Geologic time is a crucial component of any geoscientist’s training. Essential knowledge of geologic time includes rates of geologic processes and the associated time it takes for geologic features to form, yet measuring conceptual thinking abilities in these domains is challenging. We describe development and initial application of the Landscape Identification and Formation Test (LIFT), a conc...

Geologic interpretation is the process of determining a sequence of geological events that could have caused a particular geologic formation. This paper describes a model for geologic interpretation of sketches, which are collected and represented with our open-domain sketch understanding system, CogSketch. The spatial relations that CogSketch computes are combined with a domain theory for geol...

Elena Nilsen, U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Division Robert Rosenbauer, U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Division Edward Furlong, U.S. Geological Survey, Methods Research and Development Program Mark Burkhardt, U.S. Geological Survey, Methods Research and Development Program Stephen Werner, U.S. Geological Survey, Methods Research and Development Program Lisa Greaser, U.S. Geological Survey,...

Introduction: Recognition of geologic units on image data is a fundamental analytical step of remote sensing. A single geologic unit could be defined as a region with its own particular features, which represent its origin. The same units have common photogeologi-cal characteristics. Criteria for determining the units are varied between previous and recent researches. In 1960's and 1970's, rese...

Today, 31 countries operate ∼ 450 nuclear power reactors supplying electric power to ∼ 1 billion people,∼ 15% of the world population. Nuclear reactors generate∼ 17% of global electric power needs and a number of industrialized countries depend on nuclear power for at least half of their electricity. In addition, ∼ 30 nuclear power reactors are presently under construction worldwide (Macfarlane...

The California Seismic Hazards Mapping Act of 1990 directs the California Geological Survey (CGS) to delineate seismic hazard zones of required investigation for earthquake-induced ground failures specifically, liquefaction and seismically triggered landslides. To date, more than 100 official Seismic Hazard Zone maps have been released, covering 200 cities and unincorporated areas in ten counti...

Reconnaissance geologic mapping of south-central Oregon is being done by the U. S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the State of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, as part of a larger program to prepare a geologic map of the eastern half of the state. Current work in south-central Oregon is limited geographically to the eastern half

a r t i c l e i n f o Mars accumulated and differentiated into crust, mantle and core within a few tens of millions of years of Solar System formation. Formation of Hellas, which has been adopted as the base of the Noachian period, is estimated to have occurred around 4.1 to 3.8 Gyr ago, depending on whether or not the planet experienced a late cataclysm. Little is known of the pre-Noachian per...