About the Kentucky Geological Survey
Who are we?
The Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) is a state-supported research center and public resource within the University of Kentucky. Our mission is to support the sustainable prosperity of the Commonwealth, the vitality of its flagship land grant university, and the welfare of its people. We do this by conducting research in the geological sciences, providing unbiased data and information to the public, and engaging with stakeholders. Research conducted by the KGS serves the Commonwealth and its people by building resilience.
As Kentucky’s premier organization for geological science, the KGS seeks to advance the Commonwealth and its citizens through timely, unbiased research that encompasses all aspects of the state’s geological heritage and natural resource endowments. KGS centers its research and engagement around building resilience for the citizens that it serves, promoting discovery, innovation, and creativity in addressing problems and presenting opportunities in earth and environmental science.
What data resources do we provide?
The KGS website (kygs.uky.edu) provides free public access to our databases, digital map layers, and reports. Interactive online map services with point-and-click web browser interfaces make much of our data available to nonspecialists without specialized mapping software.
KGS maintains a repository—open to the public—of over 2,800 rock cores, nearly 16,000 sample sets from oil and gas wells, more than 8,000 limestone samples, and more than 5,000 coal samples from Kentucky that are invaluable for resource exploration, environmental protection, and engineering studies.
The KGS Groundwater Data Repository contains information about more than 92,000 water wells, 5,100 springs, and 58,000 suites of water-quality analyses. KGS databases also contain information about landslides, sinkholes, oil and gas wells, earthquakes, mines, and quarries in Kentucky.
How do we work with government, industry, and community stakeholders?
KGS provides technical support to the Kentucky Transportation and Energy and Environment Cabinets, the Kentucky Public Service Commission, Kentucky Emergency Management, the Kentucky Geographic Information Advisory Council, the Interagency Technical Advisory Committee on Groundwater, the Kentucky Agriculture Water Quality Authority, the Kentucky Board of Registration for Professional Geologists, and a host of local, county, and federal agencies. We also interact with stakeholders from a wide range of community, industry, University of Kentucky environmental, and educational groups. KGS regularly meets with our 12-member, governor-appointed advisory board.
What does KGS do to benefit Kentuckians?
- Operation of statewide seismic and groundwater monitoring networks.
- Development of indoor radon maps, which save lives and money, in collaboration with the UK College of Nursing’s BREATHE program.
- Evaluation of the unconventional oil and gas potential of the Rogersville Shale in eastern Kentucky.
- Production of surficial geologic maps for planning, engineering, and geologic hazard assessment in rapidly developing areas.
- Evaluation of landside risks to improve emergency response capabilities and public safety.
- Collaborative research to improve edge-of-field agricultural water quality in western Kentucky.
- Development of new methods to leverage the value of Kentucky’s investment in statewide airborne LiDAR coverage—a detailed 46-billion-point laser scan of the entire state—for natural resources studies and geologic hazard assessments.
What is the value of geologic information?
Kentucky’s statewide geologic mapping program, which cost $90 million and took 22 years to complete, has already delivered benefits of $2.25 to $3.42 billion (1999 dollars). Economic analyses of other geological surveys and geologic mapping programs show similarly impressive cost-benefit ratios for publicly available geoscience information. KGS’s indoor radon potential maps save Kentuckians an estimated $2.9 to $7.7 million per year in health care costs by helping to reduce lung cancer occurrences. Other published studies show that publicly available geologic information provides an excellent return on investment.
Our recurring budget is approximately $4.5 million per year and is supplemented with grants and research contracts that bring nearly $1 million per year to Kentucky from sources such as the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.