Detailed geologic mapping geodatabase for the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia with station point photographs

The US Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, mapped 35 7.5-minute quadrangles, within a 2-mile-wide+ corridor centered on the Parkway, from BLRI (Blue Ridge Parkway) Mile Post (MP) 0 near Afton, Virginia southward to MP 218 at Cumberland Knob, approximately 1.3 km south of the Virginia – North Carolina State Line. Detailed bedrock geologic mapping for this project was conducted at 1:24,000-scale by systematically traversing roads, trails, creeks, and ridges within and adjacent to the 2-mile-wide+ corridor along the 216.9-mile length of the BLRI in Virginia. Geologic data at more than 23,000 station points were collected during this project (September 2009 – February 2014), with approximately 19,500 included in the accompanying database. Station point geologic data collected included lithology, structural measurements (bedding, foliations, folds, lineations, etc), mineral resource information, and other important geologic observations. Station points at the start of this project (September 2009) were located in the field using topographic reckoning; after May 2012 stations were located using Topo Maps (latest version 1.12.1) for Apple IPad 2, model MC744LL/A. Since the start of the project, station point geologic data and locational metadata were recorded both in analog (field notebook and topographic field sheets) and digitally in Esri ArcGIS (latest version ArcMAP 10.1). This data release consists of an Esri geodatabase and photographs keyed to station points along the BLRI. Photographs are titled and arranged by 7.5-minute quadrangle, and station points are located in the geodatabase. The first part of the photograph's filename corresponds to the FieldID attribute of the PhotoPoints feature class.