Shapefile
Tags
physiography, physiographic, soils, landform, terrain, Michigan
We present a new physiographic map of Michigan, consisting of 91 minor and 10 major physiographic units, to visualize and delineate the landscape in more detail than has been available previously.
Physiographic maps delineate areas that are relatively uniform with respect to key physical attributes. Our mapping project made use of a wide variety of spatial data, in a GIS environment, to visualize and delineate the physical landscape in more detail than has been done previously. Many of the unit boundaries are based on data derived from 10 m raster elevation data and NRCS soils data, e.g., relief, soil wetness, escarpments, landscape fabric, and parent material characteristics. Data gleaned from NRCS SSURGO county-scale soil maps were a strength of the project. We also examined and verified many of the unit boundaries in the field, using a GIS running on a GPS-enabled laptop.
Randall J. Schaetzl, Helen Enander, Michael D. Luehmann, David P. Lusch, Carolyn Fish, Michael Bigsby, Mark Steigmeyer, Jennifer Guasco, Claire Forgacs, and Aaron Pollyea. Michigan State University Geography Department.
Data do not support geospatial analysis at scales larger than 1:100,000.
Extent
West | -90.549604 | East | -82.078030 |
North | 48.215614 | South | 41.629823 |
Randall J. Schaetzl, Helen Enander, Michael D. Luehmann, David P. Lusch, Carolyn Fish, Michael Bigsby, Mark Steigmeyer, Jennifer Guasco, Claire Forgacs, and Aaron Pollyea. Michigan State University Geography Department.
The physiographic region polygons cover the State of Michigan.
Data do not support geospatial analysis at scales larger than 1:100,000.
Our mapping effort used the most recent physiographic map of the state (Schaetzl et al. 2009; Plate 8) as a guide, and the various data sources in a GIS to iteratively draw and refine the region boundary lines. A detailed explaination of the mapping process is available in Schaetzl et al. 2013, Mapping the Physiography of Michigan with GIS, Physical Geography, 34(1) p. xx-xx.
The SSURGO soils layer covered the state of Michigan with the exception of some parts of the National Forest in the Upper Penninsula.
Covers the State of Michigan
Covers the Great Lakes Region, including all of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Downloaded all lakes and streams for Michigan watersheds.
Northern Lower Peninsula and Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Northeast Northern Lower Penninsula of Michigan.
Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Covers the State of Michigan.
Covers the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Northwest Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
Coverage of the U.S.
All the 1:24,000 DRGs that cover Michigan.
Physiographic region polygons
Schaetzl et al. 2013
Internal feature number.
Esri
Feature geometry.
Esri
The name of the minor physiographic region
Schaetzl et al. 2013
Area of the feature in map units (square meters)
ArcMap
Perimeter of the polygon feature in map units (meters)
ArcMap
The names assigned to the 10 major physiographic region
Schaetzl et al. 2013
A general description of the major physiographic region
manuscript
A general description of the minor physiographic region
Schaetzl et al. 2013
A description of the soils and sediments characteristic of the minor physiographic region.
Schaetzl et al. 2013
A description of the hydrologic characteristics of the minor physiographic region
Schaetzl et al. 2013
A description of the circa 1800 vegetation classes characteristic of the region
Schaetzl et al. 2013
A description of the characteristic current land use for the minor physiographic region.
Schaetzl et al. 2013
A description of additional references that apply to the minor physiographic region.
Schaetzl et al. 2013
The map has two levels or categories. At the aggregated level there are 10 major physiographic regions. At level two, we delineated 91 physiographic regions. The physiography, soils, hydrology, presettlement vegetation, land cover, and other pertinent information for each of these regions are described in detail in the attribute table.
Schaetzl et al. 2013. Mapping the Physiography of Michigan with GIS. Physical Geography. 34(1) p xx-xx.