The University of New Hampshire has placed about 1,500 JPG-formatted images of historic topographic maps for New York and the New England states at http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm/.

Find more information about all USGS maps at the USGS Store and click on "Maps" in the left margin.

There are 3,141 counties and county equivalents in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. They are categorized as follows:

3,007 entities named "County"
16 Boroughs in Alaska
11 Census Areas in Alaska (for areas not organized into Boroughs by the State)
64 Parishes in Louisiana
42 Independent Cities (1 in Maryland, 1 in Missouri, 1 in Nevada, and the remainder in Virginia)
1 District - the Federal District or District of Columbia.

This does not include Commonwealths and territories with what are generally county equivalents, which are as follows:

Puerto Rico - 78 Municipios
U.S. Virgin Islands - 2 Districts
Guam - 19 Election Districts
Northern Mariana Islands - 17 Districts
American Samoa - 5 Districts

To view maps of volcanoes visit the USGS online store at Maps>Hazards or Education Products>Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Landslides.

There are no official definitions for generic terms as applied to geographic features. Such definitions as exist derive from the particular needs and applications of organizations using them. The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) database utilizes 63 broad categories of feature types originally defined solely to facilitate retrieval of entries with similar characteristics from the database.

These categories generally accord with dictionary definitions, but not always or in all respects. The differences are thematic and highly perceptive. For example, a lake is classified in the GNIS as a "natural body of inland water," a definition that may not apply in other contexts. We have found 54 other generic terms with characteristics similar to a lake, and all are classified as lake, including features called ponds. It might be generally agreed that a pond is smaller than a lake, but even this is not always true.

All "linear flowing bodies of water" are classified as streams in the GNIS. At least 121 other generic terms fit this broad category, including creeks and rivers. Observers might contend that a creek must flow into a river, but such hierarchies do not exist in the Nation's namescape. Near the USGS offices in Northern Virginia, Little River flows into Goose Creek. Many controversies exist, such as mountain and hill, which we call "summit" along with 194 generic terms with similar characteristics. Cities, towns and other entities with human habitation are classified as populated places.

The British Ordnance Survey once defined a mountain as having 1,000 feet of elevation and less was a hill, but the distinction was abandoned sometime in the 1920's. There was even a movie with this as its theme in the late 1990's - The Englishman That Went Up a Hill and Down a Mountain. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names once stated that the difference between a hill and a mountain in the U.S. was 1,000 feet of local relief, but even this was abandoned in the early 1970's. Broad agreement on such questions is essentially impossible, which is why there are no official feature classification standards.

Most survey benchmarks were not established by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), but by the National Coast and Geodetic Survey, and are available on the web from http://www.ngs.noaa.gov ["Data sheets"]. For further assistance call 301-713-3242 or e-mail infocenter@ngs.noaa.gov.

USGS survey benchmark data is not yet available on the Internet

For Eastern U.S. vertical and horizontal control information contact USGS in Rolla, Missouri, by telephone 573-308-3500 or e-mail mcmcesic@usgs.gov.

For Western U.S. vertical and horizontal control information contact USGS in Denver, Colorado, by telephone 303-202-4400 or e-mail infoservices@usgs.gov.

The needle of a compass is a small magnet, one that is allowed to pivot in the horizontal plane. The needle experiences a torque from the ambient magnetic field of the Earth. The reaction to this torque is the needle's preferred alignment with the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field. The 'north' end of the compass needle is simply the north end of the magnet, and it is the end of the compass needle that points in the general direction of the geographic north pole; naturally, the 'south' end of the compass needle is the south end of the magnet and it points in the opposite direction, towards the general direction of the geographic south pole. Having said this, the preferred directionality of a compass can be affected by local perturbations in the magnetic field, like those set up by (say) a near-by electrical system; a compass can also be affected by local magnetization of the Earth's crust, particularly near large igneous or volcanic rock deposits.

There are several different sources available and dependent on the type of information you are searching for:

Digital Map Data

YES. Visit our Digital Geospatial Data Page or call 1-888-ASK-USGS for our information package on digital cartographic data.

1. Niihau
2. Kauai
3. Oahu
4. Molokai
5. Lanai
6. Maui
7. Kahoolawe
8. Hawaii (Big Island)

Although the content of most National Atlas web pages is in the public domain, some pages may contain material that is copyrighted by others and used by the National Atlas with permission. You may need to obtain permission from the copyright owner for other uses. Furthermore, some non-National Atlas data, products, and information linked, or referred to, from this site may be protected under U.S. and foreign copyright laws. You may need to obtain permission from the copyright owner to acquire, use, reproduce, or distribute these materials.

At most places on the Earth's surface, the compass doesn't point exactly toward geographic north. The deviation of the compass from true north is an angle called 'declination'. It is a quantity that has been a nuisance to navigators for centuries, especially since it varies with both geographic location and time. It might surprise you to know that at very high latitudes the compass can even point south! Declination is simply a manifestation of the complexity of the geomagnetic field. The field is not perfectly symmetrical, it has non-dipolar 'ingredients', and the dipole itself is not perfectly aligned with the rotational axis of the Earth. Interestingly, if you were to stand at the north geomagnetic pole, your compass, held horizontally as usual, would not have a preference to point in any particular direction, and the same would be true if you were standing at the south geomagnetic pole. Moreover, if you were to hold your compass on its side the north-pointing end of the compass would point down at the north geomagnetic pole, and it would point up at the south geomagnetic pole. Maps of declination, such as that shown below (contours of 10 degrees east), as well as other field components, and a program for determining the magnetic field at any geographic location, are given in the Models, Charts, and Movies pages of this website.

Climb A Volcano -
"Family Fun - Picnic at the Top"

• Sunset Crater
  Sunset Crater Volcano is closed to climbing and hiking. However, other cinder cones in the area may be climbed.

• Black Point, Mono Lake
  The hike to the top of Black Point is not an easy one; consider this an exploration, an adventure! There are no trails or signs to show you where to go. You will be walking through the cinders and ash of the volcano and sometimes progress will be difficult. If you persevere, your discovery of the fissures will seem even more spectacular because their remoteness.
• Lassen Peak
  A "well-graded" climb of 2,000 feet in 2 and 1/2 miles. Hike at a moderate pace, and take short, frequent rests. Enjoy the ever-changing view! Mount Shasta, 14,161-foot elevation looms seventy-five miles to the northwest.
• Schonchin Butte, Lava Beds National Monument
  Cinder cones are easily eroded so please stay on the established trails and don't take shortcuts. Frothy lava, cooled in the air, created the large cinder cones throughout the monument. Schonchin Butte's .75 mile trail leads you to a panoramic view from the historic fire lookout. The lookout is staffed from June to September. Children of all ages can earn a Junior Fire Lookout badge.

• Capulin Mountain
  Have you ever wanted to walk into a volcano? Well, Capulin Volcano is one of the few places in the world where you can do that. A 2-mile road spirals to the summit, ending at a parking area, where two self-guiding trails begin.

• Mount Bachelor
  Near Bend, Oregon
  Ride the Sunrise Lift to mid-mountain, walk over to the Summit Lift, and ride it to the top
• Brown Mountain
  Between Medford and Klamath Falls
  A scramble over fresh talus. View the south flanks of Mount McLoughlin.
• Crater Lake
  The 33-mile Rim Drive encirles Crater Lake, with each mile giving a different perspecitve of the lake, rim, and surrounding terrain.
• Larch Mountain
  Boring Lava shield volcano (4,056 feet), near Portland, Oregon
• Lava Butte
  Near Bend, Oregon
  In the 1930's the USFS designated Lava Butte as a lookout point and built a spiral road to the top. A 1/4-mile trail circles the crater. This trail offers spectacular views of the Cascade Mountain Range and Deschutes Plateau. A grand vista of volcanic country.
• Mount McLoughlin
  Between Medford and Klamath Falls
  A "moderately-steep" trail.
• Newberry Caldera
  20 miles southeast of Bend, Oregon
  From its junction with Road 21 within Newberry Crater, the Paulina Peak road is 4.1 miles long. On a clear day, you can see into Washington and California, and view almost the entire High Cascade Range in Oregon.
• Pelican Butte
  Between Medford and Klamath Falls
  A "reasonably well-maintained" gravel road leads to the top. It offers a 180-degree panorama of Cascade Peaks from just south of Crater Lake past Mount McLoughlin and onto the volcanoes in the Mountain Lakes Wilderness.
• Pilot Butte
  At the east city limits of Bend, Oregon
  A spiral road to the top. Pilot Butte is a cinder cone at the east city limits at Bend. Visible from its easily accessible top are the snow peaks of the Cascade Range (listed from the north): Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Three-Fingered Jack, Mount Washington, North Sister, Middle Sister, South Sister, Broken Top, and Mount Bachelor Ski Resort Area.
• Powell Butte
  Boring Lava cone, near Portland, Oregon
• Rocky Butte
  Boring Lava cone, near Portland, Oregon
• Mount Tabor
  Boring lava cone, near Portland, Oregon
  Miles of trails and roadways wind through tall trees and well-maintained landscape, and most lead to the top, a trip rewarded by breathtaking views of downtown Portland and the West Hills from one side, Mount Hood and the outer Eastside from the other.
• Mount Thielsen
  Southern Oregon Cascades
  The trail is a steep climb, particularly above timberline beyond which there are no markers. The last 200 feet is a difficult hand-over-hand climb. The view of the east and west sides of the Cascades, from the Sisters to Mount Shasta, is incredible.



Washington State

• Battle Ground Lake
  North of Vancouver, Washington, approximately 45 minutes from Portland, Oregon
  10 miles of hiking trails, 10 miles of bike trails, and 5 miles of horse trails. The lake's origin is volcanic, and is believed to have been formed as a "Maar" volcano. This type of volcano is the result of hot lava or magma pushing up near the surface of the earth and then coming into contact with underground water. This is thought to have resulted in a large steam explosion, leaving a crater that later formed a lake.
• Beacon Rock
  35 miles east of Vancouver, Washington
  An easy one-mile trail to the top. Fantastic view of the Columbia River.
• Mount St. Helens
  50 miles from Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington
  Most climbers complete the round trip in 7 to 12 hours. A climbing permit is required. At 8,365 feet, the rim of Mount St. Helens provides outstanding views of the crater, lava dome, blast area, and surrounding volcanic peaks.

USGS Field Records Library

Box 25046, MS 914

Denver Federal Center

Denver, CO 80225-0046

Telephone: 303-236-1000

FAX: 303-236-0015

TDD: 303-236-0998

E-mail: den_lib@usgs.gov

Jill Schneider

USGS Mineral Resources Surveys

Alaska Section

4200 University Drive

Anchorage, AK 99508-4667

Telephone: 907-786-7457 (Office) and 907-786-7007 (Library)

FAX: 907-786-7401

E-mail: jschnidr@usgs.gov

Two other sources of field records are:

1. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland, which keeps field record materials in their Archives II facility. Refer to the Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States (Washington, D.C.: NARA, 1995).

Inventory of the Records of the United States Geological Survey, Record Group 57, in the National Archives, part of USGS Circular 1179 (2000, CD-ROM): Records and History of the United States Geological Survey, contains information on USGS and related records accessioned by NARA through 1997 and held at NARA-II. Appendices in this inventory list field records held at NARA-II and by the USGS Field Records Library at Denver.

National Archives and Records Administration

8601 Adelphi Road

College Park, MD 20740-6001

Telephone: 301-713-6800 (General Reference Information)

Telephone: 1-866-272-6272 (Toll Free)

E-mail: inquire@nara.gov

URL: http://www.archives.gov/index.html

The Smithsonian Institution Archives

Arts and Industries Building, Room 2135

900 Jefferson Drive, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20560

Telephone: 202-357-1420

E-mail: OSIAREF@OSIA.SI.EDU

Rocky Mountain Mapping Center

USGS National Mapping Division

Box 25046, MS 506, Federal Center

Denver, CO 80225-0046

Telephone: 303-202-4394

Mid-Continent Mapping Center

USGS National Mapping Division

MS 309

1400 Independence Road

Rolla, MO 65401

Telephone: 573-308-3663

There is no certain answer. There are 616 officially named glaciers in Alaska (see USGS Geographic Names Information System online data base), and many more unnamed glaciers. The Alaska Almanac estimates that Alaska has 100,000 glaciers -- that's a pretty good estimate.

The current El Niño will probably surpass the greatest El Niño of century, that of 1982-83. During the past 40 years, nine El Niños have affected the western coasts of North and South America. Most of them raised water temperatures along 5000 miles of coast. The weaker events raised sea temperatures only a few degrees Fahrenheit and caused mild changes in weather. But the strong ones, like the El Niño of 1982-83, left a climatic imprint that was global in extent.

El Niño recurs irregularly, from two years to a decade, and no two events are exactly alike. Before the 1982-83 El Niño event, scientists did not collect detailed information on El Niños, so information is scanty for making high-quality predictions about the effects of the current El Niño of 1997-98.

The impacts of El Niños can be devastating, as illustrated by some of the effects of the unusually strong El Niño of 1982-83:

- Drought (sometimes with associated wildfires) in many nations (particularly in the western Pacific Rim, southern and northern Africa, southern Asia, southern Europe, and parts of South and Central America);- Severe cyclones that damaged island communities in the Pacific;- Flooding over wide areas of South America, western Europe, and the Gulf Coastal states; - Severe storms in the western and northeastern United States.

• About.com Geography
• Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook
• Houghton Mifflin Company Education Place
• National Geographic Xpeditions
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, The University of Texas at Austin
• University of Alabama, United States Maps

 

The Thistle, Utah, landslide cost in excess of $200 million dollars (1984 dollars) to fix. The landslide occurred during the spring of 1983, when unseasonably warm weather caused rapid snowmelt to saturate the slope. The landslide destroyed the railroad tracks of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company, and the adjacent Highway 89. It also flowed across the Spanish Fork River, forming a dam. The impounded river water inundated the small town of Thistle. The inhabitants of the town of Thistle, directly upstream from the landslide, were evacuated as the lake began to flood the town, and within a day the town was completely covered with water. Populations downstream from the dam were at risk because of the possible overtopping of the landslide by the lake. This could cause a catastrophic outburst of the dam with a massive flood downstream. Eventually, a drain system was engineered to drain the lake and avert the potential disaster.

Eventually the Thistle landslide reached a state of equilibrium across the valley, but fears of reactivation caused the railway to construct a tunnel through the bedrock around the slide zone at a cost of a million dollars. Also, the highway had to be realigned around the landslide. When the lake caused by the landslide was drained, the residual sediment partially buried the town and virtually no one returned to Thistle. This landslide is still moving, at present, although at a fairly slow rate. State officials continue to monitor this landslide.

Source:

University of Utah, 1984, Flooding and Landslides in Utah—an Economic Impact Analysis, University of Utah Bureau of Economic and Business, Utah Dept. of Community and Economic Development, and Utah Office of Planning and Budget, Salt Lake City, Utah, 123 p.

There are no official definitions of city, town, village, hamlet, neighborhood, etc. All named entities with human habitation are classified as Populated Place, including incorporated places (20 percent of the Nation's communities), unincorporated places (the majority), housing developments not yet incorporated, and neighborhoods within incorporated places.

The most frequently occurring community name continues to vary. In the past year, it was Midway at 212 occurrences and Fairview at 202. More recently, Fairview counted 288 and Midway 256. The name Springfield often is thought to be the only community name appearing in each of the 50 States, but at last count it was in only 34. The most recent count shows Riverside with 186 instances in 46 States, only Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Oklahoma not having a community so named.

Before May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens' summit altitude of 9,677 feet made it only the fifth highest peak in Washington State. It stood out handsomely, however, from surrounding hills because it rose thousands of feet above them and had a perennial cover of ice and snow. The peak rose more than 5,000 feet above its base, where the lower flanks merge with adjacent ridges. On May 18, 1980, the volcano lost an estimated 3.4 billion cubic yards (0.63 cubic mile) of its cone (about 1,300 feet in height), leaving behind a horseshoe-shaped crater (open to the north), with the highest part of the crater rim on the southwestern side being at 8,365 feet elevation. -- From: Foxworthy and Hill, 1982, Volcanic Eruptions of 1980 at Mount St. Helens, The First 100 Days: USGS Professional Paper 1249.

More than 80 percent of the Earth's surface -- above and below sea level -- is of volcanic origin. Gaseous emissions from volcanic vents over hundreds of millions of years formed the Earth's earliest oceans and atmosphere, which supplied the ingredients vital to evolve and sustain life. Over geologic eons, countless volcanic eruptions have produced mountains, plateaus, and plains, which subsequent erosion and weathering have sculpted into majestic landscapes and formed fertile soils. -- From: Tilling, 1985, Volcanoes: USGS General Interest Publication.