Abstract Changes in society coupled with more ambitious environmental goals increase the need to make the benefits of geological knowledge visible. The Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) is therefore evolving from its historical role as a ‘knowledge bank’ to become part of the integrated flow of public information. Three examples of the ongoing digital transformation, and how this will enable the SGU to contribute digital geological data for sustainable development, are: more automated data collection to monitor drinking water to be able to foresee water shortages; several new non-traditional marine projects, producing new information and recommendations for innovative measures to support Blue Growth, management and planning; an online virtual archive containing new data adding to our understanding of bedrock and mineral deposits, in turn leading to more efficient use of Sweden's mineral resources.

Abstract Karst aquifers are some of the most important and well-used sources of water worldwide. The tapping of karst waters for use as drinking water has been important in the historical and economic development of many karst regions. Recent studies have found that karstified rocks and aquifer systems cover c. 15% of the Earth’s ice-free land. The greatest area of karst outcrops (>1 × 10 6 km 2 ) is in Russia, the USA, China and Canada. In the Mediterranean basin, groundwater is generally more abundant in karst than in other aquifers and has been extensively exploited. Karst groundwater is also widely used in the Middle East, China, North America, and northern and eastern Africa and is of crucial importance for the sustainable development of tourism and the economy. Karst aquifers currently supply c. 10% of the global population with drinking water and, in some zones, they are the only water resource available. However, the share of karst aquifers in the global supply of water will decrease with the predicted increase in population, concentrated in urban areas, and improvements in treatment technologies for water from other sources.

Water access, sanitation, and security remain key foci of international aid and development. However, the increasing interconnectedness of hydrologic and social systems can cause water initiatives to have unexpected and cascading effects across geographic scales. This presents new challenges for geoscientists working in water development, as distant and complex socioeconomic and environmental relationships, or “telecouplings,” may significantly influence the outcomes and sustainability of development projects. We explore these emerging concepts through a case study in Ethiopia, which receives over half of its annual budget from foreign development assistance and is currently experiencing rapid population growth and environmental change. Using examples from the literature, we identify water development aid initiatives in rural and urban settings and at local and national scales. We then situate these within the telecoupling framework to reveal underlying social-hydrological relationships. Our results indicate that water development is linking Ethiopia’s hydrology with geographically distant communities and markets and creating new and often unexpected flows of people, material, and capital. These are resulting in cascading impacts and cross-scale feedbacks among urbanization, geopolitics, and the water-food-energy nexus in East Africa. We conclude with a discussion of the strengths, limitations, and potential of the telecoupling framework for geoscientists and development practitioners.

The Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition (GLGMC), consisting of state geological surveys from all eight Great Lakes states, the Ontario Geological Survey, and the U.S. Geological Survey, was conceived out of a societal need for unbiased and scientifically defensible geologic information on the shallow subsurface, particularly the delineation, interpretation, and viability of groundwater resources. Only a small percentage (<10%) of the region had been mapped in the subsurface, and there was recognition that no single agency had the financial, intellectual, or physical resources to conduct such a massive geologic mapping effort at a detailed scale over a wide jurisdiction. The GLGMC provides a strategy for generating financial and stakeholder support for three-dimensional (3-D) geologic mapping, pooling of physical and personnel resources, and sharing of mapping and technological expertise to characterize the thick cover of glacial sediments. Since its inception in 1997, the GLGMC partners have conducted detailed surficial and 3-D geologic mapping within all jurisdictions, and concurrent significant scientific advancements have been made to increase understanding of the history and framework of geologic processes. More importantly, scientific information has been provided to public policymakers in understandable formats, emphasis has been placed on training early-career scientists in new mapping techniques and emerging technologies, and a successful model has been developed of state/provincial and federal collaboration focused on geologic mapping, as evidenced by this program’s unprecedented and long-term successful experiment of 10 geological surveys working together to address common issues.

Abstract The Pennsylvanian section on the southern Cumberland Plateau in the Sewanee and Tracy City area is composed of the Gizzard Group (Raccoon Mountain Formation, Warren Point Sandstone, and Signal Point Shale) and the lower portion of the Crab Orchard Mountains Group (Sewanee Conglomerate and Whitwell Shale). The hydrogeologic setting of the area controlled the founding and development of the town of Sewanee and University of the South. Water use initially relied upon a system of perennial springs, soil seeps, shallow wells, and a failed method of dam construction. Later, reservoirs with earthen dams across first-order drainages set the stage for growth of the community. Deformation associated with the Alleghanian Cumberland overthrust on the University Domain (more than 10,000 acres owned by the university) is subtle and confined to Bon Air coals in the Raccoon Mountain Formation, but a well-developed system of thrusts and folds in nearby Fiery Gizzard documents a consistent northwest tectonic transport direction. Deformation ranges from centimeter scale in Raccoon Mountain Formation mudstones to tens of meters of Warren Point Sandstone cut by northeast-striking thrusts. Deformation in Fiery Gizzard is locally related to two décollement surfaces above (intensely sheared Raccoon Mountain sandstone) and below (sheared Raccoon Mountain mudstones and coals) Sycamore Falls. Fourteen kilometers to the southeast, these overthrust structures are thought to connect to the Sequatchie thrust.

ABSTRACT This field trip is an excursion to exposures of Pennsylvanian bedrock at Grand Ledge, Michigan, as a backdrop for interdisciplinary examination of the sedimentologic, stratigraphic, and hydrologic research conducted on these important bedrock aquifer units. The areal extent of Pennsylvanian rocks in the central Lower Peninsula of Michigan is ~28,490 km 2 . Pleistocene glacial deposits overlie these units throughout the state, but the drift is thin and locally absent along the Grand River Valley, in and around Grand Ledge, Michigan. The geology of the Pennsylvanian deposits is known almost entirely from subsurface research, although sparse outcrops occur near Parma and Jackson in Jackson County and at Grand Ledge in Eaton County. These outcrops, especially the ones at Grand Ledge, constitute the only exposures of coal-bearing strata in Michigan where visitors can see massive sandstone, shale, coal, and associated strata, and fine-grained, chaotic, riverbank-slump facies. The sections of the field trip will attempt to relate Grand Ledge area deposits to the Pennsylvanian section at the state and regional scale. First, general geologic and stratigraphic relations will be described on the basis of knowledge from the nearby cities of Lansing and Mason, where diamond drill cores and geophysical logs from extensively studied groundwater contamination sites are available. Lithologic and geophysical logs from these sites will be reviewed under the pavilion. Next, lithologic type sections of the Pennsylvanian material in outcrop will be observed and discussed. An example of core from a nearby industrial site will be studied under the pavilion during lunch, and a final trip to outcrop will be made to discuss stratigraphic relationships in an effort to bring into perspective the complexities of Pennsylvanian strata in the Michigan Basin.

New strategies for sustainability within the Department of Defense are focused on addressing present and future needs while strengthening community partnerships that improve operational abilities. This “across-the-fence line” strategic thinking requires innovative tools that can engage a broad segment of the community and a variety of military interest groups. These tools must provide a platform for understanding the challenges and realizing the goals of both private- and public-sector interests. They must tangibly represent many different potential futures, their implications, and policies that can help mobilize solutions quickly and easily in a uniform, consistent, and democratic manner. The Strategic Sustainability Assessment (SSA) consists of a series of complementary tools for forecasting and backcasting that provide regional stakeholders a unique perspective on potential sustainable regional policy and investment choices. Forecasting approaches use dynamic spatial modeling techniques to project potential future urban transformations and their implication to the social, environmental, and economic fabric of the region. Backcasting is used to determine critical sets of strategic interventions designed to offset the simulated future impacts. The results of the analysis are managed through the use of a Web-based GeoPortal. This helps to democratize the information by providing it to local stakeholders in a useable and accessible way. The hope is that greater and more direct access to models and the information they generate will help lead to better, more sustainable planning decisions in our military bases and in our communities.