INSPIRE: The General Geological Map of the Federal Republic of Germany 1:250,000 (GÜK250) (WMS)

The WMS GÜK250 (INSPIRE) represents the surface geology of Germany on a scale of 1:250,000. In general, the term “surface geology” refers to geologic formations up to a depth of two meters. However, particularly in the south of Germany, considerable deviations of this concept exist and thicknesses of a couple of hundred meters may be displayed. According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the geological map provides INSPIRE-compliant data. The GÜK250 (INSPIRE) contains a base layer and an overlay layer which usually represents thin Quaternary deposits. The WMS GÜK250 (INSPIRE) contains correspondingly two layers for the geologic units (GE.GeologicUnit.BaseLayer and GE.GeologicUnit.OverlayLayer). Additionally the WMS comprises layers representing the faults (GE.GeologicFault), marginal position of the ice shield (GE. NaturalGeomorphologicFeature) and quartz veins (GE.GeologicUnit.QuartzVein). The layers are mostly displayed according to the INSPIRE portrayal rules. The geologic units are represented graphically by stratigraphy (GE.GeologicUnit.BaseLayer.AgeOfRocks and GE.GeologicUnit.OverlayLayer.AgeOfRocks, stored in group layer GE.AgeOfRocks) and lithology (GE.GeologicUnit.BaseLayer.Lithology and GE.GeologicUnit.OverlayLayer.Lithology, stored in group layer GE.Lithology). Because INSPIRE doesn’t provide portrayal rules for the genesis (event process und event environment), this display mode is not available compared to the original WMS GÜK250. In case of different geochronologic minimum and maximum ages, e.g. Pleistocene - Holocene, the portrayal is defined by the colour of the geochronologic minimum age (olderNamedAge). The portrayal of the lithology is defined by the rock or rock group representing the main part of the petrographic composition of the geologic unit. For the portrayal of different petrographic main components the corresponding colours are superimposed in a dot pattern. Analogous to the original WMS GÜK250 the petrographic content is represented graphically according to the generic terms of the main components, e.g. clastic sedimentary rock, pure carbonate sedimentary rock or metamorphic rock. In case of the geologic units the user obtains detailed information on the stratigraphy, lithology and genesis via the getFeatureInfo request.