PLSS (Public Land Survey System)

The grid-based land description system used across the western United States — township, range, section, quarter — the coordinate system of mineral title.

The PLSS divides land into six-mile-square townships, one-mile-square sections (640 acres), and subdivisions down to quarter-quarter-quarters (10 acres). Every mineral parcel in a PLSS state is described by its township, range, and section coordinates.

A typical PLSS description reads: 'NE/4 Section 12, Township 7 North, Range 66 West, 6th Principal Meridian, Weld County, Colorado.' This uniquely identifies a 160-acre parcel.

PLSS coordinates are the primary join key across mineral data: operators reference them in permits, counties index records by them, and geologists map reservoirs using them.

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