Geological Surveys. Geological surveys are among the earliest examples of government‐supported science in the United States, with state surveys pre‐dating the federal geological survey by nearly half a century.The North Carolina Geological Survey, begun in 1823, generally ranks as the first, though North Carolina supported only one individual ( Denison Olmsted) part‐time, and did not fund an ongoing institution. In other respects, however, North Carolina's survey typified state surveys to come. First, it was temporary and ended, with a report, in 1825. Nearly all early state surveys worked in fits and starts, flourishing in good times and disappearing during hard times. The longest continuously operating one, New York's, was founded in 1836. Second, the North Carolina survey, while not formally a part of a university, was conducted by a university professor. The association between state surveys and universities became common and, in many cases, endured. Finally, the North Carolina survey sought practical results. Emerging from a program of internal improvements within the state, it was designed primarily to produce geologic information for engineering applications, such as building roads and bridges. Geological surveys in other states focused on minerals and mining, or the relationship between soils and agriculture.

By 1850 twenty states had established geological surveys. Others added surveys in the 1850s and 1860s, particularly in the burgeoning West. Several western surveys, such as Nevada's and California's, focused on mining and minerals. Between 1850 and 1900, thirteen western states created geological surveys, and three more territories—Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma—started surveys soon after achieving statehood in the early twentieth century. Many of these surveys, in both the West and East, pursued two simultaneous, sometimes conflicting missions: generating practical results for utilitarian application while producing basic scientific knowledge, such as geologic maps or paleontologic reports.

Although the federal government did not establish a national survey until 1879, geologists were often associated with pre‐Civil War land and railroad surveys of the Old Northwest and the trans‐Mississippi West, frequently under the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the postwar years Washington funded a number of western geological and geographical surveys: Clarence King's Army‐sponsored Geological and Geographical Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel (begun in 1867); George M. Wheeler's Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian (1869), also undertaken by the Army; John Wesley Powell's Geographical and Topographical Survey of the Colorado River (1870), funded by the Department of the Interior; and Ferdinand V. Hayden's Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (1873). King, Powell, and Hayden were all experienced geologists, and Wheeler, an army lieutenant, recruited the geologist Grove Karl Gilbert to assist him. This proliferation of western surveys prompted Congress in 1879 to create a centralized United States Geological Survey (USGS), first under the direction of King, later under Powell, who made it the nation's premier scientific institution of the late nineteenth century.

By 1900 the state surveys were also becoming more permanent. The word “survey,” at least as applied to state surveys, came to be used as a noun (referring to a “survey” as an organization), implying an enduring existence. Relations between the state surveys and the USGS, which generally concentrated on issues that cut across state lines, such as topographic mapping and water‐resources studies, were not always smooth.

During the first half of the twentieth century, having completed the reconnaissance phase of their work and having gained a good idea of their state's general geology, many state surveys now undertook more detailed investigations of smaller areas. County studies were common, as were studies of minerals, especially petroleum in states such as Texas and metallic minerals in Nevada, Washington, and Wyoming.

After 1950, state geological surveys found their role changing. Some, such as Michigan's, were given increasing regulatory responsibility. Others, such as Utah's, were incorporated into state departments of natural resources, making them less research‐oriented and more an arm of state government. Some surveys, such as Kentucky's and Illinois's, remained a university division. Even those surveys that were removed from the university environment usually maintained an academic connection.

During the 1960s and 1970s, concern about environmental issues—such as the relationship between subsurface geology and groundwater contamination, groundwater depletion, radioactive‐waste disposal, and a host of other problems—gave geological surveys a renewed relevance. Individual surveys carved out scientific niches. The Kansas Geological Survey developed computer software and pioneered the application of quantitative methods to geologic problems. State surveys in Utah and Colorado focused on geologic hazards. The Texas Bureau of Economic Geology did extensive petroleum research often funded by external grants and contracts. In the 1980s and 1990s, state surveys redoubled their efforts in geologic mapping, working with the USGS to develop funding for the National Mapping Act and collaborating on geographic information systems and other new cartographic methods. As the twenty‐first century began, geological surveys were operating in every state, as well as at the federal level, a permanent but constantly changing feature of America's scientific landscape.
See also Antebellum Era; Army Corps of Engineers; Education: The Rise of the University; Environmentalism; Land Policy, Federal; Petroleum Industry; Physical Science; Science.

Bibliography

George Merrill , Contributions to a History of American State Geological and Natural History Surveys, 1920.
Thomas G. Manning , Government in Science: The U.S. Geological Survey, 1867–1894, 1967.
William H. Goetzmann , Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West, 1971.
Michele L. Aldrich , American State Geological Surveys, 1820–1845, in Two Hundred Years of Geology in America, ed. Cecil J. Schneer, 1979.
Anne Marie Millbrooke , State Geological Surveys of the Nineteenth Century, Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1981.
Arthur A. Socolow, ed., The State Geological Surveys: A History, 1988.

Rex C. Buchanan

U.S. Geological Survey

Established as part of the Department of the Interior in 1879 and funded by Congress, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides support to federal agencies (e.g., the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, and the U.S. Coast Guard) in the form of useful information for decision-making purposes concerning the management of U.S. environmental and natural resources. As part of this support, the USGS examines the relationship between humans and the environment by conducting data collection, long-term research assessments, and ecosystem analyses, and providing forecast changes and their implications. One example of this support is the provision of information about earthquake and seismic activities that is used to assess the potential impact of such activities on water quality. In addition to its federal agency support, the USGS also manages some of the following programs that address the problems of environmental pollution: (1) coastal and marine geology program; (2) contaminants program; (3) energy program; (4) fisheries and aquatic resources; and (5) global change/wetland ecology program. These external support activities and internal programs have been similarly adopted by countries such as Australia, Britain, Finland, and Japan, although not to the same degree as provided by the USGS.

see also Environmental Protection Agency; Interior Department, United States; National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); U.S. Coast Guard.

Bibliography

natural research council, committee on geosciences, environment and resources. (2001). future roles and opportunities for the u.s. geological survey. washington, d.c.: national academy press.

internet resource

coastal and marine geology program site. available from http://marine.usgs.gov.

Robert F. Gruenig

United States Geological Survey bureau organized in 1879 under the Dept. of the Interior to unify and centralize the work already undertaken by separate surveys under Clarence King, F. V. Hayden, George W. Wheeler, and J. W. Powell . The functions of the bureau cover the exploration of the country to gather information as to geological structure; the preparation of geological and topographical maps of all parts of the country; the examination and assessment of natural resources; the study of problems of irrigation and water power; the classification of public lands; the investigation of natural disasters; the monitoring of global environment change, and the annual publication of papers, bulletins, and maps based upon surveys made. In 1962 the bureau was authorized to conduct surveys outside the public domain. The Geological Survey is also responsible for directing the National Geologic Mapping Program, using the most sophisticated of cartographic equipment for researching and compiling data.

Geological Survey, U.S. See Geological Surveys.