Images

USGS scientists have worked closely with Afghan geologists, both to verify old Soviet and Afghan mineral research and to expand and enhance the total knowledge of Afghanistan's mineral wealth.

Sunrise peering through early morning tule fog in Suisun Bay, California.

In the semiarid mesquite savanna community, pictured here, perennial grasses and forbs both are likely to decline as annual and winter precipitation decline with forecasted climate change.

The Boulder magnetic observatory. Variations and Proton Sensor buildings at the lower right.

Picture of the Elwha River in Olympic National Park in Northwest Washington.

The May 12, 2008, Great Sichuan Earthquake, also called the Wenchuan Earthquake, occurred at 14:28 local time, in Sichuan Province, China. The earthquake magnitudes were Mw = 7.9 (USGS), Ms = 8.0 (Chinese Earthquake Administration). The epicenter was 80 km west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province.

An ichthyoplankton sampling net being deployed in the Missouri River.

A Cessna Grand Caravan airplane took measurements over Virginia's Louisa, Goochland and Fluvanna counties. The data collected will help USGS scientists locate buried geologic features associated with the August 23, 2011 earthquake and its aftershocks. Surveys were conducted from 7/15- 7/25.

Damage to a house in Louisa County, Virginia, after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake on August 23, 2011.

Sunset as seen through the smoke of a prescribed burn in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. The burn was conducted to restore fire as an ecosystem process and reduce hazardous tree densities and fuel loads due to more than 100 years of fire suppression. Foreground trees (Douglas-fir and aspen) were killed during the Cerro Grande fire in 2000.

This Riffle is caused by the Paira River colliding with the Colorado River. Usually, there are two distinct colours — crystal blue from the Colorado and a murky brown from the sediment filled Paria.

A fieldtrip organized by the USGS’s Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center convenes downstream of the Paria Riffle.

Lance Brady of the US Bureau of Land Management launches a USGS Raven aircraft June 21, 2012 at Glines Dam/Lake Mills on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Wash. Dr.

The Vermillion Cliffs.

USGS stage censor at Water Holes Canyon.

At Lees Ferry where river trips, both recreational and scientific, launch.

USGS's Arizona Water Science Center's Dave Anning on cable way at Lees Ferry measuring suspended-sediment transport.

USGS scientists up on the cable way at Lees Ferry measuring suspended-sediment transport.

View of the landscape from the Beaver Creek Rapid lookout.

Scientists from AIST, JOGMEC, Georgia Tech, and the USGS prepare to analyze pressure cores as part of a multi-year gas hydrates research project in Japan. Left to right: Carlos Santamarina (Georgia Tech) and David Mason (USGS).

Scientists from AIST, JOGMEC, Georgia Tech, and the USGS prepare to analyze pressure cores as part of a multi-year gas hydrates research project in Japan. Left to right: Emile Bergeron (USGS), Kiyofumi Suzuki (JOGMEC), Marco Terzariol (Georgia Tech), William Waite (USGS), and Carlos Santamarina (Georgia Tech).