Images

A truffle of Elaphomyces spp. with Elaphocordyceps ophioglossoides, a parasitic ascomycetous fungus, at Kumbrabow State Forest in West Virginia. 

H.D. McGlashan measures streamflow in the Merced River, circa 1920. Multiple velocity and water-depth measurements along a stream cross section are used to calculate the total volume of water passing a certain location over a specific period of time (cubic feet per second).

Location: Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California

Aerial view over Weka Dur, Afghanistan’s largest known gold deposit, Badakhshan Province.

Tools of the trade for a US Geological Survey engraver- the burin and the hand lens, resting on a contours engraving.

The steady hands of a USGS engraver touching up left-reading lettering.

Panoramic photo of Silverton, Colorado, with Sultan Mountain in the distance.  Silverton is the town most directly affected by the Gold King mine blowout. 

Clouds Overlying a Forest.

A Cascades frog peeks out of the water in Olympic National Park.

Forest cover being removed for cattle pasturage and development. Smoke from bulldozed trees is visible in background with cattle in the foreground.

Larval Pacific lamprey collected from the upper Umatilla River in northeastern Oregon.

Helicopter towing a large, wire-loop contraption hanging from a cable is turning in air on a relatively clear day in Nebraska.

Aerial view of the USGS Great lakes Science Center Hammond Bay Biological Station at Hammond Bay, Michigan.

A rare Yosemite bog-orchid (Platanthera yosemitensis) was identified as a new species in 2007.

Light-colored rocks in the foreground overlay a pluton, formed as a plume of magma rose, cooled and deposited minerals in the earth’s crust. Sedimentary rocks dip away from the intrusion.

With great precision, an engraver carefully cuts away small ribbons of copper to create the contour plate for a US Geological Survey topographic quadrangle.

In the past, each USGS topographic map typically required 3 individual lithographic stones for printing, one for each color shown on the map.

A photomicrograph depicting the siliceous tests of ten species of marine radiolarians. This image has been inverted to bring out details. Upon death, their tests can form siliceous marine sediments known as radiolarian ooze.

Photomicrograph depicting the siliceous frustules of fifty species of diatoms arranged within a circular shape. Diatoms form the base of many marine and aquatic food chains and upon death, their glassy frustules form sediments known as diatomaceous earth.

Deer in the mist by Lunch Lake in the Seven Lakes Basin of Olympic National Park.

An unknown hybrid species of salamander captured in Olympic National Park, Washington.

Forest cover being removed for cattle pasturage and development. Bulldozer and smoke from bulldozed trees in the background with cattle in the foreground.