Images

Black Oystercatcher on Gull Island, Kachemak Bay, Alaska 

Bedding features in the core from the USGS Gulf Coast #4 Bonham borehole, in the Eagle Ford Group mudstones from a depth of about 401 feet, Fannin County, Texas. The Eagle Ford Group lies underneath the Austin Chalk and serves as the source rock for much of the Austin Chalk's petroleum.

Spread Creek streamflow measurement

USGS technicians at the USGS Gulf Coast #4 Bonham borehole in preparation for geophysical logging of the Austin Chalk Group and the Eagle Ford Group mudstones, Fannin County, Texas.

Old Faithful bathhouse as it appeared in 1914-1933 (top) and 1934-1951 (bottom).

This screenshot was taken from a video created for the virtual 2020 St. Petersburg Science Festival that discussed Coastal Change Hazards research at the USGS. Justin Birchler is seen walking up the beach with GPS equipment to measure the elevation of the beach.

Photograph of Obsidian Cliff along Grand Loop Road between Norris and Mammoth Hot Springs. Photograph by John Good, U.S. National Park Service, 1965.

To help study the biodiversity present in the deep sea, scientists collect sediment cores. These cores are about a foot long and provide a vertical profile of deep-sea sediment, or mud.

Waves are the motion of the water's surface, usually caused by the transfer of energy from wind. Wave energy causes the water to move in a circular motion. The height and length of these waves combined with the slope of the beach influence how high the water can reach up on the coast.

Map of Yellowstone National Park adapted from Christiansen and others (2007). The pink regions are rhyolite flows erupted within Yellowstone caldera; these flows contain 5% to 15% crystals by volume. The purple region is the Obsidian Cliff flow, which contains close to 0% crystals.

An enigmatic outcrop of 5 million year old basalt sits 300 meters above the Deschutes and Columbia rivers. USGS scientists are carefully studying this basalt flow to determine if it came all the way from central Oregon, 160 kilometers away.

USGS boat used to collect water samples in a PFAS-impacted lake on Cape Cod.

The Ecomapper is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that is a specialized submersibile device that operates by propelling through a water body between points along a constant depth.

An unconformity at the top of Mount Everts is located where the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, 2.1 million years old, lies directly on top of Cretaceous sediments that are ~60 million years old and greater.  Right at the unconformity are conspicuous orange and black colors.  The orange is oxidation of the sedimentary unit where it is in contact with the ash, whic

A few miles south of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park, Highway 89 winds through the white/gray jumble of rocks known as the Hoodoos, or Silver Gate, that formed when travertine from Terrace Mountain collapsed in a landslide.

Faulted and folded petroleum source rocks in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks (Kingak Shale, pebble shale unit, and gamma-ray zone of Hue Shale) in southern part of Western North Slope. Thermal maturity of these rocks are at the upper limit of oil preservations.

Silver Gate landslide complex in Yellowstone National Park. The jumbled nature of the calcium-carbonate rocks is evidence that the deposit was formed by collapse of a travertine hot-spring terrace that might once have looked like Mammoth Hot Springs does today.

Iridium antenna mounted on a pole.

Avalanche debris covers a road in Glacier National Park at Red Rock point.

Flume measurement on Littlefield Creek

Littlefield Creek flume measurement