Kentucky Geological Survey FY2017 Geologic Data Preservation

The two objectives for this proposal involve preserving and disseminating data related to oil and gas exploration. The Kentucky Geological Survey is legislatively mandated to archive and make available oil and gas documents for wells permitted through the Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas. The documents include well location and drilling information, rock and chemical analyses, electronic logs, and strip logs. Archiving these records in a digital format and making them available through web services is a top preservation and data dissemination priority for KGS. Working with the Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas, KGS also maintains a database of information about oil and gas wells which are related to these well documents. Since 2002, KGS has scanned and made these documents and related data available through the KGS website at no charge through a searchable online database. These documents and related data are, by several orders of magnitude, the most accessed digital information provided by KGS to the public (Figure 1). For the past five years, oil and gas records have been accessed, on average, nearly 295,000 times per year. Not only does this preservation dissemination activity fulfill the KGS mandate, but also provides valuable subsurface geologic data for researchers and the public. The oil and gas data and documents that KGS provides is easily accessible to anyone through these Web services, and is vitally important for oil and gas exploration research and activities, groundwater protection, and mining.