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Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
USGS2016

The 2014-2015 Pāhoa lava flow crisis at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i: Disaster avoided and lessons learned

Lava flow crises are nothing new on the Island of Hawai‘i, where their destructive force has been demonstrated repeatedly over the past several hundred years. The 2014–2015 Pāhoa lava flow crisis, however, was unique in terms of its societal impact and volcanological characteristics. Despite low effusion rates, a long-lived lava flow whose extent reached 20 km (the longest at Kīlauea Volcano in the past several hundred years) was poised for months to impact thousands of people, although direct impacts were ultimately minor (thus far). Careful observation of the flow reaffirmed and expanded knowledge of the processes associated with pāhoehoe emplacement, including the direct correlation between summit pressurization and flow advance, the influence of existing geologic structures on flow pathways, and the possible relationship between effusion rate and flow length. Communicating uncertainty associated with lava flow hazards was a challenge throughout the crisis, but online distribution of information and direct contact with residents proved to be effective strategies for keeping the public informed and educated about flow progress and how lava flows work (including forecasting limitations). Volcanological and sociological lessons will be important for inevitable future lava flow crises in Hawai‘i and, potentially, elsewhere in the world.

Hawaii↗
USGS2016

Modelling landslide liquefaction, mobility bifurcation and the dynamics of the 2014 Oso disaster

Some landslides move slowly or intermittently downslope, but others liquefy during the early stages of motion, leading to runaway acceleration and high-speed runout across low-relief terrain. Mechanisms responsible for this disparate behaviour are represented in a two-phase, depth-integrated, landslide dynamics model that melds principles from soil mechanics, granular mechanics and fluid mechanics. The model assumes that gradually increasing pore-water pressure causes slope failure to nucleate at the weakest point on a basal slip surface in a statically balanced mass. Failure then spreads to adjacent regions as a result of momentum exchange. Liquefaction is contingent on pore-pressure feedback that depends on the initial soil state. The importance of this feedback is illustrated by using the model to study the dynamics of a disastrous landslide that occurred near Oso, Washington, USA, on 22 March 2014. Alternative simulations of the event reveal the pronounced effects of a landslide mobility bifurcation that occurs if the initial void ratio of water-saturated soil equals the lithostatic, critical-state void ratio. They also show that the tendency for bifurcation increases as the soil permeability decreases. The bifurcation implies that it can be difficult to discriminate conditions that favour slow landsliding from those that favour liquefaction and long runout.

Washington↗
USGS2003

Hazards, Disasters, and The National Map

Governments depend on base geographic information that describes the Earth's surface and locates features. They use this information for economic and community development, land and natural resource management, delivery of health services, and ensuring public safety. It is also the foundation for studying and solving geographically based problems. Geographic information underpins an increasingly large part of the Nation's economy. It is an important part of our national infrastructure in the same way that the Interstate Highway System is an essential element of our transportation network. Federal, State, and local response and management personnel must have current, reliable, and easily accessible geographic information and maps to prepare for, respond to, or recover from emergency situations. In life-threatening events, such as earthquakes, floods, or wildland fires, geographic information is essential for locating critical infrastructure and carrying out evacuation and rescue operations.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2009

Hazards, Disasters, and The National Map

Federal, State, and local response and management personnel must have current, reliable, and easily accessible geographic information and maps to prepare for, respond to, or recover from emergency situations. In life-threatening events, such as earthquakes, floods, or wildland fires, geographic information is essential for locating critical infrastructure and carrying out evacuation and rescue operations. The USGS promotes partnerships to ensure that base map data are up to date, readily available, and shareable among local, state, and National users. The National Map enables other government agencies, private industry, and the public to link and share additional data that provide even more information. These efforts with state and local governments have helped standardize the data by reducing data inconsistencies between neighboring jurisdictions and will help fill in the gaps for those places where data are lacking.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2018

The HayWired earthquake scenario—We can outsmart disaster

The HayWired earthquake scenario, led by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), anticipates the impacts of a hypothetical magnitude-7.0 earthquake on the Hayward Fault. The fault is along the east side of California’s San Francisco Bay and is among the most active and dangerous in the United States, because it runs through a densely urbanized and interconnected region. One way to learn about a large earthquake without experiencing it is to conduct a scientifically realistic scenario. The USGS and its partners in the HayWired Coalition and the HayWired Campaign are working to energize residents and businesses to engage in ongoing and new efforts to prepare the region for such a future earthquake.

California↗
USGS2011

The international charter for space and major disasters--project manager training

Regional Project Managers for the Charter are developed through training courses, which typically last between 3 and 5 days and are held in a central location for participants. These courses have resulted in increased activations and broader use of Charter data and information by local emergency management authorities. Project Managers are nominated according to either their regional affiliation or their specific areas of expertise. A normal activation takes 2 to 3 weeks to complete, with all related expenses the responsibility of the PM's home agency.

General Information Product↗
USGS2006

Facing the great disaster : How the men and women of the U.S. Geological Survey responded to the 1906 "San Francisco Earthquake"

It was the most devastating earthquake in California’s history. At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, the ground under the San Francisco Bay Area shook violently for more than 40 seconds. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake created a rupture along nearly 300 miles of the San Andreas Fault and was felt from southern Oregon to Los Angeles. Because the earthquake’s epicenter was just offshore from San Francisco, the impact on that city was catastrophic. Fragments of broken houses and buildings tumbled into the streets. The pipeline carrying water into the city was severed; fires triggered by broken gas mains raged out of control for 3 days. An area of almost 5 square miles in the heart of the city was destroyed by shaking and fire, and earthquake damage was widespread elsewhere. At least 3,000 people were killed, and 225,000 were left homeless. Drinking water, food, and supplies quickly became scarce. In 1906, the only permanent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office in California was the Pacific Division topographic mapping office in Sacramento, 70 miles up the Sacramento River from San Francisco Bay. The office had been established just 3 years earlier and was the only USGS office ever created for the sole function of topographic mapping. At the time of the earthquake, many USGS topographers were in Sacramento preparing for a summer of field work. Although moderate shaking was felt in Sacramento, then a town of about 30,000 people, detailed information about the earthquake was slow to reach the residents there. USGS topographic engineer George R. Davis, not knowing the full extent of the damage, was fearful that his 62-year-old father Edward Davis in San Francisco was caught up in the devastation. George therefore left Sacramento on the first train bound for the San Francisco Bay area. “He was very worried. The phones were down and he wasn’t sure whether or not the hotel his father was living in was damaged,” said George Davis’s daughter Anna (Davis) Rogers, then an octogenarian, in a 2005 interview. Recalling the stories she heard of these events while growing up, Anna added, “Fortunately [the hotel] hadn’t fallen down.” George Davis, a tall man with a quiet demeanor and a dry wit, was accompanied to San Francisco by fellow USGS topographer Clarence L. Nelson. Both were 29 years old and in excellent physical condition after a year spent mapping the Mount Whitney quadrangle, which includes some of the most rugged terrain in the conterminous United States. On their arrival in San Francisco, the pair was fortunate to find the elder Davis unharmed at the hotel where he had been living. Nelson—handsome, athletic, and artistic—had brought his camera in order to get photographs while things were still “hot” and began taking what were to become a memorable set of images. The three men wandered through San Francisco all night and through the following morning, moving from one dramatic scene to the next. Nelson captured the horse-mounted “dynamite squad,” soldiers marching on Van Ness Avenue, and a rare scene of two horsedrawn fire engines with one engine drawing water from a cistern on Union Street. One ironic photograph shows refugees making their way through rubble-filled streets in the direction of a wrecked City Hall. Flames from the burning heart of the city shone brightly against the darkness, and Nelson captured the surreal glow in several of his photographs, including one of Union Square with the Breuners building burning in the background.

General Information Product↗