The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879, to study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The agency also makes maps of planets and moons, based on data from U.S. space probes.
The sole scientific agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. It is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with major offices near Lakewood, Colorado; at the Denver Federal Center; and in NASA Research Park in California. In 2009, it employed about 8,670 people.
The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world". The agency's previous slogan, adopted on its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Service".
Contents
History
Prior Surveys
In the early-1800s, geological surveys were conducted by states and private individuals to support agriculture as a result of westward migration after the War of 1812. The first Federal survey was conducted in 1834 by George William Featherstonhaugh under the Topographical Bureau of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a geological map of the United States. This was followed by other geological explorations like the United States Exploring Expedition and the establishment of the Corps of Topographical Engineers led by John James Abert. As minerals like gold were being discovered in the west, land surveys became necessary as part of Manifest destiny. As a result, various states set up geological survey institutions in the mid-1800s, e.g., the Kentucky Geological Survey, established in 1854.
On March 2, 1867, Congress authorized explorations focused on the geology along the Transcontinental railroad under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led by Clarence King and a survey of the natural resources of Nebraska under the General Land Office led by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. The explorations led to the creation of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories which included surveys led by John Wesley Powell (Powell Geographic Expedition of 1869) and George Wheeler (Wheeler Survey). Hayden also received funding for the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871.
Creation
In 1879, a National Academy of Sciences report suggested the creation of an agency dedicated to the study of geology and environmental resources on public domain. This agency would be distinct from the existing Coast and Geodetic Survey, which would focus on measurements of geodesy instead of geology.
The report prompted Congress to establish the USGS as a last-minute amendment to a sundry appropriations bill on March 3, 1879. The Organic Act of 1879 was signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes and established the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey under the Department of the Interior, it charged the new agency with the "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain." The legislation also discontinued the existing surveys led by Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler on June 30, 1879.
The earliest responsibilities of the USGS was to survey and classify public lands for the existence of minerals following the Land Ordinance of 1785. At the time, the government owned 1.2 billion acres of land as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican–American War, yet only 200 million acres were surveyed. Clarence King was appointed as the first director of USGS, assembling the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies. He focused on economic development for mining in the west, and resigned to pursue opportunities in the mining industry. After two years, King was succeeded by John Wesley Powell, who expanded the mission of the agency.
Organizational structure
The USGS is led by the Director which is appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. The Director is not allowed to have personal or private interests in the lands being surveyed, and is not allowed to survey for private parties or corporations. The agency is headquartered in Reston, Virginia within the USGS National Center.
Science research is split into five "Mission Areas" that are aligned with themes in the USGS Science Strategy. This allows research to be interdisciplinary and groups science programs under a broad category. Each Mission Area is led by an Associate Director that reports directly to the Director.
Specific science research is further broken down into seven geographical regions which are led by Regional Directors that report to the Deputy Director of Operations. The regions are aligned with the Department of the Interior Unified Regions. Administrative services are centralized and report to the Deputy Director of Administration and Policy.
Regions
Each of the seven regions has a field office which focuses on research specific to that region's geography and conditions, supporting science programs and facilities located within each region.
Region 1: Northeast
Region 2: Southeast
Region 3: Midcontintent
Region 4: Rocky Mountain
Region 5: Southwest
Region 6: Northwest-Pacific Islands
Region 7: Alaska
Mission Areas
The five Mission Areas categorize research into topics each with individual programs and facilities.
The Core Science Systems Mission Area is the fundamental research division for everything in the Earth's critical zone. Its activities focus on structural geology, geomorphology, geophysics, and geography. In addition to evaluating land through remote sensing, as well as analyzing evolutionary biology and biogeography. The work is supported by computer science and aims to distribute data through maps or other mediums as foundation for all other Mission Areas. The Mission Area is formed around a "Modular Science Framework" with the goal of contributing to the Digital Earth.
The programs under the Core Science Systems Mission Area include:
National Geospatial Program: Responsible for topographic mapping through management of The National Map, United States Board on Geographic Names, and the Geographic Names Information System.
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program: Responsible for geologic mapping through the National Geologic Map Database.
Gap Analysis Project
National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program
National Land Imaging Program: Manages remote sensing research through missions like Landsat.
Science Synthesis, Analysis, and Research Program
The science centers under the Core Science Systems Mission Area include:
Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science
Earth Resources Observation and Science Center
Other Centers and Divisions
The USGS collaborates with Canadian and Mexican government scientists, along with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to produce the North American Environmental Atlas, which is used to depict and track environmental issues for a continental perspective
Since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping.
Select activities
Topographic mapping
The USGS produces several national series of topographic maps which vary in scale and extent, with some wide gaps in coverage, notably the absence of 1:50,000 scale topographic maps or their equivalent. The largest (both in terms of scale and quantity) and best-known topographic series is the 7.5-minute, 1:24,000 scale, quadrangle, a non-metric scale most common to the United States. Each of these maps covers an area bounded by two lines of latitude and two lines of longitude spaced 7.5 minutes apart. Nearly 57,000 individual maps in this series cover the 48 contiguous states, Hawaii, U.S. territories, and areas of Alaska near Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Prudhoe Bay. The area covered by each map varies with the latitude of its represented location due to convergence of the meridians. At lower latitudes, near 30° north, a 7.5-minute quadrangle contains an area of about 64 square miles (166 km2). At 49° north latitude, 49 square miles (127 km2) are contained within a quadrangle of that size. As a unique non-metric map scale, the 1:24,000 scale requires a separate and specialized romer scale for plotting map positions.
The last USGS paper topographic maps were published in 2006, and were replaced by The National Map in 2019 (not to be confused with the National Atlas of the United States produced by the Department of the Interior, one of whose bureaus is USGS).
An older series of maps, the 15-minute series, was once used to map the contiguous 48 states at a scale of 1:62,500 for maps covering the continental United States, but was discontinued during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Each map was bounded by two parallels and two meridians spaced 15 minutes apart—the same area covered by four maps in the 7.5-minute series. Alaska formerly was mapped using the 15-minute series, which was replaced by maps at 1:25,000 scale in 2017. Nearly 3,000 maps cover 97% of the state.
The final regular quadrangle series produced by the USGS is the 1:250,000 scale topographic series. Each of these quadrangles in the conterminous United States measures 1 degree of latitude by 2 degrees of longitude. This series was produced by the U.S. Army Map Service in the 1950s, prior to the maps in the larger-scale series, and consists of 489 sheets, each covering an area ranging from 8,218 square miles (21,285 km2) at 30° north to 6,222 square miles (16,115 km2) at 49° north. Hawaii is mapped at this scale in quadrangles measuring 1° by 1°.
USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility
The Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) has four sections within its organizational structure; the Field Services Section which includes the warehouse, repair shop, and Engineering Unit; the Testing Section which includes the Hydraulic Laboratory, testing chambers, and Water Quality Laboratory; the Information Technology Section which includes computer support and the Drafting Unit; and the Administrative Section.
The HIF was given national responsibility for the design, testing, evaluation, repair, calibration, warehousing, and distribution of hydrologic instrumentation. Distribution is accomplished by direct sales and through a rental program. The HIF supports data collection activities through centralized warehouse and laboratory facilities. The HIF warehouse provides hydrologic instruments, equipment, and supplies for USGS as well as Other Federal Agencies (OFA) and USGS Cooperators. The HIF also tests, evaluates, repairs, calibrates, and develops hydrologic equipment and instruments. The HIF Hydraulic Laboratory facilities include a towing tank, jet tank, pipe flow facility, and tilting flume. In addition, the HIF provides training and technical support for the equipment it stocks.
The Engineering Group seeks out new technology and designs for instrumentation that can work more efficiently, be more accurate, and or be produced at a lower cost than existing instrumentation. HIF works directly with vendors to help them produce products that will meet the mission needs of the USGS. For instrument needs not currently met by a vendor, the Engineering Group designs, tests, and issues contracts to have HIF-designed equipment made. Sometimes HIF will patent a new design in the hope that instrument vendors will buy the rights and mass-produce the instrument at a lower cost to everyone.
USGS publications
USGS researchers publish the results of their science in a variety of ways, including peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as in one of a variety of USGS Report Series that include preliminary results, maps, data, and final results. A complete catalog of all USGS publications is available from the USGS Publications Warehouse.