United States Geological Survey
scientific agency of the United States government
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior 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 planets and moons, based on data from U.S. space probes.
The sole scientific agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. It is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with major offices near Lakewood, Colorado; at the Denver Federal Center; and in NASA Research Park in California. In 2009, it employed about 8,670 people.
The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world". The agency's previous slogan, adopted on its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Service".
History
Prior Surveys
In the early-1800s, geological surveys were conducted by states and private individuals to support agriculture as a result of westward migration after the War of 1812. The first Federal survey was conducted in 1834 by George William Featherstonhaugh under the Topographical Bureau of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create a geological map of the United States.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “United States Geological Survey” is scientific agency of the United States government. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through United, States and Geological, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “scientific agency of the United States government” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q193755. The first chronological checks are 1879, 2009, 1997 and 1812.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “United States Geological Survey”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow United States Geological Survey primary sources, United States Geological Survey archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “United States Geological Survey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.