Images

These clams (Calyptogena spp.) were discovered in about 1000 meter-deep waters off the southern tip of Alaska near a 250-meter-high cone rising from the seafloor and 10 kilometers from the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault.

Seafloor trace of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault (from top left to bottom right) offsets the edge of the Yakobi Sea Valley off southeast Alaska. This 700-mile-long fault has generated large earthquakes in the past. Future shocks—and tsunamis—could threaten coastal communities in the U.S. and Canada. (Color-coded depths, in meters, were mapped in 2015.)

Flood maps from Our Coast, Our Future showing Stinson Beach today (slide 1); with a 50-centimeter sea-level rise (slide 2); and when an annual storm strikes in addition to 50-centimeter sea-level rise (slide 3). Green patches are low-lying areas prone to flooding.

Engineering technician Tim Elfers of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center navigates a personal watercraft (PWC) through waves offshore of central California. The PWC is equipped with sonar and GPS in order to map the nearshore seafloor.

Science crew aboard R/V Marcus G. Langseth. Ray Sliter (Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center) and Deb Hutchison (Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) shown at far left.

Cliff erosion is a common storm-induced hazard along the West Coast. Two condemned apartment buildings along Esplanade Avenue in Pacifica, California are shown here before their demolition in 2016 and 2017.

Enlarged details of Survey Area 1 showing new multibeam bathymetry data (rainbow colors) acquired on R/V Solstice near Cross Sound and Glacier Bay National Park, southeastern Alaska. Arrows highlight the surface expression, or trace, of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault.

Profile of newly discovered volcano-like cone in sonar record collected off southern Alaska. The cone’s summit is at about 1,000 meters water depth. Note fluid plume (blue) rising more than 700 meters upward from the summit.

A vibracore taken from a marshy area in Anahola Valley, Kaua‛i reveals a sandier mud layer.

Geology and geomorphology offshore of Fort Ross, California, showing location of the San Andreas Fault and slope failures in the fault zone.

The challenging and complex study environment of Molokaʻi’s (Hawaiʻi) fringing reef. Learn more about USGS studies on this island: “Coral Reef Project: Molokaʻi”

Left: USGS research hydrologist Mark Reid (left) and USGS research geologist Kevin Schmidt collect GPS data along the Big Sur coast on September 19, 2007. Photo credit: Maiana Hanshaw, USGS (now with swisstopo).

Pamela Swarzenski from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center sampling gas released by gas hydrate breakdown during a quantitative degassing aboard the drilling vessel Chikyu during the Indian Government’s National Gas Hydrates Program (NGHP-02) drilling expedition offshore from eastern India.

Santa Barbara Channel region, showing locations of six California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP) map sets (red rectangles) and the outer boundary of California’s State Waters (yellow line).

Enlarged map of the Yakobi Sea Valley. Closeup view (upper right) shows right-lateral offset of the Yakobi Sea Valley wall by the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault. MCS, multichannel seismic; km, kilometers. For location, see the southeastern Alaska trackline map.

Bathymetry data of Columbia River mouth, derived from an interferometric swath bathymetry systems survey in 2013. A) Swath map of data; B-E) sample detail pull-outs

Waves breaking over offshore reefs on Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, where reefs are protecting developed land from flooding.

USGS geophysicist Jared Kluesner points at a three-dimensional cross-section of seismic data about 40 kilometers across and several kilometers deep located in the Santa Barbara Channel. This imaging deep below the seafloor allows scientists to visualize and map faults better.

Jared Kluesner displays a 3D view of seismic data collected off Santa Barbara. This visualization helps him analyze the Earth’s layers from the seafloor (rainbow-colored surface) to several kilometers below (slices extending down from the colored surface).

Aerial image showing beach and offshore reef

Aerial image showing beach and offshore reef