Mission Areas
Natural Hazards
Every year in the United States, natural hazards threaten lives and livelihoods and result in billions of dollars in damage. We work with many partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research on a wide range of natural hazards so that policymakers and the public have the understanding they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.
Reducing Risk
USGS scientists develop new products to make science available to the public, emergency managers, and decision-makers. These efforts increase public safety and reduce risk and economic losses caused by natural hazards.
Learn MoreSubduction Zone Science
The most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another.
Learn MoreNews
USGS Seeks Earthquake Hazards Research Proposals
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently soliciting project proposals for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 grants on earthquake hazards science and is authorized to award up to $7 million. The deadline for applications is June 1, 2021, and interested researchers can apply online at GRANTS.GOV under funding Opportunity Number G22AS00006.
New electron microprobe installed at Menlo Park
On March 25th, the USGS California Volcano Observatory celebrated the delivery of a new 'baby' - our brand new electron microprobe is finally up and running!
Sound Waves Newsletter - December 2020-March 2021
Read about the challenges of conducting research during a pandemic, how USGS scientists conducted a nationwide assessment of salt marsh vulnerability, and more, in this December 2020-March 2021 issue of Sound Waves.
Publications
A review of timing accuracy across the Global Seismographic Network
The accuracy of timing across a seismic network is important for locating earthquakes as well as studies that use phase‐arrival information (e.g., tomography). The Global Seismographic Network (GSN) was designed with the goal of having reported timing be better than 10 ms. In this work, we provide a brief overview of how timing is kept across...
Ringler, Adam T.; Anthony, Robert E.; Wilson, David C.; Auerbach, D.; Bargabus, S.; Davis, P.W.; Gunnels, M.; Hafner, K.; Holland, James; Kearns, A.; Klimczak, E. Rayleigh wave amplitude uncertainty across the Global Seismographic Network and potential implications for global tomography
The Global Seismographic Network (GSN) is a multiuse, globally distributed seismic network used by seismologists, to both characterize earthquakes and study the Earth’s interior. Most stations in the network have two collocated broadband seismometers, which enable network operators to identify potential metadata and sensor issues. In this study,...
Ringler, Adam T.; Anthony, Robert E.; Dalton, C. A.; Wilson, David C. Physics‐based evaluation of the maximum magnitude of potential earthquakes induced by the Hutubi (China) underground gas storage
The world’s largest underground gas storage facility in Hutubi (HUGS), China, is a unique case where cyclic gas injection‐extraction induced both seismicity and ground deformation. To assess the potential for future induced seismicity, we develop a framework physically based on a well‐constrained hydro‐geomechanical model and on fully coupled...
Jiang, Guoyan; Liu, Lin; Barbour, Andrew J.; Lu, Renqi; Yang, Hongfeng