The MGS hand sample database is a digital database cataloging approximately 45,000 physical geologic hand samples collected in Minnesota over the last 100+ years. Hand samples are property of the MGS and currently reside at the MN DNR core facility in Hibbing, Minnesota. Each sample has the minimum identifying data of Sample ID and location. Many samples are much more fully attributed with data including, but not limited to, geologist, sample date, sample type, sample description, and geologist’s notes. Quality and extent of data preserved is highest for samples collected by MGS geologists from the mid 1900s onward.
The bulk of the thin sections in the database are poorly located or not located at all, as they temporally span the entire history of the Minnesota Geological Survey. However many of the thin sections constructed since the 1970's can be fairly easily located via old field maps and notebooks on file at the Minnesota Geological Survey. Due to the overwhelming number of sections they have been located on an 'as-needed' basis, meaning that as we progress through different mapping project areas, every attempt was made to properly locate where the sample for the thin section was taken. Several hundred thin sections have been located, mainly in northeastern Minnesota in Cook and Lake Counties, in central St. Louis County, and Itasca County. All thin sections that were made since the advent of GIS and GPS are already located, having been stored with the data for individual mapping projects.
