Unified Interior Regions

Probing the mysteries of deep-ocean minerals

By James R. Hein, Marine Geologist

• Since President Reagan in 1983 extended U.S. mineral rights 200 nautical miles offshore, interest in deep-sea mining has increased
• Massive sulfide deposits form rapidly at very hot ephemeral vents..black smokers. and .white smokers.
• Slow-

How the 1906 earthquake shook up California and science

A presentation of the award-winning USGS Video Shock Waves introduced by David Schwartz, Earthquake Geologist 

• The 46-minute film Shock Waves includes dramatic historical footage, colorful animations, and interviews with earthquake experts
• Shock Waves received

Piecing together the story of a giant meteorite crater beneath the Atlantic coast

By David S. Powars, Geologist, and R.D. Catchings, Geophysicist

• Buried under Chesapeake Bay is a very well preserved impact structure 56 miles across and more than 2 miles deep
• Following clues from drill holes and seismic imagery, careful

Drill Rig Tender staged for an early morning departure from Lone Pine after drilling a multiple-completion groundwater-monitoring well in Centennial Flats for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Landslide Danger in the Bay Area Hills

Peter Lyttle, National Landslide Hazards Program Coordinator,
will introduce the USGS premiere of the documentary
Riding the Storm by Karen Adams. A question-and answer session
with the producer, USGS researchers, and residents
featured in Riding the Storm will follow.

How tides, currents, and humans have created an array of sea-floor features

By Patrick Barnard, Marine Geologist, and Peter Dartnell, Physical Scientist

• A century of technical advances allow scientists to identify and visualize spectacular sea-bottom features
• Recent collaborative research outside the Golden Gate found that 100

Aqueducts move water - today and in ancient times

Be it 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome, Italy or today in California, aqueducts were and are essential to get water from a place where it exists in ample supply to where it is scarce. Aqueducts aren't a high-tech modern invention—the ancient Romans had aqueducts to bring water from the mountains above

A multibeam bathymetric survey that produced unprecedented high resolution images of the mouth of San Francisco Bay was conducted in 2004 and 2005. The survey, performed over forty-four days by the Seafloor Mapping Lab at California State University, Monterey Bay, consisted of 1,138 track lines, 1.1 billion soundings, and covered an area of 154 km² (60 mi²

Looking east towards USGS Site ID: 340541117074401-6, Site Name: 001S002W07Q001S-6S, Local name: SBCC 1-6 in San Bernardino County, California.

Title: The Mojave National Preserve: Geology and Water Shape Desert Plant Communities 

• One of the largest units in the National Park System, the Mojave National Preserve was established in 1994
• The Preserve encompasses great sand dunes (including "singing sands"), young volcanic features, forests of Joshua trees, and fields of

Geology and Water Shape Desert Plant Communities

by David Miller, Geologist and John Nimmo, Soil Hydrologist

• One of the largest units in the National Park System, the Mojave National Preserve was established in 1994
• The Preserve encompasses great sand dunes (including "singing sands"), young volcanic features,