Outreach
Rhode Island Earth Day 2008
USGS MA-RI Water Science Center participates with the Rhode Island Earth Day 2008 celebration at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence.
A beautiful, warm, sunny spring day brought hundreds of patrons to the 2008 celebration of Earth Day at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) information and activities were presented staff member by Emily Wild of the USGS MA-RI Water Science Center. Many general interest publications describing USGS maps, hydrologic data collection and analysis, geology, biological resources, and product information were disseminated to the public.
Educational demonstrations included how to read topographic maps, as well as the type of information maps provide and explaining the hydrography by using a 3-dimensional relief model. A ground-water demonstration was available to explain how water moves through the ground by using different examples of sorting and classifications of sand and gravel. Staff discussed public inquiries about the USGS stream-gaging network, ground-water data collection, and the historical earthquakes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and other areas in New England and the United States. National earthquake probability, bedrock geology, principal aquifer, and surface-water network maps were present and discussed with the zoo patrons.
In addition, recent news releases were distributed about the Illinois earthquake, volcanic activity at Kilauea (Hawaii) and Mt. St. Helens (Washington), and mid-west flooding; near real-time data available from geology and water resources databases and information pages. The most inquired websites throughout the day were in reference to stream flow, ground water, and earthquakes.
Links
100 Years of Continuous Stream-Gaging Activities in Massachusetts
Earth Day:
Rhode Island Celebrates National Water Week:
- May 06, 2003
- May 5-11, 2002 - Power Point Presentation (6 slides, 2.19MB)
Education
Monitoring Our Rivers and Streams - Fact Sheet 077-02 in PDF
The Learning Web
Science in Your Watershed
Ask USGS
Water
Geology
Mapping
Biology: