United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the United States government whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879, to study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The agency also makes maps of extraterrestrial planets and moons based on data from U.S. space probes.
Not to be confused with U.S. National Geodetic Survey or United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.Agency overview
March 3, 1879 (as Geological Survey)
United States
John W. Powell National Center
Reston, Virginia, U.S.
38°56′49″N 77°22′03″W / 38.9470°N 77.3675°W
8,670 (2009)
$1.497 billion (FY2023)[1]
The sole scientific agency of the United States Department of the Interior, USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.[2] It is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with major offices near Lakewood, Colorado; at the Denver Federal Center; and in NASA Ames Research Park in California.[3] In 2009, it employed about 8,670 people.[4]
The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world".[5][6] The agency's previous slogan, adopted on its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Service".[7]
USGS publications[edit]
USGS researchers publish the results of their science in a variety of ways, including peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as in one of a variety of USGS Report Series[35] that include preliminary results, maps, data, and final results. A complete catalog of all USGS publications is available from the USGS Publications Warehouse.