A Nebraska professional geologist seal must show your name, your license number, the title Licensed Professional Geologist and State of Nebraska, and your signature has to cross the seal each time you apply it. The board sets the design, and the statute gives no size. The date of placement goes with the seal. This page covers the face, device, signing, sealed pages and lapse.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529 and the Nebraska Board of Geologists. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes, for each professional geologist authorized to practice. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(a) |
| Elements on the face | Four: the state name, your name, your license number and the Licensed Professional Geologist title. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(a) |
| Design | Determined by the board rather than the statute. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(a) (design determined by the board) |
| Size and shape | The statute states neither. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(a) (design determined by the board) |
| Device | No device is named. Seal, signature and date must reproduce clearly. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(d) |
| Signature | Across the seal, every time it is applied. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(b), (3)(c), (3)(d) |
| Sealed work | Every technical submission and set of calculations given to a client or a public or governmental agency, sealed and dated page by page. | Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 81-3529(3)(c), (3)(d), (3)(e), 81-3530 |
| Responsible charge | Seal and sign only work you were in responsible charge of. | Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 81-3529(3)(c), (3)(d), (3)(e), 81-3530 |
| Electronic seal | No provision in the act. The board may adopt rules on how the seal is applied. | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(b) (board may prescribe seal application regulations) |
| After expiration | Applying the seal, or letting it be applied, is unlawful once the certificate expires. | Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 81-3529(3)(c), 81-3535, 81-3537 |
Which four elements belong on the Nebraska seal?
Four items, all listed in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3529(3)(a). The statute requires every one of them for a professional geologist authorized to practice geology in Nebraska, set within a design the board determines.
- Your name
- State of Nebraska
- The title Licensed Professional Geologist
- Your license number
Mind the title. The statute says Licensed Professional Geologist, not Registered, so a proof carrying another title does not match the statute. For how other states word the same line, see our geologist seal rules for all 54 jurisdictions.
Who decides the design and size?
The Nebraska Board of Geologists. Section 81-3529(3)(a) hands the design of the seal to the board, and the statute itself states no diameter, shape or proportion for the device.
Get the board's determined design before you order, then fit the four statutory elements into that layout. Subsection (3)(b) also lets the board adopt regulations on how the seal is applied, so the board's own rules can add detail the act leaves out.
Which device satisfies the reproduction rule?
One whose impression copies well. Section 81-3529 names no device, but subsection (3)(d) calls for the seal on originals and reproducible copies, and for the seal, signature and date to come out legibly when reproduced.
An inked impression prints on a copy directly. An embossed impression has no ink, so test how it reproduces before relying on it alone for anything that will be copied or filed.
Can you sign beside the seal instead of across it?
No. Section 81-3529(3)(b) requires your signature to run across the seal whenever the seal is applied, and it offers no alternative such as signing beside or below the impression.
Choose a layout with enough open space that a signature over the face still leaves your name and license number readable, since subsection (3)(d) also requires the seal and signature to reproduce clearly. Architects work under a separate Nebraska act; see our page on the Nebraska architect seal, legibility and signing.
Which date goes with the seal?
The date of placement. Subsection (3)(c) requires the seal and the date it was put on the document to appear on every technical submission and every set of calculations you present to a client or to a public or governmental agency.
The date marks when the seal went on, so apply the two together. Subsection (3)(d) adds that the date, like the seal and your signature, must come through clearly on reproducible copies.
Which pages of a submission need the seal?
Every page. Subsection (3)(d) has the responsible geologist seal and date each sheet of a multi-sheet submission one page at a time, so a cover seal alone does not carry through a bound set of calculations or figures.
Title pages carry the signatures of all involved parties. That is how the statute deals with work several people contributed to.
When may you apply your seal?
Only when you were in responsible charge of the work. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-3530 limits your seal and signature to that situation, as a rule separate from the seal provisions in § 81-3529.
Under § 81-3535, presenting or trying to use someone else's certificate of licensure or seal is a prohibited act. Keep the device under your own control and never lend it.
Is there an electronic seal rule for Nebraska geologists?
Not in the statute. Nothing in the Geologists Regulation Act speaks to an electronic or digital geologist seal, and no technology, certificate authority or verification standard appears in the seal section.
Because subsection (3)(b) lets the board prescribe how the seal is applied, an electronic provision may sit in the board's regulations rather than in the act. Nebraska land surveyors answer to a different board with its own approach; see why Nebraska land surveyors get their seal from the board.
What happens after your certificate expires?
You stop sealing. Subsection (3)(c) bars you from applying the seal, or letting anyone else affix it, once your certificate has expired, and it separately forbids helping another person get around the Geologists Regulation Act.
The board's disciplinary powers and penalties are listed in § 81-3537. The act as read here does not say whether the license number changes on reinstatement or whether the device must be surrendered.
How should you test a new seal before first use?
Stamp a sample sheet, sign across the impression and add the date. Then photocopy or scan it and check that seal, signature and date all read clearly on the copy, with the name and license number still legible under your signature.
Finally, compare the face against the four elements in § 81-3529(3)(a) and the board's determined design before the first real submission goes out.
Frequently asked questions
How does the geologist seal compare with Nebraska's engineer and architect seals?
The architect and engineer seal at § 81-3437.01 lists the same kinds of items: the state, the licensee's name and number, and the profession. The devices therefore differ mainly in the profession line. See our page on Nebraska engineer seal wording, and for another design profession, our note on Nebraska landscape architect licensing and seals.
Which seal does a visiting geologist on a temporary permit use?
The home state seal. Under subsection (3)(e), a temporary permit holder licensed in another state uses the seal from the state of licensure and adds a signature and the temporary permit to all work done in Nebraska.
Does the seal go on the original or on the copies?
Both. Subsection (3)(d) requires seals on originals and on reproducible copies, and the seal, signature and date must reproduce clearly on each.
Can a firm seal Nebraska geology work?
The seal section is silent on firms. Section 81-3529 prescribes no firm seal and puts nothing about a firm on the device; shared work is handled through page by page sealing by the responsible geologist and signatures of all involved on the title page.
Can one stamp serve as both my notary seal and my geologist seal?
Keep them apart. The geologist face is fixed by § 81-3529(3)(a) and the board's design, while notary stamps follow their own wording rules, covered in our guide to Nebraska notary stamp wording.
Once you have the board's determined design, order your seal from our Nebraska stamps and seals collection.
