Images

Nearly 60 years after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Lituya Bay, Alaska — leading to a tsunami that devastated the area — six U.S. Geological Survey geologists revisited the isolated region of Alaska, to pick up where their scientific predecessors left off.

Trench site along the southern Fairweather Fault, in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. The alluvial fan at left consists of lake, stream channel and debris flow deposits impounded by the Fairweather Fault scarp, at right.

Joan Hagar and Amy Comstock assess the long-term ecological value and characteristics of snags created for wildlife

Artisanal miners digging a mining pit using simple tools such as shovels, buckets and water pumps. This was taken in 2013 in Fourona in Côte d’Ivoire, Africa.

Photograph of a new, informal mining site in Banyama, Guinea, in 2012. This image shows miners digging pits in an area where diamonds were recently discovered.

Photograph of an inactive artisanal mining site in Safoule, Guinea, in 2012. This image shows the environmental damage informal mining can leave as miners leave open pits and waste piles once mining is completed.

Site manager of an artisanal and small-scale mining site showing a collection of diamonds recovered along the Birim River in Ghana, Africa, in 2009.

Small-scale miners operating a cannibalized river dredge searching for gold in the Bonsa River in Ghana, Africa, in 2009.