What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? An Environmental Justice Advocate!
By Lisa GarciaWhen I was six, my father announced that my family would be moving from the Bronx to Caracas, Venezuela. I was nervous and it didn’t help that my 2nd grade classmates told me our family would be living in grass huts. I thought that maybe Venezuela would be like Puerto Rico, where my…
How Hot Is A Volcano?
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…
How are floods predicted?
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…
What would happen if the temperature in the world rose enough to melt all the snow and ice at the North and South Poles?
No one knows for sure what would happen if the snow and ice in the polar regions all melted. Sea level would rise, which would flood coastal regions. Climate would be affected worldwide. Isostatic rebound would occur where ice masses were removed from continents, causing the land surface there to…
What do I need to know to get my GPS into correct operation?
We generally emphasize the following four points: a) Select a coordinate system (also called a "position format") you feel comforatble using. We suggest using Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) or latitude/longitude. Most users find UTM coordinates easier to locate on USGS…
Where can I find USGS information about wildlife diseases?
Visit the USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) web pages at http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/ . The National Wildlife Health Center was established in 1975 as a biomedical laboratory dedicated to assessing the impact of disease on wildlife and to identifying the role of various pathogens in…
Is it true that the USGS released a report that states 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil assessed in North Dakota and Montana's Bakken Formation - - 25 times more than 1995 estimate?
Yes, this information is true. The report was released in April 2008 and can be found online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3021/ . Additionally, the USGS has decided to update its 2008 assessment of the Bakken Formation, with the effort beginning in October 2011 at the start of the 2012 fiscal…
Other online resources concerning the Bakken Formation.
North Dakota Geological Survey and/or the Department of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas Division, both at https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Board of Oil and Gas Conservation - http://bogc.dnrc.mt.gov/ U.S. Energy Information Administration -…
What is a fault and what are the different types?
A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. Faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other. This movement may occur rapidly, in the form of an earthquake - or may occur slowly, in the form of creep . Faults may range in length from a few millimeters to thousands of…
What is the difference between a tsunami and a tidal wave?
Although both are sea waves, a tsunami and a tidal wave are two different unrelated phenomenona. A tidal wave is a shallow water wave caused by the gravitational interactions between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. A tsunami is a sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake or landslide (usually triggered…
What was the extent of ash deposition from the largest Yellowstone eruptions?
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…
What is the role of hydrography in the National Map?
Water is vital to our Nation and the U.S. Geological Survey plays an important role in the tracking and mapping our water resources. The National Hydrography Dataset component of The National Map supports this mission and is widely used in the study of hydrology, natural resources, and pollution…