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USGS geophysicist Janet Watt on board NOAA ship Rainier as it sets sail from Newport Marina in Yaquina Bay, Newport, Oregon. Yaquina Bay Bridge is overhead.

An outcrop of blue quartz-bearing granite within the Roanoke Rapids terrane.  Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe U-Pb geochronology will precisely determine the age of this rock (conducted by the USGS-Stanford SHRIMP Lab in Menlo Park) and will provide critical geochronologic age control as a geologic framework model is developed and complied for the east

An outcrop of quartzite within the Roanoke Rapids terrane near Coleman Lake.  Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U-Pb geochronology on detrital zircon grains within this unit (conducted by the USGS LA-ICPMS Lab in Denver) will provide critical and precise geochronologic age control as a geologic framework model is developed and compiled

Peter Esselman (left) and Scott Dwyer (right) holding the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The vehicle is in two pieces.

Graphite schist from the Roanoke Rapids terrane in southeastern Virginia.  Economic deposits of this critical mineral may exist in this relatively unexplored region, which has not been adequately mapped at scales larger than 1:250,000. 

Staurolite weathering out of schist along the eastern edge of the Roanoke Rapids terrane in southeastern Virginia.  Is this greenschist-facies schist part of the suprastructural Roanoke Rapids terrane, or part of a heretofore undefined higher-grade infrastructural terrane to the east? 

Woods Hole Costal and Marine Science Center staff offered a presentation and handouts on Natural Hazards and Coastal Hazards in Wetlands and Estuaries  at the Smithsonian Science Education Academies for Teachers (SSEATs)

Woods Hole Costal and Marine Science Center staff offered a presentation and handouts on Natural Hazards and Coastal Hazards in Wetlands and Estuaries  Smithsonian Science Education Academies for Teachers (SSEATs)

White River at Hazelton IN - rain gage equipment on bridge

Before and after views of Kasatochi Volcano's eruption of 2008

Throughout Hawaii, fishponds are considered by their local communities as important cultural touchstones, a source of local, sustainably produced food, and an important component to the development of community-based management for nearshore fisheries.

Hawaiian fishponds were important cultural and economic resources for native Hawaiians as they were an important component of a sophisticated, integrated food production system. However, changing demographics and systems of land ownership resulted in a decline in the use and upkeep of Hawaiian fishponds throughout the 19th century.

Hawaiian fishponds are important cultural and economic resources for native Hawaiians as they are an important component of a sophisticated, integrated food production system. However, changing demographics and systems of land ownership result in declines in the use and upkeep of Hawaiian fishponds throughout the 19th century.

During the first two weeks of Kīlauea Volcano's 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption, fissures were characterized by low eruption rates and small flows. This was because the erupted lava originated from pockets of cooler, less fluid magma stored in the rift zone.

An Unmanned Aircraft Systems overflight of fissure 8 on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 1, 2018) showed incandescence within the cinder cone, with reports that lava had covered the 65x15 m (210x45 ft) crater floor by evening.

An Unmanned Aircraft Systems overflight on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 2, 2018) showed that lava remained active within the fissure 8 cone.

Early this morning, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems team was able to conduct a brief overflight of fissure 8 between passing rain showers, which resulted in abundant steaming on the flow field.

A black sand beach blocks the boat ramp at Isaac Hale Beach Park. The beach consists of fragmented lava rock that is slowly migrating west at Pohoiki Bay.

Southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake. Photo by Neal Herbert, Yellowstone National Park. Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/yellowstonenps/15005709247/

This UAS oblique image of fissure 8 shows that the new lava is mostly confined to the crater floor within the cone, although a small amount extended a short distance into the spillway. HVO geologists noted that the lava activity was at a low level, with the area of incandescence decreasing to almost zero over the course of the afternoon.

Another aerial view of the summit crater from this morning's overflight. Zoom in to see HVO and the Park's Jaggar Museum on the caldera rim (right side of photo).