U.S. Geological Survey

USGS and partners map Escanaba Trough in 3D, revealing the magma plumbing behind its seafloor massive sulfide deposits.

USGS box cores from the Samoa Basin measured nodule density at 36 sites to inform prospectivity analyses with NOAA and BOEM.

The USGS-led abyssal expedition south of Hawaii Island found no manganese nodules, an unexpected result for a modeled nodule region.

USGS is sampling Aleutian Arc seafloor rocks to find settings favorable for critical mineral formation.

CTD casts on the USGS Aleutian Arc expedition are hunting hydrothermal plumes and collecting environmental DNA.

USGS is searching the Aleutian Arc for hydrothermal venting and the seafloor massive sulfides that can form around it.

USGS sets out how its seafloor mapping underpins hazard forecasting, offshore energy and the search for critical minerals.

Before sailing, the USGS Aleutian Arc seabed minerals team ran community events in Unalaska with BOEM, NOAA and the Smithsonian.

USGS set out to test whether manganese nodules lie on the abyssal seafloor about 230 miles south of Hawaii Island.

Only about 26 percent of the global seafloor is mapped at high resolution, and USGS is charting the parts that may hold minerals.