Images

A diagram of the life stages of Pacific lamprey. Adults spawn in freshwater streams, then the larvae live in sediments. Juveniles then migrate to the ocean. After a life in the ocean they return to streams to spawn and die.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist collecting groundwater samples for analysis of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from a multiport monitoring well downgradient from a former fire-training area on western Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The quality of the water we drink can inpact our health.

Two USGS scientists collecting surface water samples in the Rabenberg Waterfowl Protection Area, Montana, as part of an effort to study if historic oil and gas production in the Williston Basin has impacted amphibians in the Prairie Pothole Region.

Two osprey (Pandion haliaetus) nestlings in Coastal Inland Bays, Rehoboth, Delaware in 2015.

Three osprey (Pandion haliaetus) nestlings in Coastal Inland Bays, Rehoboth, Delaware in 2015.

Scientists refined the existing national-scale "De facto Reuse Incidence in our Nation's Consumable Supply" (DRINCS) model for the Shenandoah River watershed.

Scientists deployed mobile fish exposure laboratories, such as these two, at sites in the Shenandoah River watershed, Virginia, to understand exposure and effects on fish.

One of the mobile fish exposure laboratories that were deployed at sites in the Shenandoah River watershed, Virginia. Fish were housed in the mobile laboratories and exposed to stream water or wastewater during the study to understand exposure and effects on fish.

Scientists deployed mobile fish exposure laboratories, such as these two, at sites in the Shenandoah River watershed, Virginia, to understand exposure and effects on fish. Inside the laboratories (see inset photo) fish were placed in aquariums, and exposed to stream water or wastewater during the study.

Scientists deployed mobile fish exposure laboratories at sites in the Shenandoah River watershed, Virginia, to understand exposure and effects on fish. This photo shows the aquariums in a laboratory where fish were exposed to stream water or wastewater.

Northern Leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens) in a wetland in Worth County, Iowa. Scientists tracked 72 northern leopard frogs in two wetlands in an agricultural setting in Iowa for insights into where and when individual adult frogs are likely exposed to pesticides.

Bio-Uptake Research Laboratory — Menlo Park, California. Experimental laboratory setup to study uranium uptake by aquatic organisms.

Image of the Chickasha  wastewater treatment plant taken as part of a study to understand the runoff of contaminants in wastewater applied to an agricultural field.

A U.S. Geological Survey employee sampling water through ice in Blacktail Creek, Williston Basin, North Dakota.

USGS scientist lifting a grab sample from ice hole on a stream in North Dakota. The scientist is part of a science team that assessing the potential impacts of a brine spill from unconventional oil and gas activities (UOG) on environmental health.

Latham River at Jekyll Island State Park, Georgia, where the river flows into Jekyll Sound. The health of the Jekyll Sound ecosystem is influenced by streamflow and the associated nutrient loads.

Contact with intact forest ecosystems can lead to cutaneous leishmaniasis, also known as "chiclero's ulcer" (inset). Inset image Copyright 1997, 2004 by Current Medicine LLC. All rights reserved. Image reproduced here with kind permission from Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

The USGS Mobile Atmospheric Mercury Laboratory has onboard instrumentation to measure aerosol concentrations and to continuously monitor mercury speciation and concentrations, air quality, automated wet deposition collection, and meteorological conditions.

Treated wastewater from Joint Base Cape Cod was discharged to rapid-infiltration disposal beds from 1936 to 1995. The disposal formed a groundwater contamination plume that extends more than 10 kilometers in the Cape Cod sand and gravel glacial outwash aquifer.

Discriminating Mercury Sources Using Mercury Isotopes