Images

The May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, generated lahars that swept down river valleys. The St. Helens bridge on Highway 504 was carried over a quarter-mile (a half-kilometer) downstream and partially buried.  The USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory continues to monitor Mount St. Helens and other very high threat volcanoes. Photo by R.L.

Death Valley Dunes. 

The November 16, 1979, eruption near Pauahi Crater was a brief, one-day event on the upper East Rift Zone. It was preceded by two months of increased seismic activity, summit inflation, and lava erupting from fissures west of, within, and east of the crater.

Before the eruption of May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens' elevation was 2,950 m (9,677 ft). View from the west, Mount Adams in distance. S. Fork Toutle River is valley in center of photo.

Mount Adams elevation is 3,745 m (12, 286 ft). Mount St. Helens was the smallest of five major volcanic peaks in Washington State.

The September 1977 eruption of Kīlauea began after nearly two years of dormancy, with activity breaking out on September 13 along a 3.5-mile-long fissure system between the prehistoric cones of Kalalua and Puʻu Kauka.

Approximate point of maximum subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley, California. Land surface subsided ~9 m from 1925 to 1977 due to aquifer-system compaction. Signs on the telephone pole indicate the former elevations of the land surface in 1925 and 1955.

Photograph by Richard Ireland, U.S. Geological Survey

The September 1974 Halemaʻumaʻu eruption was a brief but intense summit event at Kīlauea, erupting from fissures within the crater in a similar location to the 1971 eruption. Unlike the July 1974 eruption, this event featured a “curtain-of-fire” style lava fountain that advanced rapidly but stopped abruptly at the southwest wall of the caldera.

The July 19–22, 1974, Keanakākoʻi eruption was a dramatic summit event triggered by a sudden increase in seismicity and summit deflation. Lava fountains up to 180 feet high erupted from fissures north and south of Keanakākoʻi Crater and on the caldera floor, sending lava flows about 1.5 miles southward and across the caldera floor.

Warren "Buz" Brown making second-order measurements using a Kern theodolite. The blind is to prevent temperature variations from affecting the instrument.

Warren "Buz" Brown making second-order measurements using a Kern theodolite. The blind is to prevent temperature variations from affecting the instrument.

U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station 08116650 Brazos River near Rosharon, Texas, looking upstream from Farm-to-Market Road (FM) 1462 bridge, August 28, 1973.
USGS SIR 2009–5174

The May 1973 eruption near Hiʻiaka Crater was a vigorous event on Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone. Lasting about seven hours, it produced lava flows that traveled from just west of Hiʻiaka to Pauahi Crater, crossing what is now Chain of Craters Road in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station 08109000 Brazos River near Bryan, Texas, looking upstream from left bank, March 10, 1971.

USGS SIR 2009–5174

USGS topographer Don Winstead working with a level in Hawaii.

USGS topographer Russ Curtis using a Wild N3 level.

Lava falls pour into 'Alae Crater at 11 p.m., HST, on August 5, 1969, supplied by a high lava fountain at Mauna Ulu, 600 m (2,000 feet) away. The falls, more than 100 m (330 ft) high and 300 m (1,000 ft) wide, had nearly filled the crater by the time the fountains stopped at 5:45 a.m., August 6.

The February 1969 rift eruption near Nāpau Crater was a brief but dynamic precursor to the long-lived Maunaulu eruption that began in May of that year. This week-long event featured lava fountaining from multiple fissures along a 2.5-mile stretch of Kīlauea’s upper East Rift Zone.

Blasting craters for a new section of the Cinder Lakes outside Flagstaff, Ariz.(July 1968). USGS Astrogeology constructed a mockup of a section of the moon's Sea of Tranquillity in a cinder field to aid with training and time-and-motion studies.

Yutaka Hamamoto working on a Wild A-7 Stereoplanigraph.

Repeat oblique photographs of Gulkana glaciers in Alaska.  1967, Unknown USGS photographer. 2016, L. Sass, USGS.

U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station 08116650 Brazos River near Rosharon, Texas, (A) looking upstream from right bank, April 2, 1967 (not known if pilings visible at base of bridge pier are result of channel-bed incision).
USGS SIR 2009–5174