Images

Image showing NOAA research vessel with logos of NOAA, BOEM, USGS and MBARI. EXPRESS is a multi-year, multi-institution cooperative research campaign in deep sea areas of California, Oregon, and Washington, including the continental shelf and slope.

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

Amy Gartman, USGS Research Oceanographer and chief scientist for the Escanaba Trough expedition, examines a mineral sample with a hand lens aboard R/V Thomas G. Thompson.

Tom Lorensen, USGS Physical Scientist, uses an ultraviolet light to examine mineral samples aboard R/V Thomas G. Thompson.

Close-up of fine-grained pyrrhotite-rich massive sulfide. The deep-sea sample was collected from the Escanaba Trough, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Partially weathered hydrothermal chimney, composed mostly of barite (BaSO₄). The white material is the outer weathered rind, where the disseminated sulfide minerals have been leached out by oxidation, leaving an orange iron oxide stain.

Two hands are better than one! The versatile, ambidextrous ROV (remotely operated vehicle) Jason collects two mineral samples from the seafloor at Escanaba Trough. Jason's sample collection tubes are visible off to the left.

Iron-oxyhydroxide gossan, formed by weathering of massive sulfide. Dominantly porous orange goethite, with a compact darker to metallic layer of dense goethite.

Close up of fine-grained massive sulfide containing the primary minerals pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and barite. Weathering has produced secondary minerals, including iron oxide and possibly jarosite. Shiny image shows the same rock under an ultraviolet light source, revealing the minerals that fluoresce under the light.

Close up of fine-grained massive sulfide containing the primary minerals pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and barite. Weathering has produced secondary minerals, including iron oxide and possibly jarosite. Second image shows the same rock under an ultraviolet light source, revealing the minerals that fluoresce under the light.

Close up of fine-grained seafloor massive sulfide containing the primary minerals pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and barite. Weathering has produced secondary minerals, including iron oxide and possibly jarosite.

Close up of fine-grained seafloor massive sulfide under an ultraviolet light source, revealing the minerals that fluoresce under the light.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's remotely operated vehicle Jason gathers a mineral sample from the seafloor at Escanaba Trough.

Escanaba Trough is the only oceanic spreading center within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Hundreds of meters of continental sediment have accumulated in the trough, and the combination of sediments and hydrothermal fluids has resulted in a unique hydrothermal system and potentially extensive sulfide mineral precipitation.

The USGS Processes Impacting Seafloor Change and Ecosystem Services (PISCES) project team meeting at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in May 2022 to coordinate Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras (SQUID-5) and diver-based SfM data acquisition and processing for field work.

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras test in Tampa Bay.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, being deployed by Mitch Lemon (SPCMSC, on the left) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC, on the right)  in Tampa Bay for testing.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, shown being staged for a test run at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. In the background, Andy Farmer (SPCMSC) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC) prep the R/V Sallenger, the vessel being used to tow the device. 

Gif of ocean waves. The ocean holds great cultural and economic value and hosts numerous ecosystems that support life on Earth and produce valuable resources. USGS science focuses on improved understanding of many aspects of our world’s interconnected oceanic system, from the continental shelf to the deep sea. 

Idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‛apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the southeast.