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USGS1998

USGS Mineral Resources Program: International Activities

The USGS is the country's leading earth science organization. Since 1879, USGS scientists have gathered and analyzed data and disseminated the results of their research on the geology, cartography, hydrology, and, more recently biology, of every continent and ocean on Earth. Multidisciplinary research both in the United States and in the international arena has been an important part of the USGS mission. The USGS Mineral Resources Program is the sole Federal agency program that provides high-quality scientific information, objective resource assessments, and unbiased research results on mineral issues

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2020

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis at regional and national scale: State of the art and future challenges

Seismic hazard modelling is a multi-disciplinary science that aims to forecast earthquake occurrence and its resultant ground shaking. Such models consist of a probabilistic framework that quantifies uncertainty across a complex system; typically, this includes at least two model components developed from Earth science: seismic-source and ground-motion models. Although there is no scientific prescription for the forecast length, the most common probabilistic seismic hazard analyses consider forecasting windows of 30 to 50 years, which are typically an engineering demand for building code purposes. These types of analyses are the topic of this review paper. Although the core methods and assumptions of seismic hazard modelling have largely remained unchanged for more than 50 years, we review the most recent initiatives which face the difficult task of meeting both the increasingly sophisticated demands of society and keeping pace with advances in scientific understanding. A need for more accurate and spatially precise hazard forecasting must be balanced with increased quantification of uncertainty and new challenges such as moving from time-independent hazard to forecasts that are time-dependent and specific to the time-period of interest. Meeting these challenges requires the development of science-driven models which integrate all information available, the adoption of proper mathematical frameworks to quantify the different types of uncertainties in the hazard model, and the development of a proper testing phase of the model to quantify its consistency and skill. We review the state-of-the-art of the national seismic hazard modeling, and how the most innovative approaches try to address future challenges.

Reviews of Geophysics↗

USGS1994

Computer-science guest-lecture series at Langston University sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey; abstracts, 1992-93

Langston University, a Historically Black University located at Langston, Oklahoma, has a computing and information science program within the Langston University Division of Business. Since 1984, Langston University has participated in the Historically Black College and University program of the U.S. Department of Interior, which provided education, training, and funding through a combined earth-science and computer-technology cooperative program with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). USGS personnel have presented guest lectures at Langston University since 1984. Students have been enthusiastic about the lectures, and as a result of this program, 13 Langston University students have been hired by the USGS on a part-time basis while they continued their education at the University. The USGS expanded the offering of guest lectures in 1992 by increasing the number of visits to Langston University, and by inviting participation of speakers from throughout the country. The objectives of the guest-lecture series are to assist Langston University in offering state-of-the-art education in the computer sciences, to provide students with an opportunity to learn from and interact with skilled computer-science professionals, and to develop a pool of potential future employees for part-time and full-time employment. This report includes abstracts for guest-lecture presentations during 1992-93 school year.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1979

Minerals, lands, and geology for the common defence and general welfare, Volume 1, Before 1879 : A history of public lands, federal science and mapping policy, and development of mineral resources in the United States

This volume, the first of a four-volume study, is concerned with events in the United States before the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, during the years in which geology evolved as a science and began to influence economic development and national policy. Subsequent volumes continue the story but focus on the Survey and its role in the events and developments of later years. The method of analysis demonstrates that knowledge of the Earth and its history, processes, and resources has provided a basis for intelligent economic development; also that geologists very soon realized that uncontrolled development of the land and other natural resources could not continue, that some limitations must be made on man's use of the Earth. The Geological Survey was established when public awareness of the need for balance between development and conservation of our resources was becoming evident. That balance is even more necessary now and in the future for the "general welfare" and "common defence" of the Nation. We can be grateful for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in providing for publicly supported studies in earth science and engineering by well-trained and motivated scientists and engineers. Such studies, undertaken objectively in the search for facts, can continue to be of great value in the formulation and execution of wise policies to protect our environment and to maintain that balance between development and conservation of the natural resources.

Book↗

USGS2016

Creating a Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) for science and conservation applications

The U.S. Geological Survey is creating the Coastal National Elevation Database, an expanding set of topobathymetric elevation models that extend seamlessly across coastal regions of high societal or ecological significance in the United States that are undergoing rapid change or are threatened by inundation hazards. Topobathymetric elevation models are raster datasets useful for inundation prediction and other earth science applications, such as the development of sediment-transport and storm surge models. These topobathymetric elevation models are being constructed by the broad regional assimilation of numerous topographic and bathymetric datasets, and are intended to fulfill the pressing needs of decision makers establishing policies for hazard mitigation and emergency preparedness, coastal managers tasked with coastal planning compatible with predictions of inundation due to sea-level rise, and scientists investigating processes of coastal geomorphic change. A key priority of this coastal elevation mapping effort is to foster collaborative lidar acquisitions that meet the standards of the USGS National Geospatial Program's 3D Elevation Program, a nationwide initiative to systematically collect high-quality elevation data. The focus regions are located in highly dynamic environments, for example in areas subject to shoreline change, rapid wetland loss, hurricane impacts such as overwash and wave scouring, and/or human-induced changes to coastal topography.

Journal of Coastal Research↗

USGS2016

Dendritic network models: Improving isoscapes and quantifying influence of landscape and in-stream processes on strontium isotopes in rivers

A critical challenge for the Earth sciences is to trace the transport and flux of matter within and among aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric systems. Robust descriptions of isotopic patterns across space and time, called “isoscapes,” form the basis of a rapidly growing and wide-ranging body of research aimed at quantifying connectivity within and among Earth's systems. However, isoscapes of rivers have been limited by conventional Euclidean approaches in geostatistics and the lack of a quantitative framework to apportion the influence of processes driven by landscape features versus in-stream phenomena. Here we demonstrate how dendritic network models substantially improve the accuracy of isoscapes of strontium isotopes and partition the influence of hydrologic transport versus local geologic features on strontium isotope ratios in a large Alaska river. This work illustrates the analytical power of dendritic network models for the field of isotope biogeochemistry, particularly for provenance studies of modern and ancient animals.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2016

Comments to Middle Miocene closure of the Central American Seaway

In a recent paper proposing an early (mid-Miocene) closure of the Central American Seaway (CAS), Montes et al. 2015 (1) disregard existing paleogeographic data that invalidate Panama as a source for zircons, and inappropriately ignore the evidence for trans-isthmian marine connections until 4-3 Ma. They also fail to cite previous work (2, 3), that had reconstructed the Central American arc already docked with South America by 12 Ma. Montes et al. 2015 (1) (Fig. 1) disregard the Atrato-San Juan sedimentary basin (3), a shallowing Oligocene to Pliocene, Pacific to Caribbean seaway (3, 4, 5). This deep graben (6) is filled with thousands of meters of Pre-Pliocene marine sediments (3, 5, 6) that now occupy a lowland between the Baudo uplift to the west and the Western Cordillera to the east. The Mande Batholith and numerous Eocene and younger volcanic rocks (4), the most proximal source of the zircons, are situated to the east of this seaway and would have shed zircons eastward towards the Cordillera Central. There is no evidence for any rivers crossing the seaway (3, 5), and thus no Panamanian source of zircons. Instead this seaway is evidence of a significant marine connection between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans into the Pliocene. The authors assume that the middle Miocene closure of the CAS effectively creates a continuous land bridge connecting North and South America and separating the Atlantic from the Pacific. They acknowledge, but then discount, marine connections across the Isthmus until 4-3 Ma even though these satisfactorily explain (Coates and Stallard, 2014 (6)) the oceanographic, molecular and Great American Biological Interchange events ignore unexplained by Montes et al. 2015. Only by conspicuously ignoring these events can they imply that the Isthmus was formed at 15-13 Ma. References 1. C. Montes et al., Middle Miocene closure of the Central American Seaway. Science 348, 226-229 (2015). 2. A. G. Coates, R. F. Stallard, How old is the Isthmus of Panama? B Mar Sci 89, 801-813 (2013). 3. H. Duque-Caro, The Choco Block in the northwestern corner of South America: Structural, tectonostratigraphic, and paleogeographic implications. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 3, 71-84 (1990). 4. H. Duque-Caro, Neogene stratigraphy, paleoceanography and paleobiogeography in northwest South America and the evolution of the Panama Seaway. Pal

Science↗

USGS2023

Global seismic networks operated by the U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Global Seismographic Network (GSN) Program operates two thirds of the GSN, a network of state‐of‐the‐art, digital seismological and geophysical sensors with digital telecommunications. This network serves as a multiuse scientific facility and a valuable resource for research, education, and monitoring. The other one third of the GSN is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the operations of this component are overseen by EarthScope. This collaboration between the USGS, EarthScope, and NSF has allowed for the development and operations of the GSN to be a truly multiuse network that provides near real‐time open access data, facilitating fundamental discoveries by the Earth science community, supporting the earthquake hazards mission of the USGS, benefitting tsunami monitoring by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and contributing to nuclear test monitoring and treaty verification. In this article, we describe the installation and evolution of the seismic networks operated by the USGS that ultimately led to the USGS portion of the GSN (100 stations under network codes IU, IC, and CU) as they are today and envision technological advances and opportunities to further improve the utility of the network in the future. This article focuses on the USGS‐operated component of the GSN; a companion article on the GSN stations funded by the NSF and operated by the Cecil and Ida Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego by Davis et al. (2023) appears in this volume.

Seismological Research Letters↗

USGS2016

Proceedings of the 12th Biennial Conference of research on the Colorado Plateau

Introduction The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic region that encompasses 330,000 square kilometers in parts of four states in the southwestern United States (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona). Known for its high deserts, the Colorado Plateau also includes isolated mountains, high plateaus, and rugged canyons. Not only is the region topographically diverse, but geologically, biologically, and culturally diverse as well. The landscape is managed by Federal entities including the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service; Tribal nations including the Navajo Nation, Kaibab Paiute, Mountain Ute, Southern Ute, Hopi, Zuni, Hualapai, Havasupai, and White Mountain Apache Tribes; State land and wildlife management agencies; and privately owned holdings, creating complex interactions and management challenges. Population growth, increased tourism to Federal and State lands, and energy development have increased water demands and altered land-use patterns, and these changes have emerged as management challenges facing the people working and living in the region. Climate change, particularly the ongoing drought, has exacerbated the effects of population growth, land-use change, and other stressors such as invasive species. As managers seek solutions to the challenges facing the region’s natural and cultural resources, the Biennial Conference of Science and Management of the Colorado Plateau has become an important venue for exchanging information about emerging management concerns and recent scientific research. Each biennial conference has sought to promote discussion, information sharing, and productive communication among the managers, scientists, students, administrators, tribal representatives, and others who attend the conference with the goal of enhancing the use of the best available science to manage the region’s incomparable natural and cultural resources. The publication and dissemination of a conference proceedings series expands the reach of the conference beyond those people in attendance and creates a record on the research presented. The idea of producing a conference proceedings, and its subsequent publication, first occurred in 1993 following the first biennial conference in 1991. A published volume of contributed papers has followed each subsequent biennial conference, including this volume. The venue for publishing proceedings has changed over the years and has included the National Park Service, the Government Printing Office, the U.S. Geological Survey, and University of Arizona Press. Recently, van Riper and others (2015) published a compilation of the abstracts from the 11 previous conference proceedings. Collectively, the proceedings highlight approximately 25 years of natural- and cultural-resources research, promoting the integration of research with resource management across the Colorado Plateau. This volume is freely downloadable by the public, thereby further expanding the influence of this conference beyond the Colorado Plateau. The 12th Biennial Conference held in Flagstaff, Arizona, from September 16 to 19, 2013, covered a range of topics in the physical, biological, and socio-cultural sciences. The conference was organized and hosted by Northern Arizona University’s ( NAU) Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, and the U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center. Financial and in-kind support was provided by a wide range of organizations including the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Grand Canyon Trust, Colorado Plateau Research Station, and various NAU entities. NAU sponsors include the Landscape Conservation Initiative, School of Forestry, School of Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, Office of the Provost, and Office of the Vice President of Research. Contributors to these proceedings include researchers and managers from Federal, State, and Tribal governments, universities, private entities, and non-profit organizations. In this regard, this conference has wide-ranging support and participation among private and public entities involved in the science and management of natural resources on the Colorado Plateau.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah↗

USGS1985

ELECTROCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCKS AND MINERALS.

Many phenomena and processes in the earth sciences are a result of the electrochemical properties of rocks and minerals. Examples include formation of mineral deposits and petroleum reservoirs control of drilling muds, and success or failure of toxic waste isolation barriers. Such phenomena can be observed at a distance using geophysical techniques to measure various electrical properties of the earth.

Conference Paper↗

USGS2019

Data management plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Washington Water Science Center

The primary mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Mission Area is to collect and disseminate reliable, impartial, and timely information needed to understand the water resources of the Nation, including data on streamflow, groundwater, water quality, water use, and availability. Management of data throughout the entire data lifecycle is necessary to meet the mission and maintain the USGS reputation of producing high-quality data as the Nation’s primary earth-science information agency. This document describes the data management procedures of the USGS Washington Water Science Center, including responsibilities of staff and workflow procedures.

Washington↗

USGS2006

Absolute calibration accuracy of L4 TM and L5 TM sensor image pairs

The Landsat suite of satellites has collected the longest continuous archive of multispectral data of any land-observing space program. From the Landsat program's inception in 1972 to the present, the Earth science user community has benefited from a historical record of remotely sensed data. However, little attention has been paid to ensuring that the data are calibrated and comparable from mission to mission, Launched in 1982 and 1984 respectively, the Landsat 4 (L4) and Landsat 5 (L5) Thematic Mappers (TM) are the backbone of an extensive archive of moderate resolution Earth imagery. To evaluate the "current" absolute accuracy of these two sensors, image pairs from the L5 TM and L4 TM sensors were compared. The approach involves comparing image statistics derived from large common areas observed eight days apart by the two sensors. The average percent differences in reflectance estimates obtained from the L4 TM agree with those from the L5 TM to within 15 percent. Additional work to characterize the absolute differences between the two sensors over the entire mission is in progress.

Conference Paper↗

USGS2020

History of U.S. Geological Survey scientific peer review and approval, 1879–2019

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior, has valued and used a scientific peer review and approval process since its creation in 1879. Bureau approval, formerly called Director’s approval, has been described in several USGS documents since 1900, and peer review has been codified in policy since 1959. Peer review of USGS manuscripts is intended to ensure the accuracy of data, the scientific validity of interpretations, and the consideration of alternative interpretations. This rigorous quality assurance process is considered deliberative because of the iterative exchange of ideas and opinions among the involved parties. Peer review practices differed between USGS organizational units until implementation of USGS Fundamental Science Practices (FSP) in 2006, which formalized Bureau-wide science practices, including peer review and approval, for all Bureau scientific information products released to the public or other Federal agencies. FSP policies also address review and approval requirements pertaining to the release of USGS-funded data and software and endorse quality-control standards for USGS laboratories. Bureau approval signifies the scientific excellence of information products, validates and ensures that all necessary reviews have been conducted, and confirms that information products meet USGS science quality standards and have the full backing of the Bureau. The extent, scope, and history of the peer review and approval process within the USGS are documented herein, so future USGS scientists and the public understand how consistent approaches in developing, reviewing, and publishing USGS scientific information have been and continue to be essential in maintaining the reputation of the Bureau for reliable and impartial Earth science research and data collection.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2023

Reproducibility starts at the source: R, Python, and Julia Packages for retrieving USGS hydrologic data

Much of modern science takes place in a computational environment, and, increasingly, that environment is programmed using R, Python, or Julia. Furthermore, most scientific data now live on the cloud, so the first step in many workflows is to query a cloud database and load the response into a computational environment for further analysis. Thus, tools that facilitate programmatic data retrieval represent a critical component in reproducible scientific workflows. Earth science is no different in this regard. To fulfill that basic need, we developed R, Python, and Julia packages providing programmatic access to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Information System database and the multi-agency Water Quality Portal. Together, these packages create a common interface for retrieving hydrologic data in the Jupyter ecosystem, which is widely used in water research, operations, and teaching. Source code, documentation, and tutorials for the packages are available on GitHub. Users can go there to learn, raise issues, or contribute improvements within a single platform, which helps foster better engagement and collaboration between data providers and their users.

Water↗

USGS2016

Community for Data Integration 2015 annual report

The Community for Data Integration (CDI) continued to experience success in fiscal year 2015. The CDI community members have been sharing, learning, and collaborating through monthly forums, workshops, working groups, and funded projects. In fiscal year 2015, CDI coordinated 10 monthly forums with 16 different speakers from the U.S. Geological Survey and external partners; funded 11 collaborative projects; and hosted an in-person, four-day workshop, which attracted 168 (134 in-person and 34 remote) data practitioners, data providers, and data consumers from across the USGS, academia, industry, and other government agencies. The Citizen Science, Connected Devices, Data Management, Semantic Web, and Tech Stack Working Groups continued to accomplish great things in fiscal year 2015. These working groups were major stakeholders in planning the 2015 CDI Workshop; they continued developing solutions to pressing challenges, and they brought in speakers throughout the year for more focused presentations and discussions. Additionally, a new working group formed during the 2015 CDI Workshop—the Earth-Science Themes Working Group.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2020

Quantifying uncertainty for remote spectroscopy of surface composition

Remote surface measurements by imaging spectrometers play an important role in planetary and Earth science. To make these measurements, investigators calibrate instrument data to absolute units, invert physical models to estimate atmospheric effects, and then determine surface properties from the spectral reflectance. This study quantifies the uncertainty in this process. Global missions demand predictive uncertainty models that can estimate future errors for varied environments and observing conditions. Here we validate uncertainty predictions with remote surface composition retrievals and in situ measurements in a field analogue of Earth and planetary exploration. We consider rover transects at Cuprite, Nevada, and remote observations by NASA's Next- Generation Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG). We show that accounting for input uncertainties can benefit mineral detection methods such as constrained spectrum fitting. This suggests that operational uncertainty estimates could improve future NASA missions like the Earth Mineral dust source InvesTigation (EMIT) and the Lunar Trailblazer mission, as well as NASA's Decadal Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Investigation.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗

USGS1980

Seismology at the Australian National University; an interview with Anton L. Hales

Dr. Anton L. Hales is a leading seismologist who has just retired as Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra. Prior to that, he headed the Geosciences Division at the University of Texas at Dallas, and, before that, he was Director of the Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa. he is about to step down as President of the International Geodynamics Commission. Dr. Hales' research has involved marine geophysics, the travel times of seismic waves, and the structure of the Earth's crust and upper mantle.

Earthquake Information Bulletin (USGS)↗

USGS2015

Minerals, lands, and geology for the common defence and general welfare, Volume 4, 1939-1961: A history of geology in relation to the development of public-land, federal science, and mapping policies and the development of mineral resources in the United States from the 60th to the 82d year of the U.S. Geological Survey

The fourth volume of the comprehensive history of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is titled “Minerals, Lands, and Geology for the Common Defence and General Welfare—Volume 4, 1939‒1961.” The title is based on a passage in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. The late Mary C. Rabbitt (1915‒2002), a geophysicist who served with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1948‒1949) and the USGS (1949‒1978), wrote the first three volumes in this series of USGS Special Books. “Volume 1, Before 1879” (1979), “Volume 2, 1879‒1904” (1980), and “Volume 3, 1904‒1939” (1986), although long out of print and out of stock, are now available online; see links at right. The 704-page Volume 4, supplemented by more than 200 illustrations, was begun by Rabbitt and completed by coauthor Clifford M. Nelson, a geologist with the USGS since 1976. The book is described as “A History of Geology in Relation to the Development of Public-Land, Federal Science, and Mapping Policies and the Development of Mineral Resources in the United States From the 60th to the 82d Year of the U.S. Geological Survey.” Volume 4 focuses on the United States and the USGS in war and peace from the beginning of World War II in Europe to the end of the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Like the earlier books in the series, Volume 4 places the nature and significance of USGS operations in mapping and the earth sciences in the wider contexts of national and international history. The new volume, like its three predecessors, is intended for general readers and historians alike, so it follows a chronological rather than a thematic pattern, although themes are traced throughout the book. After preparing Volumes 1–3, Rabbitt wrote a brief report summarizing the agency's history in its first century, “The United States Geological Survey: 1879‒1989,” which was originally issued as USGS Circular 1050 in 1989. It was reissued in 2000 as part of USGS Circular 1179, which also contains Renée M. Jaussaud’s inventory of documents accessioned through 1997 into Record Group 57 (USGS) at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Archives II facility (NARA II) in College Park, Maryland.

Book↗