology map of Canada - dataset - FrenchFGDB/GDB
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• Surficial geology map of Canada - MXD File...MXD
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• Surficial geology map of Canada - MXD File...MXD
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• Alluvial sediments
• Anthropogenic deposits
• Bedrock
• Colluvial and...
• Earth sciences
• Eolian sediments
• Form Descriptors
• Geology
• Geomorphological features
• Glacial Ice or Snowpack
• Glacial sediments
• Glaciofluvial sediments
• Glaciolacustrine sediments
• Glaciomarine sediments
• Lacustrine sediments
• Marine sediments
• Material
• Methods
• Named units
• Nature and Environment
• Organic deposits
• Recent Geological Events
• Samples
• Science and Technology
• Surficial Geology
• Surficial Geology...
• Surficial geology
• Undifferentiated deposits
• Volcanic deposits
• Weathered bedrock...

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (54%)
• Maturity Level 2 (38%)
• Maturity Level 3 (0%)
• Maturity Level 4 (0%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 02:50 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 02:50 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.	Geoscientific Information
Title Title for the Dataset.	Surficial geology map of Canada, 1:5 000 000
Description A description of the dataset.	The map identifies surficial materials and associated landforms left by the retreat of the last glaciers and non glacial environments. The surficial geology is based on compilation of existing maps. This work provides new geological knowledge and improves our understanding ofthe distribution, nature and glacial history of surficial materials. It contributes to resource assessments and effective land use management. This new surficial geology map product represents the conversion of the map "Surficial Materials of Canada" (Fulton, 1995) and its legend, using the Geological Survey of Canada's Surficial Data Model (SDM version 2.0) which can be found in Open File 7631 (Deblonde et al.,2014). All geoscience knowledge and information from map 1880A that conformed to the current SDM were maintained during the conversion process. However, only terrestrial units are depicted on this map. Map units below modern sea level or major lake levels are not shown but are maintained in the digital data of this publication. Where additional information was required in certain regions of the Arctic and Cordillera, legacy geology map data were used. These maps are listed in the digital "Map Information" document. All other source maps used in map 1880A are not relisted here. The purpose of converting legacy map data to a common science language and common legend is to enable and facilitate the efficient digital compilation, interpretation, management and dissemination of geologic map information in a structured and consistent manner. This provides an effective knowledge management tool designed around a geo-database which can expand following the type of information to appear on new surficial geology maps.
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	Alluvial sediments Anthropogenic deposits Bedrock Colluvial and... Earth sciences Eolian sediments Form Descriptors Geology Geomorphological features Glacial Ice or Snowpack Glacial sediments Glaciofluvial sediments Glaciolacustrine sediments Glaciomarine sediments Lacustrine sediments Marine sediments Material Methods Named units Nature and Environment Organic deposits Recent Geological Events Samples Science and Technology Surficial Geology Surficial Geology... Surficial geology Undifferentiated deposits Volcanic deposits Weathered bedrock...
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2014-12-19
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - Canada
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/317ebf06-e053-b10f-6092-bfe0c1af8703
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	Natural Resources Canada | Ressources naturelles Canada
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Government of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada - GSC Quebec, Government of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Geological Survey of Canada, voice; 1 (418) 6543826, [email protected], [email protected]
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.	[email protected]
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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