Information on Faculty Services supporting Instruction and Research

Science, Engineering and Math @ the CSULB Library weblog

 Class Research Guides

Oceanography Resources (GEOL 465 Physical and Chemical Oceanography and GEOL 300i Earth Systems & Global Change)

Introduction to the Library PowerPoint

 

To find books at the CSULB Library, use COAST, the Library's online catalog.
Click on one of the subject headings below to find books about that subject. 

 Reference Resources (hints for use)

How to find. . . 

electronic government documents  and maps

Use reference books to learn about a new topic, find background information, tables, data, illustrations, images, identification or the definition of a term. 

Hints for use
 --Start with the INDEX at the back
 --Look for bibliography at the end of each section or table for additional sources
 --Think of a general term for your topic
 --Try a book that lists reference books such as, Geologic reference sources: a subject and regional bibliography of publications and maps in the geological sciences (4th floor QE 26.2W35 1981)

ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS

New Publications of the US Geological Society
Former print edition is now available only electronically.  Search or browse the quarterly online catalogs.

Special Paper(s) (Geological Society of America)
"State of the art studies are presented in soft-cover monographs or compilations." These are not available in electronic full text. Instead search COAST for special paper(s) Geological Society of America and your keyword or browse the general list.

US Geological Survey Open File Reports (Online) 
"Open-file reports include unpublished manuscript reports, maps, and other material that are made available for public consultation at depositories.  They are a nonpermanent form of publication that may be cited in other publications as sources of information."  If not available online, search COAST or visit a local depository library.

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MAPS

• Topographic maps (and many other kinds of maps) are available in the Map Room of the Library, located in the fifth floor Special Collections.  You can find individual maps by searching COAST.  More information about maps can be found at the Library's Geography and Cartography and Maps research guides.
• Geological maps: an Introduction (4th floor QE 36.M33 1990)
• World atlas of geology and mineral deposits  (2nd floor G1046.C5 D45 1980)
• Atlas of economic mineral deposits  (Ref TN263 .D57)
• Digital Tectonic Activity Map (from NASA)
• Geodata.gov locate federal, state, and local geospatial data and information
• Search USGS National Geological Map Database
• Search USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
• Browse huge list of map links from the Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research
  

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 Finding Articles

Find journal articles using databases and print indexes.
See some frequently cited journals in geology. 

Use research databases to find journal articles.  Start with those listed below but also check out the list of databases by title or topic, such as Geology.

• GeoScienceWorld with GeoRef (instructions)
  The premier database for Geology research.  Includes abstracts of articles, books, reports, etc., in geology and earth sciences. 
  Coverage: 1785 to present (North America) ; 1933 to present (International). Contains full-text of articles from over 30 Geology journals.
• Geobase (instructions)
  Geography database with references to articles, book chapters, reports, etc. on geology.
  Coverage: 1980 to present
• ScienceDirect (instructions)
  Full text articles on all areas of science from over 1,500 research journals.  
  Coverage: latest 5 years to present
• Wiley InterScience (instructions)
  Full text articles on all areas of science from over 300 research journals published by John Wiley & Sons. 
  Coverage: 1996 to present
• General Science Abstracts (instructions)
  Abstracts of articles from major journals and scientific magazines, in all areas of science.
  Coverage: 1984 to present
• Applied Science & Technology Abstracts (ASTA) (instructions)
  Good source for journal articles on engineering aspects of geology, e.g., earthquake engineering, petroleum engineering, etc. 
  Coverage: 1983 to present
• Compendex (instructions)
  Good source for articles, from thousands of journals, conference proceedings, reports, etc., on engineering aspects of geology.
  Coverage: 1969 to present
• ProceedingsFirst (instructions)
  A database of proceedings of conferences, in all subjects.
  Coverage: 1993 to present
• Minerals yearbook.  Prepared by the staff of the Bureau of Mines.  Washington: The Bureau: Supt. of Docs. U.S. G.P.O.

PRINT INDEXES

Geotechnical Abstracts.  Ref TA 710 A1 G37

Abstract journal in earthquake engineering.  Richmond, Calif., Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California.  Lib has 1-26, 1972-1997.  4 West Room 407 TA658.44 A25 

FREQENTLY CITED JOURNALS
This is a brief list of journals in Geology.
Use databases to search for articles on a specific topic. 

Note: Print collections may be on different floors (or in microform) by year. Check COAST by the journal title for the exact location of the year you are looking for.

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  Finding Websites

Geology ::  Earthquakes & Hazards  ::  Environment & Global Change  :: Minerals :: Search Engines :: Professional Associations & Societies :: Related CSULB Websites

Geology
National Geophysical Data Center (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/)
There is an enormous amount of data and information of various types on this site.  Topics covered include topography, bathymetry, paleoclimatology, geomagnetism, geothermalism, and many more.
Also try NGDC Geologic Hazards Photos

U.S. Geological Survey (http://www.usgs.gov/) 
Four theme areas - Hazards, Natural Resources, Environment, and Information Management - are described in order to effectively communicate how USGS earth science information contributes to public policy issues.  Pose your questions about earthquakes, volcanoes, natural resources, forests and glaciers from Ask-A-Geologist.  An excellent collection for resources for K-12 classes can be found at The Learning Web section of the site.

California Geological Survey (http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/Pages/index.aspx)
A cornucopia of information on the geology of California.
Also try The California Geotour, an index to online geologic field trip guides of California

California Board of Geologists and Geophysicists (http://www.geology.ca.gov/)
The mission is, "to continually enhance the quality, significance and availability of geological and geophysical services to the people of the State of California."  Includes information on registers geologists and geophysicists, hot topics, enforcement actions and online newsletter.

Cornell's Geoscience Information System (http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu/)
Geological educational pages and maps for students and scientists.   Principle educational areas are earthquakes, volcanoes, topography, plate tectonics, and sea level change.

Geology at the University of California Museum of Paleontology (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/geologictime.php)
This online exhibit has a tour of the Earth's history, animations of plate tectonics showing the movements of the continents, and more.

Geosource (http://www.library.uu.nl/geosource/)
This is a directory of Web links to sources of information on geography, geology, and environmental science.  Maintained by a librarian at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Structural Geology on the Web (http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Geology/Structure_Resources/)
Find a collection of links to structural geology and tectonics from the Department of Geology at Smith College. Browse through categories such as structural images, data sets and bibliographies, computer software, plate tectonics, books & journals, professional organizations, research groups and more.

GEOLEX: Geological Names Lexicon (http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/geolex_home.html)
GEOLEX is a search tool for lithologic and geochronologic unit names.

Web Geological Time Machine (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.html)
A geological time machine "to stratigraphy, fossils and fossil locations throughout geologic time."

Geotimes (http://www.geotimes.org/)
This is a free online magazine dedicated to geological news.

GeoScience Books (http://www.geosciencebooks.com/index.html)
This is an online vendor of books and out-of-print books in the geological sciences.  Free registration is required to order books.

Earthquakes & Hazards
CISN: California Integrated Seismic Network (http://www.cisn.org/)
"CSIN is a partnership among federal, state, and university agencies involved in California earthquake monitoring. The CISN is dedicated to serve the emergency response, engineering, and scientific communities.
Also try SCEDC: Southern California Earthquake Data Center and Southern California Seismic Network and Advanced National Seismic System

Southern California Earthquake Center (http://www.scec.org/)
The mission of the SCEC is to "gather new information about earthquakes in Southern California, integrate this information into a comprehensive and predictive understanding of earthquake phenomena, and communicate this understanding to end-users and the general public in order to increase earthquake awareness, reduce economic losses, and save lives."

National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering (from U.C. Berkeley) (http://nisee.berkeley.edu/)
Numerous free online databases pertaining to earthquake engineering, including a database of images of over 280 earthquakes (searchable by earthquake).  Hint: To see all this site's many offerings, click on Site Map.

USGS Earthquake Hazards (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/)
Maps and statistics on earthquakes, information on reducing earthquake hazards, seismographic studies, and numerous links to other web sites.
Also try Earthquake Hazards Program-Southern California and Earthquake Hazards Program-Northern California

PEER: Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (http://peer.berkeley.edu/)
"PEER links researchers in earth sciences, engineering seismology, engineering, architecture, economics, and public policy to bridge gaps in knowledge so that new technologies can be developed and implemented to achieve the diverse life-safety, economic, and functional requirements of owners and society." 

Quakeline Database (http://mceer.buffalo.edu/utilities/quakeline.asp)
This is a free bibliographic database of 40,000 records that "covers earthquakes, earthquake engineering, natural hazard mitigation, and related topics.  It includes record for various publication types, such as journal articles, conference papers, technical reports, maps, and videotapes."

Geologic Hazards Team (http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/)
Lots of information on earthquakes, landslides, and geomagnetism.  Interactive maps are provided.

HAZLIT Database (http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/library/)
Searchable database from the Library of Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado.  Includes citations to journal articles, books, and reports about "research and information about hoe society prepares for, responds to, recovers from, and mitigates damage and other losses from natural hazards and catastrophic events."

Volcano World (http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/)
Website from the University of North Dakota with link to current eruptions, interviews, volcano listings by name, descriptions, country and more.

MIT Volcanoes (http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/)
Website from MIT that "aims to provide information about volcanoes to the public and to complement other informational sites on the web."

Environment & Global Change
Borehole Geophysics as Applied to Hydrogeology (http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/projects/GW_borehole/)
This site describes ongoing research into climate changes in the past, focusing on ice cores from glaciers. 

Global Change Master Directory (http://gcmd.nasa.gov/)
 Website from NASA with data sets on aspects of global change such as oceans, atmosphere, paleoclimate, biosphere, climate, solid earth, snow and ice, hydrosphere, land surfaces, and human dimensions.

National Climatic Data Center (http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html)
Search through the "World's Largest Archive of Climatic Data" including land based, upper air, satellite, marine and more.

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) (http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/)
The CDIAC which includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases, "is the primary global-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy." CDIAC data includes, "the role of the terrestrial biosphere and the oceans in the biogeochemical cycles of greenhouse gases, long term climate trends, the vulnerability of coastal areas to rising sea levels, and more."
See also Online Trends: A compendium of data on Global Change

USGS Water Resources Information (http://water.usgs.gov/)
Includes datasets, publications, and agency information.  Strong resource for hydrology information for the United States including water use, spatial data, and water conditions.

IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library (http://ingrid.ldeo.columbia.edu/)
Contains over 300 datasets from a variety of earth science disciplines and climate-related topics.

MetEd: Meteorology Education & Training (http://www.meted.ucar.edu/)
Find information about climate, coastal weather, convection weather, fire weather, hurricanes, hydrology, winter weather and much more.

Ocean Studies Research Guide (http://www.csulb.edu/library/subj/ocean.html)
Website from CSULB Library with links to various marine and oceanic topics.

Minerals
Mineralogy Database (http://www.webmineral.com/)
"This mineral database contains 4,300+ individual mineral species descriptions with links and a comprehensive image library."

American Mineralogist Crystal Structure Database (http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/AMS/amcsd.php)
"This site is an interface to the crystal structure database that includes every structure published in the American Mineralogist, The Canadian Mineralogist, and the European Journal of Mineralogy."

Mineral Gallery (http://mineral.galleries.com/)
A searchable and browse-able collection of mineral descriptions and images for rock hounds, educators, and geology students.  It includes physical characteristics, classes, groups, photos of specimens, uses, and common associations.

Mineral Spectrosocpy Server (http://minerals.gps.caltech.edu/)
This server from the California Institute of Technology, "is primarily dedicated to providing information about color in minerals and access to data on Mineral Absorption Spectra in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum and Raman spectra of minerals."

Geology Related Search Engines and Gateways
GeoIndex (http://www.geoindex.com/geoindex/)
GeoIndex is a geology search engine created by the Datasurge Company, a geology software company.

Scirus (http://www.scirus.com/)
Scirus is a search engine for science related web sites created by the science publisher, Elsevier.

Geo-Guide (http://www.geo-guide.de)
"Geo-Guide is an Internet based subject gateway to scholarly relevant information in earth science, geography, and mining," with over 3000 records. 

Earth Science World ImageBank (http://www.earthscienceworld.org/imagebank/
The Earth Science World ImageBank is a service provided by the American Geological Institute (AGI). This ImageBank is designed to provide quality geoscience images to the public, educators, and the geoscience community.

Professional Associations
Geological Society of America (http://www.geosociety.org)
American Association of Petroleum Geologist s (http://www.aapg.org)
American Geological Institute (http://www.agiweb.org/)
American Geophysical Union (http://www.agu.org/)
American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (http://www.asprs.org/)
Association of Engineering Geologists (http://www.aegweb.org/)
British Geotechnical Association (http://www.ice.org.uk)
Canadian Geotechnical Society (http://www.cgs.ca)
Mineralogical Society of America (http://www.minsocam.org/)
National Association of Geoscience Teachers (http://www.nagt.org/)
National Association of Earth Science Teachers (http://www.nestanet.org/)
National Speleological Society (http://www.caves.org/)
Seismoloigical Society of America (http://www.seismosoc.org/)
California, State, U.S. & Foreign Geological Surveys & Associations (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/surveys.html)
This is a Web directory, from the UC Berkeley Library, of government geological surveys and associations.  Links to state, federal, and foreign surveys and associations are provided.

RELATED CSULB ACADEMIC WEB SITES

Geological Sciences Department - College of Natural Sciences 
    CSULB's Geologic Tours of Southern California: Virtual Field Geology
    Geological Diversity Enhancement Program
Science Education Department 
   Science Education Library Research Guide       
Student Access to Science

 Need Help?

• Try Chat with a Librarian 24/7 anytime and anywhere.
• Email Cathy Outten, Science and Engineering Librarian, and get a reply within 24-48 hours.
• Set up an appointment with a librarian.
• Try the Library Tutorial.
• Ask a librarian at the Reference Desk on the First Floor of the Library.

This page is maintained by Cathy Outten, Science and Engineering Librarian 
University Library, California State University, Long Beach