Images

A cinder cone within the Mount Aso caldera, located on Kyushu Island, Japan. The caldera contains several cinder cones and stratovolcanoes.

Rubens coil inside the Rock Magnetics Laboratory on the USGS Menlo Park campus. The function of the Rubens coil is to cancel the earth's magnetic field for thermal demagnetization of core samples. It is constructed of nonmagnetic materials and the control unit is place far enough away from the instrument to avoid interference from its metal components.

Flat-topped tumulus on Mauna Ulu lavas along Chain of Craters Road, Hawaii. Tumuli are just one end-member of a wide range of features formed by inflation of lava flows. A flat-topped tumulus is a half-way between a classic tumulus and a "lava-rise" or inflation plateau.

Flat-topped tumulus on Mauna Ulu lavas along Chain of Craters Road, Hawaii. Tumuli are just one end-member of a wide range of features formed by inflation of lava flows. A flat-topped tumulus is a half-way between a classic tumulus and a "lava-rise" or inflation plateau.

Queen's Laundry bathhouse, in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park.  Building began under superintendent Philetus Norris in 1881 but was never finished.

Rainstorm over Kauai mountains and Hanalei Bay at the North Shore of Kauai.

A classic marine tide pool environment among some of the black lava rocks found on the southern shore of Maui in the Hawaiian islands.

A classic marine tide pool environment among some of the black lava rocks found on the southern shore of Maui in the Hawaiian islands.

Lassen Peak's Devastated Area photographed from the air in 1994.

View looking up-stream toward Carraizo Dam in Loiza, Puerto Rico, under drought conditions.

A detail of a pahoehoe lobe at the top of a tumulus. The upper crust that is lifted up during the formation of a tumulus is typically quite vesicular (has lots of bubbled trapped in it). Roza Formation, Columbia River Basalt Group. Southwest of Quincy, WA.

Draped scoria cone; partially collapsed. Roza Member, Columbia River Basalt Group. East of Winona, WA.

Samples of welded scoria. Scoria is another word for the ‘cinders’ that make up volcanic cinder cones. Roza Member, Columbia River Basalt Group. Southeast of Winona, WA.

A skylight near Pulama Pali, which is the slope where flows from Pu’u O’o make their way toward the sea. Here, the skylight allows one to see where the lava tube is splitting into two branches.

Two bubble bursts explode simultaneously as a consequence seawater mixing with lava in a lava tube beneath surface of a lava delta. Because of the confined conditions in the lava tube, explosive pressures build up as water, heated by contact with molten lava, expands instantly to steam.

A scene along a road in Senegal, photographed in 1994 by U.S. Geological Survey Scientist G. Gray Tappan as part of his work on West African land cover. Tappan photographed the scene again in 2004.

Collection of USGS still images taken after the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake highlighting the damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Collection of USGS still images taken after the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake highlighting the damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Collection of USGS still images taken after the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake highlighting the damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Collection of USGS still images taken after the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake highlighting the damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Collection of USGS still images taken after the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake highlighting the damage to buildings and infrastructure.