Home | Contact The Help Desk | Internet & Marketing Services
Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.By Aaron FersterThis week, I had the pleasure of joining a few colleagues to talk about science communication at the 2011 EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship Conference here in Washington, DC. “STAR”…
Tsunamis are ocean waves caused by large earthquakes and landslides that occur near or under the ocean. Scientists do not use the term 'tidal wave' because these waves are not caused by tides. Tsunami waves are unlike typical ocean waves generated by wind and storms. When tsunamis approach…
A basic introduction to natural filtering of water can be found on-line at the USGS 'Water Science for Schools' website. The address for the site's ground-water-quality page is: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwquality.html Natural filtering is a big topic. Some filtering takes place…
Floods are a dangerous hazard throughout the world, and most people underestimate the power of flood waters. On average, in the United States, about 165 people are killed and about $2 billion of damage occurs each year. Several types of data can be collected to assist hydrologists predict when and…
Oil has been produced from the Bakken Formation since the 1950’s. However, drilling has increased significantly in the last several years. The USGS does not maintain statistics on oil production, however, this information can be obtained from publicly available sources like the North Dakota…
An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault . The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust…
During the three giant caldera-forming eruptions that occurred between 2.1 million and 640,000 years ago, tiny particles of volcanic debris ( volcanic ash ) covered much of the western half of North America, likely a third of a meter deep several hundred kilometers from Yellowstone and several…
Lava and Lava Flows The temperature of basalt lava at Kilauea reaches 1,160 degrees Celsius (2,120 degrees Fahrenheit). -- USGS/VHP Website, 1998 The tube system (lava tubes) of episode 53 (Pu'u O'o eruption, Hawaii) carried lava for 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the vent to the sea. So…
The USGS Publications Warehouse ( http://pubs.usgs.gov/ ) has released a new interface and a variety of new content and features. The new version of this tool now includes citations for USGS-authored content including journal articles, books, book chapters, proceedings, and other research…
Not only will the credit legend, in the lower left-hand corner of the map, list the date and source of the data, but metadata will contain this information as well. The quadrangle-specific metadata are embedded in the GeoPDF. Metadata can be opened by clicking on the paper clip icon in the lower…
Water leaving our homes generally goes either into a septic tank in the back yard where it evaporates or seeps back into the ground, or is sent to a sewage-treatment plant through a sewer system. In 1995, about 26 percent of the water coming from our homes was 'consumptively used.' That is,…
Most of our data are collected at a scale of 1:2,000,000 and are intended for use at national or large regional scales. In the Map Maker , a bar scale appears under the map. The scale of each wall map is included on the Wall Maps page. We use a wide variety of scales on National Atlas printable maps…