Images

Arrival of Salish Sea Tribal Canoes with USGS water quality sampling instrumentation onboard.

Arrival of Salish Sea Tribal Canoes with USGS water quality sampling instrumentation onboard.

An early streamgage is used to measure water levels on San Saba River. USGS crews would visit this equipment to collect water level readings.

USGS staff checking the streamgage equipment on the San Saba River in Texas.

Guests arrive at the Elwha Dam for the ceremony commemorating the official start of the dam decommissioning and river restoration project on the Elwha River in Washington state.

Stream in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.

Picture of Moraine Lake taken from the south face of South Sister in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area.

2009 Red River flooding in Grand Forks, North Dakota

2009 Red River flooding in Grand Forks, North Dakota

USGS employees attempt to capture forage fish with the use of a Lampara net in Skagit Bay.

USGS employee Lisa Gee holds a spiny dogfish that she caught while hook and line sampling.

Self-portrait of hydrologic technician. Streamgaging is an important facet of the USGS.

This cyanobacteria has radiating filaments and basal heterocysts. Green is DNA stain.

Stream in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.

Stream flowing into the Potomac River in Whites Ferry, Virginia.

Prairie Creek nr. Silver Creek is a tributary of the Platte River. The photo was taken to capture Autumn's colors amplified by water.

Ash Falls on the Niobrara River showcases the Niobrara's uniqueness. Photo was taken to capture falls' legacy.

Pedernales River at Hamilton Pool Crossing after September 1952 flood. Trees destroyed by flood of September 11, 1952.  Discharge of Pedernales River near Spicewood, TX (USGS station 08154000) was 452,000 cfs.

Closeup of Pliocene lignite coal from a Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) village in Serbia. Lignite is low rank, or relatively unaltered (soft, or "brown") coal, and is characterized by a brownish color and appearance that often resembles wood. This lignite releases copious amounts of dissolved organic substances into groundwater.

Seam or bed of Pliocene lignite from a mine in the Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) area of Romania. Rainwater falling onto the surface penetrates into the ground, becoming ground water, and leaches toxic organic substances from this coal.

USGS scientist Bill Orem (left) and Adrian Muntean, a colleague from Romania, sampling water from a well in a Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) household in Serbia. The scientists will analyze the water for the presence of coal-derived organic substances dissolved in the water.