Multimedia Gallery

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. The boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico was damaged by the quake.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. The boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico was damaged by the quake.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. The boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico was damaged by the quake.

Houses were damaged during the M6.4 earthquake that struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Houses were tagged by local officials for whether they were safe or not.

Houses were damaged during the M6.4 earthquake that struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Houses were tagged by local officials for whether they were safe or not.

USGS scientists, like Dr. Alex Grant, were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread near a creek in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread near a stream in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of rockfall material in the yard of a house in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a rockfall damage to a house in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. This landslide was discovered along a neighborhood road near Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. This landslide was discovered along a neighborhood road near Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread near a stream in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. The boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico was damaged by the quake.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. The boardwalk in Ponce, Puerto Rico was damaged by the quake.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread near a stream in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a lateral spread along a residential road in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

USGS scientists were deployed to assess land deformation and movement after a large M6.4 earthquake struck Puerto Rico on January 7, 2020. Here is an example of a landslide failure along a residential road in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Secuencia del Terremoto en Puerto Rico, 2020

Terremotos detectados entre diciembre 28, 2019 hasta enero 16, 2020. Sujeto a actualizaciones.

>300 M3+ terremotos* registrados

desde dic 28, 2019 (dentro de 40km) suficientemente fuerte como para ser sentido

10 M5+ terremotos* registrados

desde dic 28, 2019 (

2020 Puerto Rico Earthquake Sequence

Earthquakes detected between December 28, 2019 as of January 16, 2020. Subject to updates.

>300 M3+earthquakes recorded*
since Dec. 28, 2019 (within 40km) strong enough to be felt

10 M5+ earthquakes recorded*
since Dec. 28, 2019 (including M6.4) large

Banu at Fire Island

Hydrologic technicians from the USGS Idaho Water Science Center, with an assist from the Idaho Transportation Department's under brdige inspection truck, install an echosounder on a bridge over the Payette River near Letha, Idaho. The device will be used to provide real-time monitoring of bridge scour and is one of three such devices the USGS Idaho Water Science Center is

This image shows a false color (bands 7,6,5) nighttime Landsat 8 image of the Taal Volcano overlaid on a daytime Landsat panchromatic black and white image (band 8). The nighttime image from path 220/row194 was acquired on January 15, 2020, a few days after the volcano's eruption. The heat signature from volcanic activity shows up as bright oragne/red. The daytime image

USGS scientists Thomas L. Pratt and Alena L. Leads, along with Dr. Elizabeth Vanacore, associate research professor at University of Puerto Rico, analyze data in earthquake monitoring and recording equipment amid aftershocks across the island's southern coast.

Landsat 8 image of Phoenix, Arizona, acquired on January 13, 2020 (Path 37 Row 36).  This false color image uses the short-wave infrared, near infrared, and red bands (bands 6, 5, 4) to display the data.

For more information about Landsat, please visit www.usgs.gov/Landsat

To download the data, visit

2020 January Public Lecture Flyer

The Rise of the USGS in Space Exploration: How the Astrogeology Science Center is integral to the past, present, and future investigation of the Solar System

By Justin J. Hagerty, Director of the Astrogeology Science Center 

• Every astronaut to set foot on the Moon trained with the USGS in

Photo (L-R) Jose Cancel of Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN), Alena Leeds of USGS and Javier Santiago of PRSN install a temporary seismometer at Sabana Yeguas in southwestern Puerto Rico on Jan. 10, 2020.

View of Monument Geyser Basin looking NE. Dozens of steam vents occur in this area and form fumaroles, frying pans, mud pots, and in some cases have built silica-rich "monuments" (which lend the basin its name). This is an isolated area dominated by steam vents. 

Imperial Geyser hot spring pool in Yellowstone National Park is about 30 m (about 100 ft) across and contains alkaline-Cl waters with a steam vent in the pool and mudpots outside the pool area (in the upper right part of this photo). USGS Photo by Pat Shanks, 2019.

Large microscope used for counting microplastics found in water samples

Hydrologic technician Ryan Moore measures streamflow through ice at USGS streamgage station 13131000, Antelope Creek near Darlington, Idaho.

The Shishaldin Volcano on the eastern edge of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain erupted with activity in January of 2020.

MSL Sol 2639: SAM Image

In collaboration with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the AIM group conducted UAS aerial surveys looking at vegetation classification/index surrounding a MBL gas flux tower located in Nelson Island Creek, Rowley, Massachusetts.

This image created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows the Elizabeth Islands, Vineyard Sound, and Martha’s Vineyard.

This image was created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows Provincetown, MA and the northern section of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

This image created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows the mouth of the Merrimack River, Plum Island and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

Black and white ruffed lemur of the genus Varecia.

Rigorously Valuing the Role of Puerto Rico’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of Puerto Rico showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m² resolution are

Rigorously Valuing the Role of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m

Rigorously Valuing the Role of Hawaiʻi’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of Hawaiʻi showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m² resolution are aggregated into

Rigorously Valuing the Role of Florida’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of Florida showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m² resolution are aggregated into

Rigorously Valuing the Role of Guam’s Coral Reefs and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of Guam and the the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and

Rigorously Valuing the Role of American Samoa’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of American Samoa showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m² resolution are

Water formed a tiny pond at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, in late July 2019. The pond has slowly deepened since then. HVO scientists measure water level almost daily using a small laser rangefinder mounted on a tripod. The measurements are made dependent on weather, wind, and staff availability. The rangefinder calculates the vertical

Ohia seedling.

ʻŌhiʻa seedlings in dibble tubes, prior to planting.

The recently published "Geologic map of the central-southeast flank of Mauna Loa" (https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sim2932B), shown here, uses color to depict ages of geologic units, with warm colors denoting younger units and cool colors indicating older units. It is the second in a series of maps that