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Thomas N. Sparks

Title: Geologist, Energy and Minerals Section

Address:
Kentucky Geological Survey
204 Mining and Mineral Resources Bldg.
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0107

Phone: 859-323-0552
Fax: 859.257.1147
E-mail: sparks@uky.edu

Joined KGS in January 1994.

Education:

• 1975, B.S., Geology, Morehead State University, Morehead, Ky.
• 1979, M.S., Geology, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

Responsibilities:

Technical coordinator for Digital Geologic Mapping Group. Major responsibilities include data quality control and quality assurance, digital map compilation and edge matching, geographic information systems (GIS) applications, creation of final layout plots, and database maintenance of compiled coverages. Research interests are geologic mapping applications in GIS using ARC/INFO, ArcView, and ArcMap.

Professional Organizations:

• The Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists

Publications:

• Sparks T.N., 2009, Geologic map of Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 19, scale 1:350,000.
• Sparks T.N., Anderson, W.H, and Morris, L.G., 2008, Geologic map of the Hazard 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 16, scale 1:100,000.
• Sparks T.N., Anderson, W.H, and Morris, L.G., 2008, Geologic map of the Irvine 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 17, scale 1:100,000.
• Martin, S.L., Anderson, W.H., and Sparks, T.N., 2007, Geologic map of part of the Paducah and Cape Girardeau 30 x 60 minute quadrangles, western Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 14, scale 1:100,000.
• Petersen, C., Sparks, T.N., and Anderson, W.H., 2006, Geologic map of the Morehead 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, northeastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 13, scale 1:100,000.
• Petersen, C., and, Sparks, T.N., 2006, Geologic map of the Kentucky portion of the Pikeville 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, southeastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 11, scale 1:100,000.
• Harris, D.C., and Sparks, T.N., 2005, Structure and isopach maps of the Mississippian “Big Lime” (Newman Limestone/Slade Formation), Eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Map and Chart 77, scale 1:500,000.
• Anderson, W.H., Sparks, T.N., and Weisenfluh, G.A., 2004, Completion of the first phase of the Kentucky digital geologic mapping program: in Digital Mapping Techniques ‘04—Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2004-1451, p. 5-7.
• Sparks, T.N., 2004, Geologic map of the Middlesboro and part of the Bristol 30 x 60 minute quadrangles, southeastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 7, scale 1:100,000.
• Sparks, T.N., and Hounshell, T.D., 2004, Geology of central Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Map and Chart 81, 1 sheet.
• Sparks, T.N., and Zhang, Q., 2003, Geologic map of the Louisville 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, central Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 4, scale 1:100,000.
• Sparks, T.N., Dever, G.R., Jr., and Anderson, W.H., 2002, Geologic map of the Falmouth, Madison, and Cincinnati 30 x 60 minute quadrangles, northern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 3, scale 1:100,000.
• Sparks, T.N., Dever, G.R., Jr., and Anderson, W.H., 2002, Geologic map of the Lexington 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, central Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 2, scale 1:100,000.
• Sparks, T.N., Dever, G.R., Jr., and Anderson, W.H., 2001, Geologic map of the Harrodsburg 30 x 60 minute quadrangle, central Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Geologic Map 1, scale 1:100,000.
• Harris, D.C., and Sparks T.N., 2000, Regional subsurface geologic cross sections of the Mississippian Basin, eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, ser. 12, Map and Chart 14, 1 CD-ROM.
• Yang, X.-Y., Anderson, W.H., Sparks, T.N., and Carey, D.I., 1999, Acquisition of geologic quadrangle data from a digital index map—A new ArcView application to geologic data query, in Digital Mapping Techniques '99—Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 99-386, p. 53-56.
• Anderson, W.H., Sparks, T.N., Patton, J.A., Yang, X.-Y., and Sergeant, R.E., 1999, Integration of relational geologic databases and a spatial map database in Kentucky, in Digital Mapping Techniques '99—Workshop Proceedings: U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 99-386, p. 123-126.
• Anderson, W.H., Morris, L.G., and Sparks, T.N., 1997, Semi-automated data capture for vectorizing geologic quadrangle maps in Kentucky, in Digital Mapping Techniques '97—Proceedings of a workshop on digital mapping techniques: Methods for geologic map data capture, management and publication: U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 97-269, p. 9-13.