Images

Full view of the ground with the San Andreas fault running through the middle of the image. A 30 foot steam offset from the 1857 earthquake can be seen near the right edge of the image.

Wendy McCausland of the USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program and Hani Zahran of the Saudi Geological Survey view the southern end of the surface fault rupture caused by a M5.4 earthquake in the Saudi Arabian desert on May 19, 2009.

The May 12, 2008, Great Sichuan Earthquake, also called the Wenchuan Earthquake, occurred at 14:28 local time, in Sichuan Province, China. The earthquake magnitudes were Mw = 7.9 (USGS), Ms = 8.0 (Chinese Earthquake Administration). The epicenter was 80 km west-northwest of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province.

Following the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake, the USGS has been helping with earthquake awareness and monitoring in the country, with continued support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

USGS geophysicist Anjana Shah stands next to a Cessna Grand Caravan airplane that took measurements over Virginia's Louisa, Goochland and Fluvanna counties. The data collected will help USGS scientists locate buried geologic features associated with the August 23, 2011 earthquake and its aftershocks. Surveys were conducted from 7/15- 7/25.

Damage to a house in Louisa County, Virginia, after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake on August 23, 2011.

Chimney damage to a house in Louisa County, Virginia, after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake on August 23, 2011.

Firemen and the rescue team building tents for homeless people in a middle school square.

Homeless people waiting in line for food and water. Aid agencies have scrambled to provide food, shelter and medical supplies to the thousands of people made homeless by the quake and strong aftershocks.

Damage to a village house.

Damage to a village house. Longmenxiang.

Geologists examine cores on Sitkinak Island, Alaska.

Geologists driving a core into marsh sediment to document interbedded peat and silt that records sudden vertical land movements associated with megathrust fault slip during large earthquakes.

A tidal marsh bank exposed during low tide on Sitkinak Island, Alaska. The bank reveals ledges of alternating peat and silt. Abrupt uplift and subsidence during large megathrust earthquakes is interpreted to be the cause of the alternating layers.

Base camp, Sitkinak Island.