Mission Areas
Natural Hazards
Every year in the United States, natural hazards threaten lives and livelihoods and result in billions of dollars in damage. We work with many partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research on a wide range of natural hazards so that policymakers and the public have the understanding they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.
Reducing Risk
USGS scientists develop new products to make science available to the public, emergency managers, and decision-makers. These efforts increase public safety and reduce risk and economic losses caused by natural hazards.
Learn MoreSubduction Zone Science
The most powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another.
Learn MoreNews
Women of Hazards Featured During Women’s History Month on @USGS_Quakes Instagram
For Women’s History Month in March 2021 the @USGS_Quakes Instagram featured dozens of photos of female earthquake scientists and shout-outs with the hashtag #EarthquakeWomen from the Earthquake Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center and the Office of Communications and Publishing (OCAP).
USGS Seeks Earthquake Hazards Research Proposals
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently soliciting project proposals for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 grants on earthquake hazards science and is authorized to award up to $7 million. The deadline for applications is June 1, 2021, and interested researchers can apply online at GRANTS.GOV under funding Opportunity Number G22AS00006.
New electron microprobe installed at Menlo Park
On March 25th, the USGS California Volcano Observatory celebrated the delivery of a new 'baby' - our brand new electron microprobe is finally up and running!
Publications
Alternating wet and dry depositional environments recorded in the stratigraphy of Mt Sharp at Gale Crater, Mars
The Curiosity rover is exploring Hesperian-aged stratigraphy in Gale crater, Mars, where a transition from clay-bearing units to a layered sulfate-bearing unit has been interpreted to represent a major environmental transition of unknown character. We present the first description of key facies in the sulfate-bearing unit, recently observed in the...
Rapin, William; Dromart, Gilles; Rubin, Dave; Le Deit, Laticia; Mangold, Nicolas; Edgar, Lauren A.; Gasnault, Olivier; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Lemouelic, S.; Anderson, Ryan; Maurice, S.; Fox, V.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Dickson, J. L.; Wiens, R. C. Reconstructing the dynamics of the highly similar May 2016 and June 2019 Iliamna Volcano, Alaska ice–rock avalanches from seismoacoustic data
Surficial mass wasting events are a hazard worldwide. Seismic and acoustic signals from these often remote processes, combined with other geophysical observations, can provide key information for monitoring and rapid response efforts and enhance our understanding of event dynamics. Here, we present seismoacoustic data and analyses for two very...
Toney, Liam De La Hunt; Fee, David; Allstadt, Kate; Haney, Matthew M.; Matoza, Robin S. A review of timing accuracy across the Global Seismographic Network
The accuracy of timing across a seismic network is important for locating earthquakes as well as studies that use phase‐arrival information (e.g., tomography). The Global Seismographic Network (GSN) was designed with the goal of having reported timing be better than 10 ms. In this work, we provide a brief overview of how timing is kept across...
Ringler, Adam T.; Anthony, Robert E.; Wilson, David C.; Auerbach, D.; Bargabus, S.; Davis, P.W.; Gunnels, M.; Hafner, K.; Holland, James; Kearns, A.; Klimczak, E.