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 MoreHazard Research
USGS scientists conduct research to understand earth processes and the natural hazards they can pose to society in order to increase public safety and reduce risk and economic loss.
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USGS Seeks Earthquake Hazards Research Proposals
Applications due May 29, 2019
Five Years Later - The Oso (SR 530) Landslide in Washington
The Oso (SR 530) Landslide in Washington - Five Years Later
The following is an updated version of a story first published in March of 2015.
New US Geological Survey-led Research Helps California Coastal Managers Prioritize Planning and Mitigation Efforts Due to Rising Seas and Storms
New U.S. Geological Survey-led coastal modeling research presents state, federal, and commercial entities with varying storm and sea level-rise scenarios to assist with planning for future infrastructure and mitigation needs along the California coast.
Publications
Stratigraphic and structural relations in trench exposures and geomorphology at the Big Burn, Lily Lake, and Lester Ranch sites, Bear River Fault Zone, Utah and Wyoming
This report provides trench photomosaics, logs and related site information, age data, and earthquake event evidence from three paleoseismic trench sites on the Bear River Fault Zone. Our motivation for studying the Bear River Fault Zone—a nascent normal fault in the Rocky Mountains east of the Basin and Range physiographic province—is twofold: (1...
Hecker, Suzanne; Duross, Christopher; Schwartz, David P.; Cinti, Francesca R.; Civico, Riccardo; Lund, William R.; Hiscock, Adam I.; West, Michael W.; Wilcox, Tarka; Stoller, Alivia R.
Better approaches to managing drought in the American Southwest
The second in a series of USGS Southwest Region (SWR) “Science Exchange” annual workshops, focused on USGS drought science. The participants considered how extreme drought conditions are evolving in much of the American southwest, with an emphasis on integrated drought science planning at the USGS bureau and program levels. The increased need for...
Lambert, Patrick; Titus, Timothy N.; Ostroff, Andrea
The Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake of August 24, 2014—Observations of surface faulting and ground deformation, with recommendations for improving post-earthquake field investigations
The Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake of August 24, 2014, produced complex and extensive surface faulting and other ground deformation features. Following the event, geologists made more than 1,200 field observations at locations where tectonic faulting and ground failure produced visible deformation that fractured and disturbed the ground surface. At...
Ponti, Daniel J.; Rosa, Carla M.; Blair, James Luke