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The United States Geological Survey (USGS, formerly simply Geological Survey) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. A bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, it is that department's sole scientific agency. The USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, and Menlo Park, California. The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "Science for a changing World."〔(FY 1997 Annual Financial Report ), U.S. Geological Survey.〕 The agency's previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Service."〔''(Suggestions to Authors of the Reports of the United States Geological Survey )'', U.S. Geological Survey (7th ed. 1991), pp. 247-48.〕 == History == Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment, to an act of Congress on March 3, 1879. It was charged with the "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain". This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Mexican-American War in 1848. The legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30, 1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies. After a short tenure, King was succeeded in the director's chair by John Wesley Powell. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States Geological Survey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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