Images

View to the southwest of the eastern front of the Gallatin Range from Gardners Hole. The East Gallatin-Reese Creek fault system runs along the base of the range at the prominent break-in-slope in the trees. Photo by James Mauch, Wyoming State Geological Survey, on August 29, 2023.

A portion of organic-rich lake mud recovered from Rush Lake, in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. Younger sediments are to the left and older sediments are to the right. The researcher is pointing to a thin, white layer—the Mazama ash, produced during the eruption 7600 years ago that formed Crater Lake in Oregon.

Pouring sulfate-resistant cement for one of the bridge footers after a drill hole has been completed. The existing bridge can be seen through the trees on the left side of the picture.

Drilling for the new Yellowstone River Bridge near Tower Junction. A small, yellow, personal 4-gas safety monitor can be seen on the upper left breast pocket on the person in the far right of the picture.  Photo by Ken Sims (University of Wyoming), August 3, 2023.

Photo of Devil’s Slide, Montana, looking across the Yellowstone River.  The red streak is a Triassic shale layer.  Rocks to the right of the streak are older and to the left are younger.  USGS photo by Mike Poland, August 2, 2023.

Streamgage site and profiling tool on the Yellowstone River at Corwin Springs, Montana.  The gage house narrowly avoided damage during the June 2022 flood, which eroded the downstream bank.  The river profiling instrument helps to map the river bottom to assess streamflow rates and conditions.  USGS photo by Mike Poland, July 31, 2023.

Web camera view of the onset of the June 7 eruption of Kīlauea volcano from the summit caldera.

High-resolution satellite images of the Porcelain Basin and Nuphar Lake areas of Norris Geyser Basin acquired by Quickbird-2 on September 11, 2006 (left), WorldView-3 on July 7, 2016 (middle), and WorldView-3 on March 30, 2022 (right).  Note the change in color of Nuphar lake, from deep green to light blue, over time, as well as the increased evidence of flow f

Schematic model of Yellowstone’s subsurface magmatic sill complex based on seismic data collected in 2020.

Visible (top) and thermal (bottom) images of Porcelain Basin looking to the north from the old roadbed.  Nuphar Lake is off the photograph to the right.  Cool-water seeps into Porcelain Basin are clearly evident in the thermal image and appear to flow underground from Nuphar Lake.  USGS photos by Mike Poland, July 1, 2023.

High-resolution satellite images of the Porcelain Basin and Nuphar Lake areas of Norris Geyser Basin acquired by Quickbird-2 on September 11, 2006 and WorldView-3 on March 30, 2022.  Note the change in color of Nuphar lake, from deep green to light blue, over time, as well as the increased evidence of flow from thermal features on the east side of Porcelain Bas

Map of Yellowstone region showing the backbone (triangles) and dense 2020 (yellow squares) seismic networks, and based on Wu et al. (2023).

Four examples of vertical ground shaking during Steamboat Geyser eruptions as recorded by seismic station YNM. The vertical scale is the same for each seismogram.

Comparison between the velocity structures outlining the Yellowstone’s upper-crustal magma reservoir at 5 km (3 mi) depth based on sparse (left) and dense (right) seismic networks. The open squares denote the locations of seismic sensors. Warmer color indicates lower velocity, representing higher melt fraction within the medium.

Map of the American Samoa volcano-monitoring network (top). Data from Wake Island hydrograph (located about 4,500 km, or 2,900 miles, northwest of Taʻū Island) shows the general trend in the number of events during the 2022 earthquake swarm (bottom left). Locations for larger earthquakes (M2.5 and greater) are available starting August 20, 2022 (bottom right).

Map of Norris Geyser Basin showing the locations of major subbasins, roads and trails, and Nuphar Lake.

Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, presented with lei by David Phillips, Deputy Scientist-in-Charge of the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, during a ceremony to celebrate the creation of a new facility that will monitor volcanoes and support conservation science.

Federal, state, local and University of Hawai´i leaders and students celebrate the creation of a new facility that will monitor volcanoes and support conservation science.

Earthquake Lake, which formed when the Madison River was blocked by a landslide that occurred as a consequence of the Hebgen Lake earthquake in 1959.  The lake inundated existing forest, now marked by standing dead trees in the lake water. The landslide scar is visible on the side of the mountain at the far end of the lake.

Map of Geyser Hill, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, showing selected thermal features, including new and reactivated features that were active during the May-June 2023 thermal unrest.  Map prepared by by Kiernan Folz-Donahue, Yellowstone National Park.

A garter snake along Violet Creek near the Mary Mountain Trail in Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park. This snake used the geothermally warmed creek to thermoregulate during near-freezing overnight conditions. USGS photo by Stanley Mordensky, June 2023.