Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against no board: North Dakota does not license or register geologists, and the NDCC title 43 chapter list on 22 September 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
North Dakota sits on the Bakken, employs geologists by the hundreds, funds a state geological survey inside its Department of Mineral Resources, and has never created a professional geologist license. Title 43 of the North Dakota Century Code, Occupations and Professions, runs from chapter 43-01, Abstracters, to chapter 43-66, Community Health Workers, and contains no geologist chapter. There is no geologist board, no registration number, no statutory legend and no North Dakota document that calls for a geologist’s seal.
That makes a North Dakota geologist stamp a design decision rather than a compliance one. No diameter is fixed, no wording is prescribed and nothing is filed with anyone. The only real constraint is on what the die claims. Put your own name on it, your firm name, a monogram or a logo, and any credential you actually hold with the state that issued it named beside it. Leave off “Registered” and anything shaped like a North Dakota title, because North Dakota grants a geologist none.
North Dakota geologist seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | North Dakota rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Not licensed here | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| Required elements | Not applicable: North Dakota issues no geologist license and prescribes no geologist seal | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| Size and shape | Not applicable. | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| Device allowed | Not applicable. | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| Signature and date | Not applicable. | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| What must be sealed | No North Dakota document requires a geologist’s seal. Geological content inside a regulated engineering submittal is sealed by a registered professional engineer; a drilling permit plat is certified by a registered surveyor. | NDCC 43-19.1-21; NDAC 43-02-03-16 |
| Electronic seal | Not applicable. | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| Renewal and lapse | Not applicable. | NDCC title 43 chapter list |
| Firm requirements | Not applicable. The certificate of commercial practice at NDCC 43-19.1-27 covers engineering and land surveying only. | NDCC 43-19.1-27 |
| Regulator | No board: North Dakota does not license or register geologists | NDCC title 43, Occupations and Professions, full chapter list read from the North Dakota Legislative Branch code site, which runs 43-01 through 43-66 and contains no geologist chapter |
Is a seal required in North Dakota?
North Dakota does not license, register or certify geologists, and no North Dakota agency issues a geologist a seal. The governing check is the chapter list of title 43 of the Century Code, Occupations and Professions, the title that creates every occupational board in the state. It runs from chapter 43-01, Abstracters, through chapter 43-66, Community Health Workers, with no geologist chapter anywhere in it. The engineering statute, NDCC chapter 43-19.1, covers professional engineers and land surveyors and nothing else, and its definitions at NDCC 43-19.1-02 do not mention geology or geotechnical work. There is no credential here for a seal to stand behind.
What must appear on the seal
Nothing is prescribed, because nothing is regulated. There is no element list, no required legend and no registration number, so a North Dakota geologist stamp can carry whatever is true of the person using it: name as used professionally, firm name, a discipline line such as Wellsite Geologist, a monogram, a logo. The one thing to avoid is a die that mimics a North Dakota credential. The state’s statutory legend pattern at NDCC 43-19.1-21 reads “registered professional engineer” or “registered professional land surveyor”. A die reading Registered Professional Geologist, North Dakota copies that shape and asserts something the state has never granted.
Size and shape
Not applicable. North Dakota prescribes no geologist seal, so there is no diameter and no shape rule to meet. The state is quite specific where a credential does exist: NDAC 28-02.1-08-02 gives the engineer and land surveyor seal two concentric circles, the outer 1-3/4″ and the inner 1-1/4″, with the credential legend in the upper annular space, “North Dakota” at the bottom of that space, and the name, registration number and the word “Date” inside. Nothing of that kind governs a geologist device. The round dies Acorn cuts most often for unregulated professional stamps fall between 1-1/2″ and 2″, which is a legibility judgment from our own production rather than a rule.
Embosser, rubber stamp or digital
Not applicable. With no North Dakota geologist credential there is no required instrument, so the choice is practical. An embosser leaves a raised impression that scans poorly; a rubber or self-inking stamp reproduces cleanly in a scan; a graphic file drops into a PDF. None of the three carries state authority for a geologist, because there is none to carry. Where the same question is regulated the answer is narrower: NDAC 28-02.1-08-02 permits an engineer or land surveyor seal to be a rubber stamp, metal impression type, computer-generated or electronically generated.
Signing and dating
Not applicable. No North Dakota rule prescribes a signature or a date for a geologist, because no North Dakota rule prescribes a geologist seal. Signing and dating a geological report here is contractual practice, not statute. The regulated comparison sits in the engineering rules: NDAC 28-02.1-08-02 requires the registrant’s signature across the face of the seal, requires both the signature and the seal to be dated, and prohibits rubber stamp and facsimile signatures. NDAC 28-02.1-08-03 then requires the seal, date and signature on an introductory sheet for a study or report and on every sheet of engineering plans.
The Bakken, a state survey, and still no geologist license
North Dakota is one of the largest oil producing states in the country, it runs a geological survey with a core library and a paleontology program, and it does register a geoscience-adjacent profession: NDCC chapter 43-36 creates a board for professional soil classifiers, with registration, examination and a code of ethics across sections 43-36-01 to 43-36-25. It has never done the same for geologists. Regional practice is mixed enough to make the assumption easy. ASBOG’s licensure page lists the states with geologist registration, licensure or certification laws; Minnesota is on it, and North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana are not. ASBOG’s own state index marks North Dakota nonregulatory.
Which documents must be sealed
No North Dakota document requires a geologist’s seal. When geological content reaches a regulated submittal it travels under somebody else’s seal. NDCC 43-19.1-21 is the controlling provision: final engineering drawings, specifications, maps, plats, reports or other documents prepared by a person required to be registered under that chapter must be signed, dated and stamped with the seal or a facsimile of it when presented to a client, a contractor, a subconsultant or any public agency. A geotechnical or geological report issued as part of engineering work is sealed by the registered professional engineer whose work product it is, not by the geologist who wrote the sections.
What an oil and gas drilling permit actually asks for
This is the question most North Dakota geologists are really asking. NDAC 43-02-03-16, the Industrial Commission rule on the application for a permit to drill and produce, requires an accurate plat certified by a registered surveyor, showing the proposed well location referenced to true north and to the nearest lines of a governmental section, the latitude and longitude to the nearest tenth of a second, the ground elevation and the proposed road access to the nearest existing public road. The certification named in that rule is a surveyor’s. Nothing in the permit-to-drill rule asks for a geologist’s seal or names a geologist credential at all.
What the Survey and the Department of Mineral Resources regulate
The Department of Mineral Resources holds the Oil and Gas Division, the Geological Survey and the paleontology program. The Survey exists under NDCC chapter 54-17.4, which makes it a division of the department, makes the state geologist its head at NDCC 54-17.4-06, and sets its duties at NDCC 54-17.4-02 as being the state’s primary source of geological information, researching energy resources and geologic hazards, maintaining public repositories and advising government agencies. Nothing there licenses anyone. The Survey does administer permits: NDAC chapter 43-02-01 puts coal exploration permits under the state geologist, who keeps the official permit list at 43-02-01-09 and decides whether land will be substantially disturbed at 43-02-01-20. Those are permits on activity, not credentials on people.
Working under a registered professional engineer
A geologist in North Dakota most often ends up inside an engineering deliverable, and the engineering rules describe that arrangement directly. NDAC 28-02.1-08-03 bars a registrant from sealing a document outside the registrant’s competence, or one not prepared under the registrant’s direct supervisory control, and lets a professional coordinate a whole project only where each technical segment is signed and sealed by the qualified engineer or land surveyor who prepared it. NDCC 43-19.1-29 then exempts the work of an employee or subordinate of a registrant working under direct supervision, and exempts anyone regularly employed to perform engineering services solely for that person’s own employer, which is how much operator-side geoscience is lawfully done.
Electronic seals, renewal and firm registration
Not applicable on all three counts. No electronic seal standard exists for a profession the state does not regulate, so a graphic of your own geologist stamp in a PDF is governed by your own practice and carries no North Dakota authority. There is no North Dakota geologist license to renew, lapse, retire or revoke. And the state issues no certificate of authorization for geological services: NDCC 43-19.1-27 requires an organization or an individual operating under a trade name to hold a certificate of commercial practice and to keep a registered professional engineer or land surveyor in responsible charge, but that provision reaches engineering and land surveying work, not geology.
What to check before you order
There is nothing for a North Dakota geologist seal to comply with, so the checks are about honesty rather than dimensions. Do not order a die reading Registered Professional Geologist, North Dakota; it copies the legend pattern the state reserves for credentials it actually grants. If you hold a PG from a state that licenses geologists, order that state’s seal to that state’s own specification and use it only for work there. If you are also a registered professional engineer here, order that device to NDAC 28-02.1-08-02 and keep it strictly separate from any device identifying geological work, because combining the legends would misdescribe both. This page is a research summary and not legal advice. Browse geologist stamps and seals, or contact us with your artwork.
- North Dakota PE Seal: 1-3/4 Inch Design and Signing
- North Dakota Land Surveyor Seal: 1-3/4 by 1-1/4 Inch
- North Dakota Interior Designer Seal: No Credential
Frequently asked questions
Does North Dakota require a geologist to have a seal?
No, and it could not, because it issues no geologist license. Title 43 of the Century Code runs from chapter 43-01 to chapter 43-66 and has no geologist chapter, so there is no registration number to inscribe, no legend to letter and no document that calls for the device.
Is the North Dakota Geological Survey a licensing board?
No. NDCC chapter 54-17.4 makes the Survey a division of the Department of Mineral Resources with the state geologist at its head under 54-17.4-06, and sets its duties at 54-17.4-02 as research, information, public repositories and technical advice to government. It issues no professional credential and prescribes no seal.
Does the Department of Mineral Resources license geologists?
No. It holds the Oil and Gas Division, the Geological Survey and the paleontology program, and regulates activity through permits on drilling, coal exploration and carbon dioxide storage. It does not register individuals as geologists.
Who certifies the plat on a North Dakota drilling permit?
A registered surveyor. NDAC 43-02-03-16 requires the application for a permit to drill and produce to include an accurate plat certified by a registered surveyor, showing the location referenced to true north and the nearest lines of a governmental section, the latitude and longitude to the nearest tenth of a second, the ground elevation and the proposed road access.
Who seals geological content on a regulated submittal here?
A registered professional engineer. NDCC 43-19.1-21 requires final engineering drawings, specifications, maps, plats and reports prepared by a person required to be registered to be signed, dated and stamped when presented to a client, a contractor, a subconsultant or any public agency, and that registrant carries the responsibility.
Do the carbon dioxide storage rules require a licensed geologist?
No. NDAC 43-05-01-05 requires a geologic and hydrogeologic evaluation of the facility area for a storage facility permit, and a review of the data of public record conducted by a geologist or engineer. The rule names the function, not a credential; it carries no “licensed” or “registered” modifier, because there is no North Dakota geologist license to require.
What can I put on a North Dakota geologist stamp?
Whatever is true of you: your name as you use it professionally, your firm name, a discipline line, a monogram or a logo, and the exact name of any credential you hold with the state that issued it named alongside. No North Dakota element list governs it.
What should I keep off it?
Registered Professional Geologist, North Dakota. That construction mirrors the statutory legend pattern at NDCC 43-19.1-21, which the state uses for registered professional engineers and registered professional land surveyors, and asserts a credential North Dakota grants nobody.
North Dakota registers soil classifiers. Why not geologists?
Because the legislature wrote one chapter and not the other. NDCC chapter 43-36 creates a board for professional soil classifiers with registration, examination and a code of ethics across sections 43-36-01 to 43-36-25. No parallel chapter exists for geology.
I am also a registered engineer here. Can I use one device?
No. Order the engineering device to NDAC 28-02.1-08-02, with the 1-3/4″ outer circle, the 1-1/4″ inner circle, the credential legend in the upper annular space, North Dakota at the bottom, and your name, registration number and the word Date inside. Keep it separate from anything identifying geological work.
