Images

Geogirls use computers in the field to track locations and annotate field photos.

GeoGirls learn about how the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens impacted the ecology of the area.

Photographs showing equipment used during bathymetric and topographic surveys along the Columbia River littoral cell, Washington and Oregon.

Graphic shows an east to west cut-away of Mount St. Helens with an interpreted model of seismic wave speeds under the volcano and earthquakes from 2008-2016. The colors of the model represent changes in seismic p-wave velocities from tomographic studies (Waite and Moran, 2009; doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2009.02.009).

Sam Doak (center) and scientists from the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation set up block nets to perform population estimates of fish in a pool on Rock Creek, WA. 

USGS geologist Amy East was delighted to observe a Chinook salmon carcass upstream from two dams recently removed from the Elwha River in Washington State. River restoration has allowed salmon to reach upstream spawning grounds for the first time in more than a century.

View from Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park, Washington, looking at the Elwha River basin.

Aerial photograph of the mouth of the Elwha River showing sediment deposits from dam removal. Aerial assistance by LightHawk and plane piloted by Dr. Milton Bennett.

Biologists snorkel the Bogachiel River in Washington State to count resident and migratory fish as part of a riverscape survey.

English Sole - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images from a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

 Led by USGS scientist Cynthia Gardner, GeoGirls collect and sort sediments from the shore of Coldwater Lake, near Mount St. Helens, examining evidence of the May 18, 1980 landslide that dammed Coldwater Creek to create the lake.

Candy striped shrimp with sand rose anemone - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images for a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

Clown nudibranch - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images from a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

Cluster of tubeworms - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images from a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

Fan hydroids - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images from a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

Sanddab - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images from a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

Buffalo sculpin camouflaged - Scuba divers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Western Fisheries Research Center, Washington Sea Grant, EPA and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe collected data and images from a long-term study of the Elwha River dam removals and the resulting effects on the nearshore ecosystem.

Image of sockeye salmon. Photo provided by Milton Love, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Image of the Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, WA

USGS hydrologist Mark Reid examines an extensional basin in the middle of the Oso landslide deposit.  The headscarp (near-vertical cliff at the back of the landslide) is visible at the top of the image.  The prominent tree is one of many that fell and became perched as the landslide spread out over the river valley.

USGS - NOROCK field team in the Northern Cascades studying Hoary marmots and American pika and snowpack dynamics.