Geologic Provinces of the World, 2000 World Petroleum Assessment, all defined provinces
Description
This shapefile includes arcs and polygons that describe
U.S. Geological Survey defined geologic provinces of the World. Each province
has a set of geologic characteristics distinguishing it from surrounding
provinces. These characteristics may include the dominant lithologies,
the age of the strata, and the structural style. Some provinces include
multiple genetically-related basins. Offshore province boundaries are
generally defined by the 2000 meter bathymetric contour, but where appropriate
are defined by the 4000 meter bathymetric contour. In some cases province
boundaries are delineated by political boundaries, as in the case of
The United States and Canada, because United States petroleum resources were
assessed separately by the U.S. Geological Survey. Provinces are classified
as either Priority or Boutique. A priority province is one of 76 non-U.S.
geologic provinces defined by the U.S. Geological Survey that together contain
95 percent of the world's non-U.S. known petroleum volume. All priority
provinces were analyzed for undiscovered petroleum-resources. A boutique
province is a geologic province, other than a priority province, as defined
by the U.S. Geological Survey, considered for petroleum-resource assessment.
Boutique provinces can be chosen for a variety of geologic, political, technical
and geographic reasons. Resource-assessments are conducted by
research scientists of the U.S Geological Survey's World Petroleum Assessment
2000 by means of a combination of Petroleum System analysis based on available
geologic information, and statistical analysis of production and exploration
information. Total petroleum systems are defined in provinces considered for
assessment analysis. Total petroleum systems are subdivided into Assessment Units.
Assessment results from the analysis of assessment units and total petroleum
systems are aggregated and allocated to geologic provinces. Summary results are
presented as attributes of this coverage.