Images

USGS scientist Jessica Rodysill studies a sediment core to identify storm deposits and help understand past hurricane activity. This core was collected from the Dominican Republic. Credit: Kristen Steele, USGS.

Florence Bascom joins John Wesley Powell on a 5-day leg of the Powell 150 Expedition, marking the 150th anniversary of the Powell Expedition, an exploration of the Green and Colorado Rivers that ended in the Grand Canyon.

NER May 2019 Where We Work
Brachiopods in the Devonian Mahantango Formation examined by Mercer Parker under the hand lens

NER May 2019 Honorable Mention 2
Yvonne Dinh and Mercer Parker examine ripple marks in a bedding plane exposure of Devonian Foreknobs Formation

In Photo: Interior mudflat on Jim Foot Key covered with saline water, April 2019.  Stumps of dead mangroves (reportedly damaged by Hurricane Donna in 1960 (Craighead, 1962)) are visible projecting from the water.  Shadowed areas below the water are underwater grasses typically found in Florida Bay, now growing inside

In Photo: Juvenile mangroves on eastern berm of Jim Foot Key, April 2019.  Mangroves are intermingled with saltwort, the dominant live vegetation on the damaged berms, and standing dead mangroves.  Grid is 25 cm high.  The question is whether these trees will mature fast enough to protect the berm from rising sea level. 

Northeast Region Photo Contest Winner | April 2019 | Where We Work
Arthur Merschat at a Neoproterozoic dike that intrudes Mesoproterozoic gneiss, near the Mt. Rogers National Recreation area, VA

In Photo:  Berm of Jim Foot Key about 1.5 years after Hurricane Irma. The red circle indicates the same position as shown in the April 2014 photo. The mature mangrove trees have not recovered from the storm.  

In Photo: Eastern berm of Jim Foot Key, April 2019.  This photo taken from Florida Bay, looking in toward the center of the island (now covered in water).  The arrow points toward a breach in the berm, first noted in 2014, but the cut has deepened significantly after Hurricane Irma, and the island interior

Northeast Region Photo Contest Winner | March 2019 | USGS at Work
Seth Sutton at an outcrop of the marine Calvert Formation near Plum Point, MD, on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay

Conducting field work after Hurricane Irma on Bob Allen Key in Florida Bay, Everglades National Park, January 29, 2018. Lynn Wingard (left) and Miriam Jones (right) consult field notes from 2014 to decide where to take samples. Photo: B. Stackhouse, USGS

Mangroves on the outside of a playa within Florida Bay.

Mangroves on the outside of a playa within Florida Bay.

After a long day collecting cores, the team of scientists watch the sun set over the Florida Bay.

Mangroves grow along the outside of a playa, one of may in the Florida Bay area.

Thawing permafrost on various peatlands in Alaska. Permafrost thaw results in ground subsidence and inundation that kills black spruce and other understory plants living on the permafrost plateau. The black spruce forests found on permafrost plateaus are replaced with sedge- and moss-dominated bogs and fens, altering the ecosystem structure and function.

Cores were collected from various areas of thawing permafrost-peatlands in Alaska. Permafrost thaw results in ground subsidence and inundation that kills black spruce and other understory plants living on the permafrost plateau. 

Cores were collected from various areas of thawing permafrost-peatlands in Alaska. Permafrost thaw results in ground subsidence and inundation that kills black spruce and other understory plants living on the permafrost plateau. 

Northeast Region Photo Contest Winner | November 2018 | Honorable Mention
Laurel formation in Washington East quad examined by Wayne Newell

View looking west from the Brushy Mountains, NC, to the Blue Ridge escarpment and highlands of the Blue Ridge.  The high jagged peak toward the left side of the photo is Grandfather Mountain and is covered by a winter snow. 

Northeast Region Photo Contest Winner | October 2018 | Honorable Mention
Harry Dowsett at the Parkers Creek bone bed