The regional-scale gamma spectrometry data are associated with two collaboration projects involving the Geological Survey of Greenland (GGU) and the Danish Atomic Energy Commission’s Research Establishment. The projects' objectives were to outline areas with an elevated uranium potential in two regions of Greenland: The airborne radiometric surveys in southern and central West Greenland in 1975/76 and the SYDURAN project in South Greenland in 1979-1982. To acquire the data, four-channel gamma ray spectrometers were mounted upon an aircraft (1975/76 surveys) and a helicopter (SYDURAN project). The vehicles flew along shoreline and valley contour lines at low average terrain clearances of 100 and 50 m respectively. The data were recorded without GPS systems, and so positioning was estimated when known landmarks were passed. This means that the dataset is sparse and inhomogeneous, and the spatial accuracy remains low. The gamma-spectrometer had been calibrated at a pad facility at Risø, which enabled the conversion of recorded counts per second into simulated concentrations of radioactive components in the surface of the overflown terrain. Large parts of the data (surveys from 1975/76) were originally stored on magnetic tapes and data were transferred to datafiles in 2003 to make them digital accessible. Most data were retrieved and are now available as ASCII files.

Zircon age data as gathered from literature and GEUS samples

The dataset contains outlines of archived historical unpublished geological maps and sections of Greenland mostly created by GGU and GEUS but also some other institutes from 1916 onwards at various scales.

Exploration companies are obliged to report their activities to the Ministry of Minerals and Resources (MMR). Now reports are delivered in digital format, but were previously delivered in paper, to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). They are scanned and released reports are available under Reports. Digital restoration The data that the reports hold is thus available, but stored as images in scanned pdf?s. The geochemical data of 4 reports (Allen & Harris, 1980; Coppard et al., 1992; Harris et al., 1992 and Pearson & Joudrie, 1995) have been digitized. I.e. the reports have be optically characterised and the sample locations georeferenced. The matching of the sample locations and geochemically referenced samples does not always match. Meaning that a sample that has coordinate may not have geochemical results, and a sample with geochemical measurements might not have coordinate. The reporting of the analytical facilities and precision is sparse. Detection limits, analytical uncertainty and reliability are generally not reported. Analytical methods and analysed grain fractions of sediment samples also not reported. When all these issues have been listed, it should be noted that errors may occur. From the digital restoration of scanned paper to optically characterisation of the scanned text and numbers errors may be introduced. The user is cautioned to these issues. Upload to data base To make the data available on the web, upload to GEUS sample data base is required. To fit into the sample data base, some adjustments had to be made. Sample names modified, collector created etc., resulting in modified sample names, relative to the ones used in the reports. The reports from which the samples occur in are not mentioned in the data base. Hence the four reports and links to them are listed below:

The geological maps of Denmark on a scale of 1:400,000 focus on the Danish basin and its geological structures. The map includes areas that extend from the geological age 'Basis Kalk' and the Kalk Gruppen. The 'Basis Kalk' map shows the depth in metres, where 'Basis Kalk' denotes the area that forms the basis for all layers younger than the Early Cretaceous. Over the majority of the mapped area, this surface is level with the base of the Kalk Group, but where the limestone is eroded away, the surface is equal to the base of the Quaternary. The depth to 'Basis Kalk' is calculated as the depth to the base of the deposits younger than Denmark plus the thickness of the Kalk group. The map is published in DGU Map Series no. 29 from 1991, where further information about the mapping can be obtained.

A series of Aster band ratios highlighting mineral distributions. Band ratio color composite images to distinguish variability of lithology in the area. Preprocessing of the Aster scenes encompasses atmospheric, radiometric and topographic corrections before masking non-outcrop pixels and generating the final mosaic. The calibrated radiance data is converted to apparent surface reflectance using a radiative transfer program, Atmospheric and Topographic Correction (ATCOR-3), in rugged terrain mode. The ATCOR rugged terrain mode utilizes a surface elevation model to adjust illumination levels. Calibration and adjusting the apparent surface reflectance values from the ATCOR-3 processing was not feasible due to lack of ground-based reflectance measurements.

This map is the first national map showing the depth in meters to the uppermost redox interface in sediments of Quaternary age. The redox interface indicates the transition from the oxidized to the reduced geochemical environment in sediments. The redox interface was identified according to the colors of the sediments in 11,999 wells and is shown for 1x1 km grid-cells. For grid-cells with multiple site information, the depth to the redox interface is indicated by an average value. For grid-cells without any field information, the depth of the redox interface was established based on information about 1) geological setting, 2) morphology, 3) depths to redox boundaries at nearby field sites, 4) GEUS surface geology map, 5) topography, and 6) the pre-quaternary surface. The method for this first national redox-map and the data used is described in GEUS report no. 93 (2006) entitled Beregning af nitrat-reduktionsfaktorer for zonen mellem rodzonen og frem til vandløbet. Data og metode for 1.generationskortet (in Danish). The Redox map is also described in Vand og Jord (2011) 18: 37-39 (in Danish).

Protected areas in Greenland. The data are converted from the WFS that the ministery of mineral resources (MMR) in Greenland provides. Links are provided in the online resources.

The place names data set is from the book 'Northern East Greenland's research history and place names' by A.K. Higgins, which GEUS published in 2010, with associated maps which have now been converted to web GIS format. Via free text search, you can find the place names with their explanations and their location on the map.

The Raw stream sediment samples dataset is data as they have been delivered from the laboratories, i.e. values below detection limit often spelled as negative but zero may also apply. The data are not controlled by a geologist. In addition, they may not have been reported.