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Coordinate Systems in Geological Mapping

The document discusses coordinate systems used in geological mapping, categorizing them into curvilinear and rectangular systems. It explains the Geographic Coordinate System (GCS), which uses latitude and longitude to define locations on Earth's surface, and describes the structure of the graticule formed by these lines. Additionally, it highlights the significance of the prime meridian and the equator in defining geographical quadrants.

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Amarjyoti Borah
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12 views15 pages

Coordinate Systems in Geological Mapping

The document discusses coordinate systems used in geological mapping, categorizing them into curvilinear and rectangular systems. It explains the Geographic Coordinate System (GCS), which uses latitude and longitude to define locations on Earth's surface, and describes the structure of the graticule formed by these lines. Additionally, it highlights the significance of the prime meridian and the equator in defining geographical quadrants.

Uploaded by

Amarjyoti Borah
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

A lecture on

COORDINATE SYSTEM
and
Map Projection in
geological mapping
In mathematics and applications, a coordinate
system is a system for assigning a tuple (ordered
list) of numbers to each point in an n-dimensional
space.
Coordinate system can be
thought as a system used to
identify locations on a graph
or grid.
For example, the system of
assigning longitude and
latitude to geographical
locations is a coordinate
system.
There are various coordinate systems available to
represent the location of any point.
However, all of them fall into two broad categories-

• Curvilinear and
• Rectangular.
Curvilinear system uses angular measurements
from the origin to describe one's position, whereas
rectangular coordinate system uses distance
measurements from the origin.
One example of curvilinear system is Geographic
coordinate system (GCS) that uses angular
latitude/longitude measurements.
One example of rectangular coordinate system is
Cartesian coordinate system (CCS) that uses
distance measurement.
Geographic Coordinate
System
The GCS expresses every location on the earth by
two of the three coordinates of a spherical
coordinate system, which is aligned with the spin
axis of earth.
A GCS uses a 3D
spherical surface to
define locations on the
earth.
The location of any
point on the earth's
surface can be defined
by a reference using
latitude and
Geographic Coordinate
System
Longitude and
latitude are angles
measured from the
earth's centre to a
point on the earth's
surface.
Thus, the origin of this The counter-clockwise
coordinate system is angular distance between
the centre of the the prime meridian plane
earth. and the meridian plane of
The angle between the the point measured in
line joining the point to equatorial plane is called
Geographic Coordinate
System
In this system, 'horizontal lines', or east-west lines,
are lines of latitude or parallels 'Vertical lines', or
north-south lines, are lines of longitude or
meridians.
These lines encompass the globe and form a
gridded network called a graticule.
The arbitrary choice for a central line of longitude
is that which runs through the Royal Observatory in
Greenwich in England, and is hence known as the
Greenwich meridian or the prime meridian.
Lines of longitude are widest apart at the equator
and closest together at the poles.
Lines of latitude lie at right angles to lines of longitude
and run parallel to one another Each line of latitude
represents a circle running round the globe.
Each circle has a different circumference and area
depending on where it lies relative to the two poles.
The circle with the greatest circumference is known
as the equator and lies equidistant from the two
poles.
The origin of the graticule (0,0) is defined by where
the equator and prime meridian intersect.
The globe is then divided into four geographical
quadrants.
North and south are above and below the equator,
and west and east are to the left and right of
the prime meridian.
Latitude and longitude values are traditionally
measured either in decimal degrees or in degrees,
minutes, and seconds.

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