Division of Geology and Land Survey
About the Division of Geology and Land Survey
Meet our Directors:
Joe Gillman, State Geologist and Geology and Land Survey Director
Darrell Pratte, State Land Surveyor and Land Survey Program Director
Educational Outreach | Geological Survey Program | Land Survey Program | Rolla Map
Join us April 22-26, 2013 to celebrate 160 years of service to Missourians
Welcome to the Division of Geology and Land Survey (DGLS). We are one of the divisions in the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Our work and products are developed for professional, technical and educational use. We provide technical oversight for many geologic investigations and issues in the state, assist citizens in interpretation and understanding of our subsurface resources, and serve as the technical assistance agency for the department.
Our mission is to provide technical assistance, education and guidance in the use and protection of Missouri’s natural resources; interpret the state’s geological setting, availability of its energy and mineral resources; evaluate and interpret geological hazards; and determine land boundaries.
A primary responsibility of our agency is to investigate and report on the state's geological resources. We conduct more than 500 geologic site investigations each year in an effort to locate waste disposal facilities in safe environments. We create geologic maps of bedrock and unconsolidated materials, and develop maps that identify areas susceptible to geologic hazards. This includes areas that are collapse-prone or subject to earthquake damage and landslides. The users of these maps include geologists, engineers, planners, real estate developers, legislators, the general public and various government agencies.
We ascertain that new water wells are constructed to minimum standards as set by the state regulations. This helps to ensure that our groundwater resources are protected from contamination due to poor well construction. We are responsible for the regulation of the construction of private water wells (this includes domestic and multiple family class wells), irrigation wells, monitoring wells and heat pump wells. Regulating proper plugging of all types of wells is another responsibility for which we are accountable. Our job is to balance the concerns of the land owner and the driller, while at the same time performing our overall directive of protecting Missouri's vast underground water supply from contamination due to improper construction and abandonment of wells.
We maintain original records of all of the original land survey monuments in Missouri. There are records on more than 1.8 million land surveys in the state. We replace monuments that are lost, develop geodetic surveys and maintain the Missouri Coordinate System. We also provide survey information to the public, land surveyors and others. Minimum survey standards are set by the state legislature. We participate in county surveyor partnerships that assist in reestablishing lost survey corners.
We sell Missouri geologic and topographic maps, along with a variety of technical and general-interest maps, publications, books and rock and mineral sets at our sales counter located in the Buehler Building, located in Rolla. You can also order and purchase items from The Missouri Geology Store, which is online, 24/7. If you visit DGLS, you will find educational displays in our Ed Clark Museum of Missouri Geology. These include rocks, minerals, fossils, and descriptions of the geologic history of Missouri.
Our Land Survey Program maintains a library of survey field books and plats that date back to 1815 and displays of historic survey markers, along with interesting surveying instruments (historic and modern).
At our McCracken Core Library and Research Center, we have more than 2.5 million feet of drill core samples cataloged and stored for you to examine. Drill cores are used for the study of the rock layers beneath the surface, to aid in the definition of the physical properties of aquifers, to provide data for waste disposal site studies, to assist in characterizing our mineral resources, and for educational purposes. Examination of rock core in this library saves considerable time and money and often eliminates the need for costly, new drill holes.
We invite you to visit our Rolla headquarters. We have served the citizens of Missouri since 1853 and are proud of the expertise of our agency. If you cannot visit us in Rolla, perhaps we will meet you on a site where we spend a good deal of time outside the office working with citizens.
