You’ve probably heard the saying that Earth is mostly water, roughly 70%. Well it turns out that many people have misunderstood the facts and that it’s only the Earth’s surface that is mainly water. To get a better understanding of the limited amount of water on Earth, the USGS gives a visual explanation with one [...]

Scientists have confirmed that there have been no sightings of the copper striped blue-tailed skink in the Hawaiian Islands since the 1960s and are now calling this native vertebrate species extinct. HONOLULU – A species of lizard is now extinct from the Hawaiian Islands, making it the latest native vertebrate species to become extirpated from [...]

This new map was published last Monday by the USGS and it showcases the hellish surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active object in the Solar System. The creation of the map took over six years, and the map itself identifies 425 volcanoes as well as lava flow fields, squat mountains, deposits left [...]

While studying climate change and trying to decipher the carbon cycle puzzle, researchers have been studying the source and amount of carbon flowing into the Arctic Ocean. Organic carbon has been found on glaciers in Alaska and when organic matter and other materials from the atmosphere are deposited on the surface of a glacier, the [...]

A nationwide study released today showed that fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power facility in Japan was measured in minimal amounts in precipitation in the United States. Data was collected at monitoring sites within the NADP network and detections were most frequently found along the West Coast, in the central and northern Rocky [...]

In a recent study, radium was measured in untreated source water in wells from aquifers that are used for public and domestic water supply. This is the first nationwide study to identify factors that make an aquifer susceptible to radium contamination and researchers found that radium levels are determined by the chemical attributes of the [...]

According to several newly published reports by the U.S. Geological Survey, coal-tar-based sealants are emitting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the air at rates possibly greater than annual emissions from automobiles in the US. Four new reports examine the contaminants polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in house dust, streams, lakes, soil, and air. Coal-tar-based sealants [...]

The USGS announced on Thursday the founding of the new California Volcano Observatory (CalVO), which joins the ranks of the Yellowstone, Cascades, Hawaii, Alaska and Long Valley observatories. CalVO will be tasked with monitoring a region of the US that covers California and Nevada, all out of the USGS offices in Menlo Park. The Cascades [...]

According to new study that was co-authored by USGS and published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists found that the mid-sized mammal population living in the Everglades National Park has declined dramatically. The researchers believe this is due to a large number of Burmese pythons living in southern Florida and [...]

Recent research indicates that gas hydrate deposits should remain stable for a few thousand years and of those that become unstable, very few are likely to end up in the atmosphere contributing to global warming. This news comes from the U.S. Geological Survey and their researchers that have been examining the link between climate change [...]

The National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program stated a decrease in acid rain in a report that was presented to Congress. The report states that sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions have continued to decline and are lower than the 2009 levels. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere are the primary causes [...]