Images

The new USGS Cooperative National Geologic Map web tool was designed to also be mobile friendly, allowing users to explore geologic data from smartphones and tablets, in addition to larger devices. USGS image.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems are an emerging resource that the USGS studies. To generate electricity from these systems, fractures are engineered into deep, low-porosity hot rocks to allow water to circulate. Then, the heated water is pumped back to the surface, where the thermal energy is used to move a turbine and generate electricity. 

Conventional hydrothermal resources occur below the ground where three ingredients combine: heat, water and permeable rock. When heated water or steam is trapped in a porous rock below a layer of less permeable rock, a hydrothermal reservoir is formed.

Infographic of Electric-grade geothermal energy resources of the U.S. 

The USGS has assessed the Nation’s geothermal energy resources since the 1970s, updating assessments to include advancements in technology. An emerging resource is Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

This infographic introduces an approach that could subsequently be used to prioritize environmental research for the full range of critical elements.

This geomorphic map of Echo, Oregon shows the town is built on valley bottom terrain. Other landforms such as slopes, fans, bedrock, etc. are delineated in the surrounding area. From https://www.usgs.gov/maps/geomorphic-map-umatilla-river-corridor-oregon.

USGS Geology, Minerals, Energy, Geophysics Science Center (GMEG) staff display rocks and maps and talk to kids about geology at the 2024 STEM event.

This image depicts the magnetic anomaly map of the region covered by the Southwest New Mexico aeromagnetic/aeroradiometric survey. These data allow us to model the subsurface structure and composition of the upper crust.

USGS National Innovation Center UAS Research Center Saucer Shark Project, before science flight tests, Aeroshell and payload. Sling configuration and payload orientation verified before science flight deployment. Payload is on and ready to record!

USGS National Innovation Center UAS Research Center Saucer Shark Project, BisonCore displays the path of the sensor live, as it covers transects. Data received from the payload is then displayed within the BisonCore Ecosystem and is accessible for field viewing. The magnetic map is also used to validate payload directed algorithms.

Ryan Crow of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, Geophysics (GMEG) Science Center discusses geology and displays rock samples during the USGS Flagstaff Open House, 2023. Photo courtesy of Meredith Hartwell, USGS, SBSC.

USGS National Innovation Center UAS Research Center (UASRC) Saucer Shark Project, during flight tests, fully assembled. Sub assemblies from top down: Drop Release, Sling and Sling Brace, Payload Aeroshell and Payload.​

USGS National Innovation Center UAS Research Center Saucer Shark Project, during flight tests, drop release attached to USGS UAV. Aircraft sits on landing pad in-between test flights.

Photograph of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA. Photo taken on September 8, 2023.

Kelsey Brennan is smiling at the camera. She is wearing a pink ball cap, sunglasses on the bill, a green and white polka dotted kerchief, wearing a light blue, long sleeved shirt with a grey-blue backpack standing on a wood plank bridge, with rock walls in the background.

Thin section of a Mountain Pass carbonatite sample showing mineralogy and texture with slider for back-scattered electron map (black and white) and layered elemental map (colored). Note the large, euhedral, tabular crystal of bastnäsite. 

Geologic map overlaid on topography for the Mountain Pass region in California.

Thin section of a Mountain Pass carbonatite sample showing mineralogy and texture with slider for back-scattered electron map (black and white) and layered elemental map (colored). Note the large, euhedral, tabular crystal of bastnäsite. 

Isaac Anderson (National Innovation Center) preforms a pre-flight check of a UAS before a photogrammetry mission in post-fire, landslide-prone terrain in Tahoe National Forest.

A UAS flies a photogrammetry mission over recently burned landscapes in Tahoe National Forest.

Isaac Anderson and Liz Hyde (National Innovation Center) bring in a drone for a landing, after flying a photogrammetry mission over landslide-prone terrain recently burned in the Mosquito fire (2022).