Abstract Geological surveys have long filled the role of providing Earth system science data and knowledge. These functions are increasingly complicated by accelerating environmental and societal change. Here we describe the US Geological Survey (USGS) response to these evolving conditions. Underpinning the USGS approach is the recognition that many of the issues facing the USA and the world involve interaction among geological, hydrological and biological processes, and how these interactions in turn affect society. Therefore, a goal of USGS planning is fostering interdisciplinary science. This focus is occurring in part through implementation of the recommendations of strategic planning teams. The USGS has also put in place groups building a broad information technology infrastructure as well as identifying and disseminating new Earth science research tools. In addition, the USGS has established an analysis and synthesis centre that brings together groups of scientists who address interdisciplinary Earth system science issues. The goal is for these building blocks to evolve towards a comprehensive USGS data and knowledge platform – EarthMAP (Earth Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection). We also recognize that the modern geological survey must be a member of a community of geological surveys contributing data to a global database of three-dimensional biogeophysical observations and interpretations.

ABSTRACT In 2014–2015, a slow-moving pāhoehoe lava flow from the remote Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō vent on Kīlauea Volcano advanced 20 km into populated areas of the Puna District on the Island of Hawai‘i. The staff of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) mobilized their resources to closely monitor the flow and provide up-to-date information to the Hawai‘i County Civil Defense (HCCD) agency, the public, and the news media. Scientists issued formal USGS notifications about the flow and Kīlauea’s two eruptions, prepared maps and annotated photographs, infrared images, and videos for dissemination online, and wrote weekly “Volcano Watch” articles for local newspapers. They also provided regular briefings for federal, state, and county agency representatives, answered questions during near-daily briefings with local and national media, and offered information through an established lecture series and participation in community emergency preparedness fairs. Noteworthy among the communication activities was a series of public meetings organized by the Hawai‘i County mayor’s office and led by the HCCD administrator. The meetings were a regular forum for many HVO scientists to talk directly and frequently with residents, business owners, elected officials, and other stakeholders about their concerns, the evolving status of the eruptions, and the uncertain prognosis of the flow’s advance and extent. The dialogue was essential for HVO staff to describe their observations and insights about the lava flow’s behavior and to gain credibility with the community during the crisis. This experience suggests that personal engagement with people at risk from future lava flows in Hawai‘i and elsewhere in the world will remain a crucial part of an eruption response, even with greater capability to disseminate warnings and information digitally via the Internet.

During the past 15 yr, the global requirement for fertilizers has grown considerably, mainly due to demand by a larger and wealthier world population for more and higher-quality food. The demand and price for potash as a primary fertilizer ingredient have increased in tandem, because of the necessity to increase the quantity and quality of food production on the decreasing amount of available arable land. The primary sources of potash are evaporites, which occur mainly in marine salt basins and a few brine-bearing continental basins. World potash resources are large, but distribution is inequitable and not presently developed in countries where population and food requirements are large and increasing. There is no known substitute for potash in fertilizer, so knowledge of the world’s potash resources is critical for a sustainable future. The U.S. Geological Survey recently completed a global assessment of evaporite-hosted potash resources, which included a geographic information system–based inventory of known potash resources. This assessment included permissive areas or tracts for undiscovered resources at a scale of 1:1,000,000. Assessments of undiscovered potash resources were conducted for a number of the world’s evaporite-hosted potash basins. The data collected provide a major advance in our knowledge of global potash resources that did not exist prior to this study. The two databases include: (1) potash deposits and occurrences, and (2) potash tracts (basins that contain these deposits and occurrences and potentially undiscovered potash deposits). Data available include geology, mineralogy, grade, tonnage, depth, thickness, areal extent, and structure, as well as numerous pertinent references.

The Great Lakes Geologic Mapping Coalition (GLGMC), consisting of state geological surveys from all eight Great Lakes states, the Ontario Geological Survey, and the U.S. Geological Survey, was conceived out of a societal need for unbiased and scientifically defensible geologic information on the shallow subsurface, particularly the delineation, interpretation, and viability of groundwater resources. Only a small percentage (<10%) of the region had been mapped in the subsurface, and there was recognition that no single agency had the financial, intellectual, or physical resources to conduct such a massive geologic mapping effort at a detailed scale over a wide jurisdiction. The GLGMC provides a strategy for generating financial and stakeholder support for three-dimensional (3-D) geologic mapping, pooling of physical and personnel resources, and sharing of mapping and technological expertise to characterize the thick cover of glacial sediments. Since its inception in 1997, the GLGMC partners have conducted detailed surficial and 3-D geologic mapping within all jurisdictions, and concurrent significant scientific advancements have been made to increase understanding of the history and framework of geologic processes. More importantly, scientific information has been provided to public policymakers in understandable formats, emphasis has been placed on training early-career scientists in new mapping techniques and emerging technologies, and a successful model has been developed of state/provincial and federal collaboration focused on geologic mapping, as evidenced by this program’s unprecedented and long-term successful experiment of 10 geological surveys working together to address common issues.

Extract from beginning of chapter: EUREKA, NEVADA During May and June [1880], I worked as a temporary assistant to Hague on the United States Geological Survey, and on the first of July, I received my appointment as assistant geologist and felt duly elated. It had been King's plan that Hague should have charge of the Division of the Pacific Coast with headquarters in San Francisco, and that he should study the volcanoes of that region beginning with Lassen Peak. But it seemed advisable that his first work should be of a more utilitarian character, so he was commissioned to investigate the geology of the Eureka Mining District in central Nevada. 1 Leaving New York on the evening of the 16 th of July, we were joined in Utica, New York, by a tall, slender, red-whiskered young man who was said to be a promising paleontologist, who had already made a reputation out of his studies of Trenton trilobites, and who had spent the previous season in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado [River]. The next morning, I made the acquaintance of Charles D. Walcott 2 and commenced a lifelong friendship full of interesting experiences and pleasant memories. At the end of the sixth day, we reached Eureka, after a journey, which, for a young geologist, became more and more fascinating and instructive as it proceeded. Nowhere can one see geological structures on a grander scale or in more easily comprehended exposures than in the barren ranges of the Great Basin desert! Its simplicity as well as its nakedness

Extract from beginning of chapter: WASHOE AND THE RELATION OF ROCK NAMES TO GEOLOGIC AGE As previously mentioned, my frequent interviews with Becker over his collection of Washoe rocks impressed me with the close resemblance between rocks that he called pre-Tertiary and those he considered Tertiary, and led me to suspect the correctness of his distinctions and geological deductions. It seemed to me there were gradual transitions from one extreme of crystallization to the other, so I asked him to let me study the collection after he was through with it, which he willingly did. Arranging the rock specimens on a large table to conform to their position on his field map, it appeared at once that the boundary lines between what had been called different rocks did not separate specimens that were megascopically distinguishable from one another. Arranging the thin sections of rocks of various kinds according to the extent to which their groundmasses had crystallized, those with glass at one end of the series and the coarsest-grained ones at the other, it was found that there were transitions throughout each series and that the greater part of the so-called pre-Tertiary rocks had their exact equivalent among the Tertiary ones, some of the former being the coarsest-grained varieties, and some of the Tertiary ones being glassy. The age distinction had been based partly on the fact that some rocks were coarser grained than Tertiary rocks were supposed to be at that time and partly on the fact of more advanced alteration.

Abstract Examination of key outcrops in the eastern Blue Ridge in southern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina is used to evaluate existing stratigraphic and structural models. Recent detailed mapping along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the eastern flank of the Mount Rogers massif provides the opportunity to (1) evaluate legacy data and interpretations and (2) formulate new ideas for regional correlation of eastern Blue Ridge geology. Lynchburg Group rocks in central Virginia (metagraywacke, quartzite, graphitic schist, amphibolite, and ultramafic rocks) carry southward along strike where they transition with other units. Wills Ridge Formation consists of graphitic schist, metagraywacke, and metaconglomerate, and marks the western boundary of the eastern Blue Ridge. The Ashe Formation consists of conglomeratic metagraywacke in southern Virginia, and mica gneiss, mica schist, and ultramafic rocks in North Carolina. The overlying Alligator Back Formation shows characteristic compositional pin-striped layers in mica gneiss, schist, and amphibolite. The contact between eastern Blue Ridge stratified rocks above Mesoproterozoic basement rocks is mostly faulted (Gossan Lead and Red Valley). The Callaway fault juxtaposes Ashe and Lynchburg rocks above Wills Ridge Formation. Alligator Back Formation rocks overlie Ashe and Lynchburg rocks along the Rock Castle Creek fault, which juxtaposes rocks of different metamorphism. The fault separates major structural domains: rocks with one penetrative foliation in the footwall, and pin-striped recrystallized compositional layering, superposed penetrative foliations, and cleavage characterize the hanging wall. These relationships are ambiguous along strike to the southwest, where the Ashe and Alligator Back formations are recrystallized at higher metamorphic grades.

The United States continues to grow; however, the amount of water withdrawn for water supply has remained constant since 1975. Much of the available water in the West is claimed by someone. In the humid East, stakeholders in various watersheds reach a consensus on how water is moved through the watershed; the needs of large new users are accommodated by negotiating a new consensus. Often these negotiations are contentious and difficult leaving an impression that water is unavailable. Even so, new water users are being supplied continually with water. New users get water through conservation, increased efficiency, or reuse by current users that extends the supply, or by acquiring water from current users. Water is continually being reapportioned—reallocated. With the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, the country moved aggressively and with great success to eliminate point sources of pollution. As a consequence, both streams and groundwater have been cleaned up. Legislation has made the liability for pollution unacceptable to both individuals and firms and has effectively diminished current and future point sources of pollution. The more difficult problem of reducing non–point sources of pollution remains to be effectively addressed. There are large data gaps. While the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides five-year summaries of water withdrawals, there is no set of national data on water consumption. There is also no nationwide summary of water quality. The USGS samples water quality in 50 representative watersheds, but these data have not been aggregated to form a national summary of water quality—presumably the USGS is working to fill this data gap.