Unified Interior Regions
California
The Southwest Region includes California, Nevada, and Arizona. The Regional Office, headquartered in Sacramento, provides Center oversight and support, facilitates internal and external collaborations, and works to further USGS strategic science directions.
States L2 Landing Page Tabs
Agriculture field in California
An agriculture field in California taken during field work for the Trends Lancover Change project.
PubTalk 8/2004 — Precipice of Survival
What is the Future of the Southern Sea Otter?
Featuring the new award-winning USGS video Precipice of Survival. The Southern Sea Otter by Stephen Wessells, introduced and discussed by sea otter researchers including Alisha H. Kage and M. Tim Tinker, Research Biologists
- The southern subspecies of sea otter, Enhydra lutris
PubTalk 7/2004 — Secrets in Stone
The Role of Paleomagnetism in the Evolution of Plate Tectonic Theory Video Presentation
Presentation of the award-winning USGS video "Secrets in Stone" (35 minutes), introduced by Jack Hillhouse, Research Geophysicist, and followed by a tour of the USGS Paleomagnetics Laboratory
- Crucial discoveries in the early 1960.s were made
PubTalk 6/2004 — From Strawberry Fields to the Ozone Layer
The Methyl Bromide Story
By Laurence G. Miller, Biogeochemist
- Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is an important agricultural pesticide widely used in growing strawberries and other field crops
- Methyl bromide---much of it from natural sources---is one of the gases contributing to destruction of Earth's ozone layer
- No
PubTalk 5/2004 — Delta Revival: Restoration of a California Ecosystem
Video presentation and discussion
Ecologist Jim Cloern will introduce the video Delta Revival, produced jointly by the USGS and the CALFED Bay-Delta Authority.
USGS Scientists wil answer your questions about this documentary, which shows:
- biologists, chemists, physical scientists, and engineers working together
California Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi)
Squirrel stepping out from it's ground burrow.
California Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi)
Squirrel stepping out from it's ground burrow.
PubTalk 4/2004 — Science, Society, and the Survey
50 Years of the USGS in Menlo Park
By David G. Howell, Geologist
Hear about some of the scientific highlights from 1954 to 2004 --
- The search for strategic minerals
- Exploring the high seas
- The birth of astrogeology
- Advancing the theory of plate tectonics
- From topo maps to digital GIS
PubTalk 3/2004 — Mapping the American West
Clarence King and the 40th Parallel Survey
By James G. Moore, Geologist
- After completing a geology degree at Yale and coming West in a wagon train, Clarence King worked with the California Geological Survey and was in the field party that discovered Mount Whitney
- King led the United States Geological Exploration of the
PubTalk 2/2004 — Life and Death of Hawaiian Coral Reefs
New Studies Track the Life Cycle of Maui's Changing Reefs
By Michael E. Field, Marine Geologist & Curt D. Storlazzi, Coastal Oceanographer
- How are coral reefs changing, and why is it a concern?
- Agents of change on Maui's reefs have both natural and human causes
- Coral eggs and sperm released during
California Red-legged Frog
California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) surfaces in a pond in Point Reyes National Seashore, CA.
PubTalk 1/2004 — Roving Around Mars
Adventures in Exploring the Red Planet
By Devon M. Burr & Michael H. Carr, Planetary Geologists
- January 2004 will see two NASA rovers land on Mars to analyze rock and soil and measure environmental conditions
- By January, a European Mars probe and a Japanese orbiter should also be studying the planet's
Visitors to the U.S. Geological Survey’s exhibit booth at the Monterey Bay Oceans Fair will be able to "feel the bay," by squishing different types of San Francisco Bay muds through their fingers, view microscopic critters that live in those muds, and view maps of the seafloor, at the fair, from noon to 8 p.m., Friday, June 12, 1998, in Monterey, Calif.
Residents of the San Jose area who would like to become partners with the USGS in monitoring earthquake activity in the Santa Clara Valley this summer can become part of that project by offering space in their backyards to the USGS.
The Lake Tahoe Data Clearinghouse, a virtual, web-based project, providing everything from digital maps of the lake and surrounding basin to notes from recent presidential forum meetings, is now on line at http://blt.wr.usgs.gov/
The U.S. Geological Survey has released a series of reports on results of a five-year study on, the quality of water in 20 major basin regions throughout the nation, including the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, which cover most of central California and are a major source or drinking water for most of the State’s population. The report, "Water-Quality in the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, California) 1992
A news conference to explain the post-El Nino aerial survey that is being conducted along the Pacific coast is scheduled for 1 p.m., Thursday, April 16, at the Delmonte Jet Center, adjacent to the Monterey Peninsula Airport, on the east side of Monterey.
Properly assessing the impacts of powerful storms associated with El Nino which have brought unprecedented erosion to the United States’ west coast is an enormous task. NASA , the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are combining efforts to provide public officials with the tools they need to accurately assess coastal erosion.
Dr. Milton Friend, director of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, has been named by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to serve as chairman of the Salton Sea Science Subcommittee.
Southern California is not likely to experience a "huge earthquake,"according to two scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Although the San Andreas fault near Parkfield, Calif., has not yet produced a predicted magnitude-6 earthquake, geodetic measurements now indicate that fault movements near Parkfield sped up in 1993, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientist Evelyn Roeloffs.
Earthquakes, as well as heavy rains, can cause landslides, but with the completion of a new U.S. Geological Survey mapping project, scientists and planners can see where those landslides might be triggered by southern California’s next large earthquake.
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today was joined by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo in announcing a long-term lease that will keep the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in its historic Menlo Park, Calif., location. USGS Acting Director Tom Casadevall joined Babbitt and Eshoo for the announcement at an all-employees meeting at the Menlo Park campus.
Many of the tarballs washing up on the shores of Monterey Bay are most likely from natural seeps from the floor of Monterey Bay and the continental shelf, rather than from ruptured oil tankers and other man-made occurrences, according to scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.