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At least 847 records · Page 47Linked to original sources
USGS2019

The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI): Mapping the Nation’s critical mineral resources

The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI; formerly known as 3DEEP) is planned as a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), and other Federal, State, and private-sector organizations. The goal of the effort is to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework in the United States and to identify areas that have the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources. Enhancement of our domestic mineral supply will decrease our reliance on foreign sources of minerals that are fundamental to the Nation’s security and economy. The intent of Earth MRI is to leverage the USGS’s existing relationships with States and the private sector to conduct state-of-the-art geologic mapping and airborne geophysical and topographic (lidar) surveys. Analyses of these datasets could point to potential buried critical mineral deposits.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2020

Technical overview of the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)

The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in response to a Federal directive calling on various Federal agencies to address potential vulnerabilities in the Nation’s supply of critical mineral resources. The primary purpose of this initiative is to identify potentially mineralized areas containing critical minerals by gathering new basic geologic data about the United States and its territories and to make these data publicly available through the Earth MRI web portal ( https://usgs.gov/earthmri ). The gathering of data is accomplished through geophysical surveys, geologic mapping, and the collection of topographical (light detection and ranging, or lidar) data. In addition to identifying areas permissive for hosting critical minerals, the new data collected are likely to be helpful in addressing other societal needs as well, such as by helping to locate groundwater resources, providing information needed to mitigate effects of natural hazards, and identifying locations of the mineral resources useful for restoring and rebuilding aging infrastructure in the United States.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2022

Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Fractional Snow Covered Area science product

The Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Fractional Snow Covered Area science product indicates the percentage of pixels covered by snow for Landsat 4–9 imagery. Landsat’s spatial resolution offers the capability to map snow cover patterns across topographically complex mountainous regions. Snow cover is spatially and temporally variable and is often concentrated in remote or inaccessible land regions, making spaceborne remote sensing the most feasible approach to measure and monitor snow cover change.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2014

Preliminary interpretation of pre-2014 landslide deposits in the vicinity of Oso, Washington

High-resolution topographic surveys allow fairly precise mapping of landslide deposits and their relative ages. Relative ages are determined by cross-cutting relations and the amount of smoothing—more smoothed slide deposits are older—of these deposits. The Tulalip Tribes, in partnership with the Puget Sound Lidar Consortium, acquired a high-resolution lidar (light detection and ranging) survey of the North Fork Stillaguamish River valley in 2013. This report presents a preliminary interpretation of the topography of this area using the lidar data at a scale of 1:24,000.

Washington↗
USGS1916

Guidebook of the western United States: Part C - The Santa Fe route, with a side trip to Grand Canyon of the Colorado

The United States of America comprise an area so vast in extent and so diverse in natural features as well as in characters due to human agency that the American citizen who knows thoroughly his own country must have traveled widely and observed wisely. To 'know America first' is a patriotic obligation, but to meet this obligation the railroad traveler needs to have his eyes directed toward the more important or essential things within his field of vision and then to have much that he sees explained by what is unseen in the swift passage of the train. Indeed, many things that attract his attention are inexplicable except as the story of the past is available to enable him to interpret the present. Herein lie the value and the charm of history, whether human or geologic. The present stimulus given to travel in the home country will encourage many thousands of Americans to study geography at first hand. To make this study most profitable the traveler needs a handbook that will answer the questions that come to his mind so readily along the way. Furthermore, the aim of such a guide should be to stimulate the eye in the selection of the essentials in the scene that so rapidly unfolds itself in the crossing of the continent. In recognition of the opportunity afforded in 1915 to render service of this kind to an unusually large number of American citizens, as well as to visitors from other countries, the United States Geological Survey has prepared a series of guidebooks covering four of the older railroad routes west of the Mississippi. These books are educational in purpose, but the method adopted is to entertain the traveler by making more interesting what he sees from the car window. The plan of the series is to present authoritative information that may enable the reader to realize adequately the scenic and material resources of the region he is traversing, to comprehend correctly the basis of its development, and above all to appreciate keenly the real value of the country he looks out upon, not as so many square miles of territory represented on the map in a railroad folder by meaningless spaces, but rather as land - real estate, if you please - varying widely in present appearance because differing largely in its history and characterized by even greater variation in values because possessing diversified natural resources. One region may be such as to afford a livelihood for only a pastoral people; another may present opportunity for intensive agriculture; still another may contain hidden stores of mineral wealth that may attract large industrial development; and taken together these varied resources afford the promise of long-continued prosperity for this or that State. Items of interest in civic development or references to significant epochs in the record of discovery and settlement may be interspersed with explanations of mountain and valley or statements of geologic history. In a broad way, the story of the West is a unit, and every chapter should be told in order to meet fully the needs of the tourist who aims to understand all that he sees. To such a traveler-reader this series of guidebooks is addressed. To this interpretation of our own country the United States Geological Survey brings the accumulated data of decades of pioneering investigation, and the present contribution is only one type of return to the public which has supported this scientific work under the Federal Government. In preparing the description of the country traversed by the Santa Fe Route the geographic and geologic information already published as well as unpublished material in the possession of the Geological Survey has been utilized, but to supplement this material Mr. Darton made a field examination of the entire route in 1914. Information has been furnished by Erasmus Haworth, J. E. Todd, and R. T. Hill, as well as by others whose writings are listed in the bibliography at the end of the text. Cooperation has been rendered by the United States Reclamation Service and by bureaus of the Department of Agriculture. Railroad officials and other citizens have also generously given their aid, and other members of the Survey have freely cooperated in the work. For the purpose of furnishing the traveler with a graphic presentation of each part of his route, the accompanying maps, 25 sheets in all, have been prepared, with a degree of accuracy probably never bsfore attained in a guidebook, aiid their arrangement has been planned to meet the convenience of the reader. The special topographic surveys necessary to complete these maps of the route were made by W. O. Tufts.

Bulletin↗
USGS2026

Impacts of transient critical zone evolution on landslide susceptibility and hazard Across the Utuado batholith, Puerto Rico

Landscapes in humid climates often experience rapid chemical and mechanical weathering that can change groundwater fluxes, drainage pathways, and frictional strength via alterations in subsurface mineral composition and matrix porosity. These changes to hillslope critical zone structure and strength should control landslide susceptibility, size, and failure style. Here we test the impact of differential weathering on landslide failure processes by exploiting a natural experiment along the dioritic Utuado batholith in Puerto Rico's Cordillera Central, where a sharp weathering gradient follows an upstream-propagating knickzone into an uplifted shoreline platform that was affected by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Through a combination of landslide mapping, field geophysical and geotechnical surveys, topographic analysis, calibrated stream profile inversion, 3D back-analysis of hillslope strength, and debris-flow inundation assessments, we show that differential weathering induces changes to critical zone structure and consequently landslide susceptibility and hazard. Our mapping reveals that the hurricane-induced landslides preferentially cluster along less weathered hillslopes despite a marked increase in frictional strength. Jointly inverted seismic refraction and electrical resistivity profiles show that the frictionally weak, heavily weathered hillslopes are highly porous and dry, which we posit acts to stabilize slopes through limiting deeper hydrologic connectivity that can produce shallow water tables with destabilizing lateral seepage forces during storms. Debris-flow inundation mapping and analysis reveals that major contributors to debris-flow growth, channel steepness and landslide coalescence, scale linearly with hillslope friction angle. This leads to higher-mobility debris flows along knickzone reaches, which disproportionately affects communities at the base of the plateau.

Puerto Rico↗
USGS2001

Geologic map and digital database of the Conejo Well 7.5 minute quadrangle, Riverside County, southern California

This data set maps and describes the geology of the Conejo Well 7.5 minute quadrangle, Riverside County, southern California. The quadrangle, situated in Joshua Tree National Park in the eastern Transverse Ranges physiographic and structural province, encompasses part of the northern Eagle Mountains and part of the south flank of Pinto Basin. It is underlain by a basement terrane comprising Proterozoic metamorphic rocks, Mesozoic plutonic rocks, and Mesozoic and Mesozoic or Cenozoic hypabyssal dikes. The basement terrane is capped by a widespread Tertiary erosion surface preserved in remnants in the Eagle Mountains and buried beneath Cenozoic deposits in Pinto Basin. Locally, Miocene basalt overlies the erosion surface. A sequence of at least three Quaternary pediments is planed into the north piedmont of the Eagle Mountains, each in turn overlain by successively younger residual and alluvial deposits. The Tertiary erosion surface is deformed and broken by north-northwest-trending, high-angle, dip-slip faults in the Eagle Mountains and an east-west trending system of high-angle dip- and left-slip faults. In and adjacent to the Conejo Well quadrangle, faults of the northwest-trending set displace Miocene sedimentary rocks and basalt deposited on the Tertiary erosion surface and Pliocene and (or) Pleistocene deposits that accumulated on the oldest pediment. Faults of this system appear to be overlain by Pleistocene deposits that accumulated on younger pediments. East-west trending faults are younger than and perhaps in part coeval with faults of the northwest-trending set. The Conejo Well database was created using ARCVIEW and ARC/INFO, which are geographical information system (GIS) software products of Envronmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). The database consists of the following items: (1) a map coverage showing faults and geologic contacts and units, (2) a separate coverage showing dikes, (3) a coverage showing structural data, (4) a point coverage containing line ornamentation, and (5) a scanned topographic base at a scale of 1:24,000. The coverages include attribute tables for geologic units (polygons and regions), contacts (arcs), and site-specific data (points). The database, accompanied by a pamphlet file and this metadata file, also includes the following graphic and text products: (1) A portable document file (.pdf) containing a navigable graphic of the geologic map on a 1:24,000 topographic base. The map is accompanied by a marginal explanation consisting of a Description of Map and Database Units (DMU), a Correlation of Map and Database Units (CMU), and a key to point-and line-symbols. (2) Separate .pdf files of the DMU and CMU, individually. (3) A PostScript graphic-file containing the geologic map on a 1:24,000 topographic base accompanied by the marginal explanation. (4) A pamphlet that describes the database and how to access it. Within the database, geologic contacts , faults, and dikes are represented as lines (arcs), geologic units as polygons and regions, and site-specific data as points. Polygon, arc, and point attribute tables (.pat, .aat, and .pat, respectively) uniquely identify each geologic datum and link it to other tables (.rel) that provide more detailed geologic information.

California↗
USGS2015

Seabed maps showing topography, ruggedness, backscatter intensity, sediment mobility, and the distribution of geologic substrates in Quadrangle 6 of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Region offshore of Boston, Massachusetts

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Sanctuary Program, has conducted seabed mapping and related research in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) region since 1993. The area is approximately 3,700 square kilometers (km 2 ) and is subdivided into 18 quadrangles. Seven maps, at a scale of 1:25,000, of quadrangle 6 (211 km 2 ) depict seabed topography, backscatter, ruggedness, geology, substrate mobility, mud content, and areas dominated by fine-grained or coarse-grained sand. Interpretations of bathymetric and seabed backscatter imagery, photographs, video, and grain-size analyses were used to create the geology-based maps. In all, data from 420 stations were analyzed, including sediment samples from 325 locations. The seabed geology map shows the distribution of 10 substrate types ranging from boulder ridges to immobile, muddy sand to mobile, rippled sand. Mapped substrate types are defined on the basis of sediment grain-size composition, surface morphology, sediment layering, the mobility or immobility of substrate surfaces, and water depth range. This map series is intended to portray the major geological elements (substrates, topographic features, processes) of environments within quadrangle 6. Additionally, these maps will be the basis for the study of the ecological requirements of invertebrate and vertebrate species that utilize these substrates and guide seabed management in the region.

Massachusetts↗
USGS1990

An operational earth mapping and monitoring satellite system: a proposal for Landsat 7

The system proposed will monitor the Earth in a systematic and multispectral mode with a resolution of 10 m or better. In addition, it will acquire stereoscopic coverage in a form that permits the automated compilation of topographic data and digital elevation models. Image maps of 1:50 000 or even 1:24 000 scale are expected products, and the topographic data can support contours of 20-m intervals. The system builds on the successful Landsat and SPOT modes of remote sensing. -from Author

Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing↗
USGS1986

Geologic map of the western equatorial region of Mars

The r egional topographic swell centered in the Tharsis Montes and Syria Planum extends over one-third of the map area (U.S. Geological Survey, 1976). Within this high region are the four largest and youngest volcanoes on Mars: Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascrae us Mons. The latter three collectively form the large northeast-trending, volcanic mountain chain of the Tharsis Montes. This volcanic chain lies athwart the global highland - lowland boundary that transects the western equatorial region. The boundary, where not covered b young lava flow s, is marked by a gentle, irregular scarp bordered by clusters of low knobby hills. It separates the relatively smooth, flat, spar sely cratered northern plains from the higher, rougher, more densely cratered plateau terrain of the southern highlands . A vast system of canyons, the Valles Marineris , originates in Noctis Labyrinthus , just east of the Tharsis -Sy ria swell, and extends eastward for several thousand kilo meters. Ancient rivers channels appear to have sources in canyons and chaotic terrain north of Valles Ma rineris and in a large fissure at the head of the Mangala V alles. Visible remnants of large circular basins are not as common on Mars as on the Moon, probably because of more active erosion and deeper burial on Mars by eolian and fluvial activity and by widespread volcanism on both the highlands and plains. The youngest and b est preserved impact basin on Mars, lying in the western hemisphere , is more than 1,00 0 km across. It has a broad flat floor ( Argyre Planitia) covered by eolian materials and volcanic flows ; the floor is several kilometers below its encompassing rough mountainous rim.

IMAP↗
USGS2009

On the use of high-resolution topographic data as a proxy for seismic site conditions (V S30 )

An alternative method has recently been proposed for evaluating global seismic site conditions, or the average shear velocity to 30 m depth (V S30 ), from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 30 arcsec digital elevation models (DEMs). The basic premise of the method is that the topographic slope can be used as a reliable proxy for V S30 in the absence of geologically and geotechnically based site-condition maps through correlations between VS30 measurements and topographic gradient. Here we evaluate the use of higher-resolution (3 and 9 arcsec) DEMs to examine whether we are able to resolve V S30 in more detail than can be achieved using the lower-resolution SRTM data. High-quality DEMs at resolutions greater than 30 arcsec are not uniformly available at the global scale. However, in many regions where such data exist, they may be employed to resolve finer-scale variations in topographic gradient, and consequently, V S30 . We use the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Data Center's National Elevation Dataset (NED) to investigate the use of high-resolution DEMs for estimating V S30 in several regions across the United States, including the San Francisco Bay area in California, Los Angeles, California, and St. Louis, Missouri. We compare these results with an example from Taipei, Taiwan, that uses 9 arcsec SRTM data, which are globally available. The use of higher-resolution NED data recovers finer-scale variations in topographic gradient, which better correlate to geological and geomorphic features, in particular, at the transition between hills and basins, warranting their use over 30 arcsec SRTM data where available. However, statistical analyses indicate little to no improvement over lower-resolution topography when compared to V S30 measurements, suggesting that some topographic smoothing may provide more stable V S30 estimates. Furthermore, we find that elevation variability in canopy-based SRTM measurements at resolutions greater than 30 arcsec are too large to resolve reliable slopes, particularly in low-gradient sedimentary basins.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗
USGS1975

Floods in east Baton Rouge Parish and adjacent areas, Louisiana, for the period 1953-74

Flood damage resulting from development in flood plains in East Baton Rouge Parish, La., and adjacent areas has caused economic losses, making governmental officials and planners aware of the need for flood maps. Based on information in private and official files, flood maps have been prepared for 7 1/2-minute topographic quadrangles to show the interpretative delineation of the highest flood elevation that occurred between the years 1953 and 1974. The flood boundaries were mapped on the following quadrangles: Port Hudson, Zachary, Fred, Pride, Pine Grove, Walls, Scotlandville, Comite, Watson, Baton Rouge West, Baton Rouge East, Denham Springs, Plaquemine, St. Gabriel, and Prairieville.

Lousiana↗
USGS2006

Sea floor topography and backscatter intensity of the Hudson Canyon region offshore of New York and New Jersey

These maps show the sea floor topography and backscatter intensity of the Hudson Canyon region on the continental slope and rise offshore of New Jersey and New York (fig. 1 and fig. 2). Sheet 1 shows sea floor topography as shaded relief. Sheet 2 shows sea floor topography as shaded relief with backscatter intensity superimposed in color. Both sheets are at a scale of 1:300,000 and also show smoothed topographic contours at selected intervals. The maps are based on new multibeam echo-sounder data collected on an 18-day cruise carried out aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Ronald H. Brown during August and September 2002. Additional multibeam data of the Hudson Canyon collected by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), on the continental shelf collected by the STRATAFORM project (Goff and others, 1999), and a survey of the Hudson Shelf Valley (Butman and others, 2003), and a compilation of bathymetric data from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) Coastal Relief Model provide coverage of areas surrounding Hudson Canyon (fig. 2). Interpretations of the surficial geology also utilize widely spaced 3.5- and 10-kiloHertz (kHz) high-resolution seismic profiles collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (fig.2).

New Jersey, New York↗
USGS2014

Geologic map of the west-central Buffalo National River region, northern Arkansas

This map summarizes the geology of the west-central Buffalo National River region in the Ozark Plateaus region of northern Arkansas. Geologically, the region lies on the southern flank of the Ozark dome, an uplift that exposes oldest rocks at its center in Missouri. Physiographically, the map area spans the Springfield Plateau, a topographic surface generally held up by Mississippian cherty limestone and the higher Boston Mountains to the south, held up by Pennsylvanian rocks. The Buffalo River flows eastward through the map area, enhancing bedrock erosion of an approximately 1,600-ft- (490-m-) thick sequence of Ordovician, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian carbonate and clastic sedimentary rocks that have been mildly deformed by a series of faults and folds. Quaternary surficial units are present as alluvial deposits along major streams, including a series of terrace deposits from the Buffalo River, as well as colluvium and landslide deposits mantling bedrock on hillslopes. This report provides a geologic map database of the map area that improves understanding of the regional geologic framework and its influence on the regional groundwater flow system. Furthermore, additional edits were made to the Ponca and Jasper quadrangles in the following ways: new control points on important contacts were obtained using modern GPS; recent higher resolution elevation data allowed further control on placement of contacts; some new contacts were added, in particular the contact separating the upper and lower Everton Formation.

Arkansas↗
USGS2019

Geologic map of the Blythe 7.5' quadrangle, La Paz County, Arizona and Riverside County, California

The geologic map of the Blythe 7.5' quadrangle spans about 60 percent of the width of the Holocene floodplain and valley floor of the lower Colorado River and the adjacent lower piedmont on the east side of the Colorado River Valley. This map depicts a composite geologic record of the river’s response to the transition from a natural flow regime to a strictly regulated one created by a series of upstream dams and channelization of much of its length. The floodplain map was developed using archival data sources including notes and maps from early river expeditions, early cadastral and topographical surveys, and a series of historical aerial photographs. The floodplain surface and its underlying young alluvial fill is herein referred to as the Blythe Alluvium, and this report provides the basis for defining it as a formal stratigraphic unit. Along the eastern edge of the map are piedmont deposits intercalated with Pliocene and Pleistocene Colorado River sediments underlying the Blythe Alluvium. The piedmont units include an array of washes and alluvial fans sourced in the Trigo and Dome Rock Mountains. These deposits were divided and mapped based on stratigraphic and geomorphic criteria including relative topographic relationships, and cross-cutting and inset stratigraphic relations among individual piedmont units and with ancestral Colorado River deposits. Varying thicknesses of those units likely exist below the Holocene floodplain, and this report presents those in the form of a lithologic-section of the valley based on available well data and accompanying descriptions.

Arizona, California↗
USGS2008

Geologic Map of the Meskhent Tessera Quadrangle (V-3), Venus

The Magellan spacecraft orbited Venus from August 10, 1990, until it plunged into the Venusian atmosphere on October 12, 1994. Magellan Mission objectives included (1) improving the knowledge of the geological processes, surface properties, and geologic history of Venus by analysis of surface radar characteristics, topography, and morphology and (2) improving the knowledge of the geophysics of Venus by analysis of Venusian gravity. The Meskhent Tessera quadrangle is in the northern hemisphere of Venus and extends from lat 50 degrees to 75 degrees N. and from long 60 degrees to 120 degrees E. In regional context, the Meskhent Tessera quadrangle is surrounded by extensive tessera regions to the west (Fortuna and Laima Tesserae) and to the south (Tellus Tessera) and by a large basinlike lowland (Atalanta Planitia) on the east. The northern third of the quadrangle covers the easternmost portion of the large topographic province of Ishtar Terra (northwestern map area) and the more localized upland of Tethus Regio (northeastern map area).

Scientific Investigations Map↗
USGS2013

Crater-based dating of geological units on Mars: methods and application for the new global geological map

The new, post-Viking generation of Mars orbital imaging and topographical data provide significant higher-resolution details of surface morphologies, which induced a new effort to photo-geologically map the surface of Mars at 1:20,000,000 scale. Although from unit superposition relations a relative stratigraphical framework can be compiled, it was the ambition of this mapping project to provide absolute unit age constraints through crater statistics. In this study, the crater counting method is described in detail, starting with the selection of image data, type locations (both from the mapper’s and crater counter’s perspectives) and the identification of impact craters. We describe the criteria used to validate and analyse measured crater populations, and to derive and interpret crater model ages. We provide examples of how geological information about the unit’s resurfacing history can be retrieved from crater size–frequency distributions. Three cases illustrate short-, intermediate, and long-term resurfacing histories. In addition, we introduce an interpretation-independent visualisation of the crater resurfacing history that uses the reduction of the crater population in a given size range relative to the expected population given the observed crater density at larger sizes. From a set of potential type locations, 48 areas from 22 globally mapped units were deemed suitable for crater counting. Because resurfacing ages were derived from crater statistics, these secondary ages were used to define the unit age rather than the base age. Using the methods described herein, we modelled ages that are consistent with the interpreted stratigraphy. Our derived model ages allow age assignments to be included in unit names. We discuss the limitations of using the crater dating technique for global-scale geological mapping. Finally, we present recommendations for the documentation and presentation of crater statistics in publications.

Icarus↗