An image of a coal mine in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana

Coal is an important fuel source in the United States today. Responsible for approximately 39 percent of the country’s electrical generation, coal is vital to the day-to-day operation of people’s lives.

The United States is rich in coal deposits, with large resources.  One of the most important and largest of those deposits is found in the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming and Montana, which, in 2012, produced more than 42 percent of the Nation’s coal.

On February 26, USGS released its new assessment of in-place resources, recoverable resources, and economic reserves of coal in the Powder River Basin, the first of a new generation of coal assessments from the USGS. Estimates of total in-place coal resources in the PRB are 1.07 trillion short tons, while recoverable coal resources are 162 billion short tons, and coal reserves are 25 billion short tons.

What Do All these Numbers Mean?

Previous assessments focused only on total in-place and recoverable coal resources, but this assessment includes in-place resources and a regional assessment of recoverable coal resources and economic coal reserves.

A map showing the four USGS assessment units for the Powder River Basin

In-place coal resources include in-place tonnage estimates of total coal volumes.  In-place resources are those quantities that are estimated, as of a given date, to be contained in known deposits prior to production. The quantity which can be technically produced or mined, may be significantly less than the volumes estimated to be in place.

Recoverable resources are calculated using those coal beds from the total in-place resources that are deemed both shallow and thick enough to be recoverable using current surface mining technology.

Coal reserves are a subset of coal resources. To be classified as reserves, the coal must be considered economically producible at the time of classification, but facilities for extraction need not be installed and operative.

Current reserves does not mean that is all that remains mineable. The size of reserves changes because mining costs and coal sales prices are subject to fluctuation based on market conditions – recoverable resources become reserves with favorable changes in costs, demand, and prices.

What is Coal?

Coal is a sedimentary rock made predominantly of carbon that can be burned for fuel. Coal formed when prehistoric forests and marshes were buried and compressed over hundreds of millions of years.  After deposition and subsequent burial, some contents of the rock, such as moisture, are squeezed out due to the pressure leading to higher and higher concentration of carbon, though other elements (such as sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen) remain in the coal.  This process resulted in the various types of coal seen today, which are ranked according to their moisture content and concentration of carbon.

USGS and Coal

USGS has studied coal for more than 100 years. In addition to its own research, USGS works with others, predominantly state geological surveys, to provide the basic geologic information to assess the Nation’s coal resources. The largest and most well-known areas of coal the USGS has assessed are the Appalachian Basin and Illinois Basin in the eastern U.S. and the Williston Basin, Colorado Plateau,  and the Powder River Basin in the western U.S.

Coal is loaded on to a truck in the Powder River Basin. The Powder River Basin contains the largest deposits of low-sulfur subbituminous coal in the world.

USGS also studies the environmental effects of developing and using coal, such as greenhouse gas emissions from underground coal fires, air quality impacts from coal utilization, and studying coal quality for fuel use optimization.

Optimizing fuel use and minimizing its impact on the environment are necessary components of 21^st century strategies for meeting society’s energy needs. One critical aspect of fuel use optimization is an understanding of the geologic factors that affect fuel quality. For example, the composition of coal critically influences power generation efficiency, the impact of coal use on the environment, and the composition and usefulness of combustion products.

Coalbed Gas

There is another important resource directly related to the Nation’s coal: coalbed gas. Generated in and produced from coal seams, coalbed gas, often called coalbed methane, accounts for approximately eight percent of the U.S. natural gas production and has many of the same uses as coal, such as production of electricity and fuel for our home furnaces during the winter. In addition, it can be used in fertilizers, or for transportation in place of gasoline, which is derived from oil.

In addition to its uses, coalbed gas can be a hazard as it could lead to suffocation and explosions (it is extremely flammable in combination with coal dust). Miners would bring canaries into the mines to help them know when large concentrations of methane were in the area.  In modern times, mine ventilation techniques and methane detection equipment has reduced the methane hazard for miners.

Coal is an important part of the U.S. energy mix, and the United States is richly endowed with coal. After all, the Powder River Basin is the largest deposit of low-sulfur subbituminous coal in the world. However, as the latest assessment of the Powder River Basin also shows, there is a significant difference between the in-place resources and the recoverable resources, let alone the economic resources. USGS’ coal research provides critical information for government and private managers to know just how much coal really is present, what is usable, and its quality.

Time: Thursday, July 26, 2012 • 7-8pm
Speaker: Manuela Huso
Location: 345 Middlefield Road, Building 3 Auditorium, second floor, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone:  650-329-4000

FREE and Open to the Public

Follow this event live streaming over the Internet!

This announcement and directions can be found online.

North front of Brooks Range along southern margin of central North Slope assessment area.

For the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated the potential of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in source rocks—in this case shale—of the Alaska North Slope.   The estimates range from 0 up to 2 billion barrels of oil and from 0 up to 80 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Unexplored Frontier

There historically has been significant oil and gas production from Alaska’s North Slope, but industry efforts have concentrated on conventional resources rather than continuous resources. As a result, production has never been attempted from shale formations of the Alaska North Slope, making them an unexplored frontier for shale-oil and shale-gas resources. The recent success of shale oil and shale gas development in the lower-48 states demonstrates the technical viability of such resources. Therefore, this new USGS assessment provides an estimate of potential resources that may be technically viable in this frontier region.

Although oil and gas have been produced in the North Slope for decades, these newly assessed shales represent an unexplored frontier for shale oil and shale gas development

Range of Uncertainty

A large range of uncertainty exists in the estimates of this report, mostly because there have been no attempts to produce the oil and gas. In the absence of drilling, it is difficult to be precise in assessing oil and gas resources, because drilling is the only way to determine if production from the shales is possible.

The shale formations assessed have generated oil and gas that migrated into conventional accumulations, including the super-giant Prudhoe Bay field.  It is also probable that these shale source rocks likely retain oil and gas that did not migrate, but only drilling can concretely confirm this or not.

Source Rocks

Source rocks are those formations from which hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, originate. Conventional oil and gas resources gradually migrate away from the source rock into other formations, whereas continuous resources, such as shale oil and shale gas, remain trapped within the original source rock.

Three source rocks of the Alaska North Slope were assessed in this study – the Triassic Shublik Formation, the lower part of the Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Kingak Shale, and the combined Cretaceous pebble shale unit and Hue Shale.  They extend across much of the North Slope.

Badami pipeline, somewhere between Deadhorse and Badami in the Alaska North Slope.

Shale Oil Versus Oil Shale

Shale oil is oil that was generated naturally in source rocks but never migrated out of them. It should not be confused with “oil shale,” a source rock in which oil has not yet been generated, but that is capable of generating oil if artificially heated.

Contact: Alex Demas

But recent research indicates that most of the world’s gas hydrate deposits should remain stable for the next few thousand years. Of the hydrates likely to become unstable, few are likely to release methane that could reach the atmosphere and intensify global warming.

Figure 1: Gas hydrates have been found in many locations worldwide. Scientists predict that they occur in many areas that have not yet been surveyed.

Background: Gas hydrates are an ice-like combination of natural gas and water that can form in deep-water ocean sediments near the continents, and within or beneath continuous permafrost in the circum-Arctic. Specific temperatures and pressures and an ample supply of natural gas are required for gas hydrates to form and remain stable.

Figure 2: Solid gas hydrate recovered from sediments about 20 feet below the seafloor near Canada’s Vancouver Island

An estimated 99 percent of gas hydrates are in ocean sediments, with the remaining 1 percent in permafrost areas (fig.1). Methane hydrate or “methane ice” is the most common type of gas hydrate (fig. 2). It is a highly concentrated form of methane. One cubic foot of methane hydrate traps about 164 cubic feet of methane gas.

The amount of methane trapped in the earth’s hydrate deposits is uncertain, but even the most conservative estimates conclude that about 1000 times more methane is trapped in hydrates than is consumed annually worldwide. The most active area of gas hydrate research focuses on their potential as an alternate source of natural gas (fig. 3), and the USGS Gas Hydrates Projecthas several programs in this area.

Gas Hydrates and Climate Change– A Theoretical View

Figure 3: Methane hydrate is sometimes called “the ice that burns” because the warming hydrates release enough methane to sustain a flame.

Gas hydrate researchers are examining the link between climate change and the stability of methane hydrate deposits. A warming climate could cause gas hydrates to break down (dissociate), releasing the methane that they now trap.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. A given volume of methane causes 15 to 20 times more greenhouse gas warming than carbon dioxide, so the release of large quantities of methane to the atmosphere could exacerbate atmospheric warming and cause more gas hydrates to destabilize (fig. 4).

Figure 4: Schematic of the theoretical scenario -- Arctic methane emissions from gas hydrates and increased climate warming.

Some research suggests that this has happened in the past. Extreme warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum about 55 million years ago may have been related to a large-scale release of global methane hydrates. Some scientists have also advanced the Clathrate Gun Hypothesis to explain observations that may be consistent with repeated, catastrophic dissociation of gas hydrates and triggering of submarine landslides during the Late Quaternary (400,000 to 10,000 years ago).

Methane in the Atmosphere: Current Observations

The atmospheric concentration of methane, like that of carbon dioxide, has increased since the onset of the Industrial Revolution (fig. 5). Methane in the atmosphere comes from many sources, including wetlands, rice cultivation, termites, cows and other ruminants, forest fires, and fossil fuel production (fig. 6). Some researchers have estimated that up to 2 percent of atmospheric methane may originate with dissociation of global gas hydrates. Currently, scientists do not have a tool to say with certainty how much, or if any, atmospheric methane comes from hydrates.

Although methane is a potent greenhouse gas, it does not remain in the atmosphere for long. Within about 10 years, it is transformed to carbon dioxide. Thus, methane that is released to the atmosphere ultimately adds to the amount of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Figure 5: Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide in parts per million and methane in parts per billion. Source: NOAA

Figure 6: Possible sources of atmospheric methane. Currently, there is no proof that gas hydrates are contributing to total atmospheric methane budgets. Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Methane Hydrates R&D Program

Expected Impact of Warming Climate on Methane Hydrate Deposits For the most part, warming at rates documented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the 20th century should not lead to catastrophic breakdown of methane hydrates or major leakage of methane to the ocean-atmosphere system from gas hydrates that dissociate. While the vast majority of methane hydrates would require a sustained warming over thousands of years to trigger dissociation, gas hydrates in some locations are dissociating now in response to short-term and long-term climate processes.

The following discussion refers to the numbered type locales or sectors, shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Gas hydrate deposits by sector. Currently, gas hydrates are most likely dissociating in sectors 2 and 3. Only sector 2 is likely to release methane that could reach the atmosphere. Figure modified from Ruppel (2011).

Sector 1, Thick Onshore Permafrost: Gas hydrates that occur within or beneath thick terrestrial permafrost will remain largely stable even if climate warming lasts hundreds of years. Over thousands of years, warming could cause gas hydrates at the top of the stability zone, about 625 feet below the earth’s surface, to begin to dissociate.

Sector 2, Shallow Arctic Shelf: The shallow water continental shelves that circle parts of the Arctic Ocean were formed when sea level rise during the past 10,000 years inundated permafrost that was at the coastline. Subsea permafrost is thawing beneath these continental shelves and associated methane hydrates are likely dissociating now. If methane from these gas hydrates rises to the ocean floor, it will likely reach the atmosphere. Less than one percent of the world’s gas hydrates probably occur in this setting, but this estimate could be revised as scientists learn more.

Sector 3, Upper Edge of Stability: Gas hydrates on upper continental slopes, beneath 1000 to 1600 feet of water, lie at the shallowest water depth for which methane hydrates are stable. The upper continental slopes, which ring all of the world’s continents, could host gas hydrate in zones that are roughly 30 feet thick. Warming ocean waters could completely dissociate these gas hydrates in less than 100 years. Methane emitted at these water depths will probably oxidize in the water column or simply dissolve and is not likely to reach the atmosphere. About 3.5 percent of the earth’s gas hydrates occur in this climate sensitive setting.

Sector 4, Deepwater: Most of the earth’s gas hydrates, about 95 percent, occur in water depths greater than 3000 feet. They are likely to remain stable even with a sustained increase in bottom temperatures over thousands of years. Most of the gas hydrates in these settings occur deep within the sediments. If they do dissociate, the released methane should remain trapped in the sediments, migrate upward to form new gas hydrates, or be consumed by oxidation in near-seafloor sediments. Most methane released at the seafloor would likely dissolve or be oxidized in the water column. A recent article, Methane Hydrates and Contemporary Climate Change, provides more detail.

USGS Gas Hydrates Project

Figure 8: USGS researchers deploy a mini-sparker source to image seafloor sediments in the shallow Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, August 2011. The USGS and the U.S. Department of Energy are cooperating in this work.

The USGS is studying various sources of methane and the impact of climate change. Since 2009, the USGS Gas Hydrates Project has been conducting field research to determine whether gas hydrates are currently dissociating due to climate warming and, if so, how much methane emitted from these gas hydrates might reach the atmosphere. Research locations include the U.S. Beaufort Sea and Alaska’s North Slope. The USGS has also organized workshops to identify priorities in climate-hydrates research and to plan ocean drilling projects related to these issues.

Contact: Diane Noserale

Anthracite coal is hard, compact, and has high luster. It also has the highest carbon concentration of all ranks of coal.

Traditionally the “gift” left for naughty children, coal has developed a bit of a negative association with the holidays. Unlike those tinsel twins, reindeer and mistletoe, coal does not enjoy the same holiday cheer.  Which is strange, when you think about it, as back in Northern Europe where most of our holiday traditions began, coal was essential in keeping your house warm during long winters.  In fact, according to the University of Oxford, traditions developed in Scotland and Wales where visitors during the holidays would bring a small lump of coal to herald warmth and cheer for the New Year.

Although no one is quite sure where the coal for naughty kids custom came from, the truth is that coal has long been a very important part of our daily lives, let alone our holiday traditions.  Originally burned for warmth and steam power for locomotives, nowadays nearly half of the electricity produced in the United States is generated by coal-fired power plants. Coal is also used in the refining of metals such as steel.

Bituminous Coal is a middle rank coal (between subbituminous and anthracite) formed by additional pressure and heat on lignite. Usually has a high heating (Btu) value and is the most common type of coal used in electricity generation in the United States. Bituminous coal appears smooth when you first see it, but look closer and you may see it is in layers. Bituminous is the most abundant kind of coal and the most often used.

What is Coal?

Coal is a sedimentary rock made predominantly of carbon that can be burned for fuel. Coal formed when prehistoric forests and marshes were buried and compressed over hundreds of millions of years.  As time went on, the other elements in the rock were squeezed out due to the pressure of the rock around it, leading to higher and higher concentrations of carbon.  This process resulted in the various types of coal we have today, which are ranked according to their moisture content and concentration of carbon.

USGS and Coal

Cannel Coal is a type of bituminous coal with a high pollen and spore content from prehistoric plants. One theory for how it got its name is that, due to its high pollen content, it could be lit by a match and serve as a candle. Over time, "candle coal" evolved to "cannel coal."

USGS has studied coal for much of our more than 130-year existence. We work with state cooperators, predominantly state geological surveys, to assess the Nation’s coal resources. The largest and most well-known basins of coal we have assessed are the Appalachian Basin and Illinois Basin in the East and the Williston Basin and Powder River Basin in the West. All of our other research on coal can be found on our National Coal Resources Data Systems and our World Coal Quality Inventory.

We also study the environmental  effects of developing and using coal, such as greenhouse gas emissions from underground coal fires, air quality impacts from coal utilization, and acid mine drainage.

Coalbed Gas

And finally, there’s another important aspect of the Nation’s coal: coalbed gas. Methane, also known as natural gas, takes on many of the same tasks as coal, such as it’s vital for the production of electricity in many states and it’s used for warmth during the winter. In addition, it can be used to create fertilizers, or even used for transportation in place of gasoline. Although mostly produced from gas fields or found with oil, methane can also be found in coal seams.

Lignite coal, aka brown coal, is the lowest grade coal with the least concentration of carbon.

Peat is not actually coal, but rather the precursor to coal. When peat is placed under high pressure and heat, it can become coal.

That’s where the phrase “Canary in a coal mine” came from. Before modern mine ventilation techniques, methane was considered a hazard for miners, as it could lead to suffocation and was extremely flammable in combination with coal dust. Miners would bring canaries into the mines to help them know when large concentrations of methane were in the area.  Today, although methane can still pose significant mining hazards, we are able extract this methane for energy uses, with coalbed gas accounting for eight percent of annual US natural gas production.

Contact: Alex Demas

The tips, below, include some of the newest USGS-led research on toxics in the environment and their effects to life on Earth.

Boston High School Students Learn about Environmental Toxicology at SETAC Wed., Nov. 16 9:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Green Team Boston Service Project 206

Scientists and volunteers from industry, academia, and government will welcome 30 students from underserved high schools in Boston and their teachers to a day at the SETAC annual meeting.  This service project, intended to bring something unique to the SETAC host city, will introduce the students to a professional conference, the jobs done by environmental professions, and environmental toxicology.

In the Exploratorium, students will talk to scientists and learn about mercury biomagnification, sustainable design, toxics testing in water, use of organisms in water quality assessments, environmental impact of cleaning agents and personal care products, and the growing problem of plastics in our oceans.

USGS scientist Adria Elskus, Emily Monosson (Montague, Mass.), and Nancy Bettinger (Mass. DEP) developed this project.

A Changing Climate Changes More than just the Temperature

Speaker: Pamela Noyes, Duke University

Coauthor: M.J. Hooper, U.S. Geological Survey

As the world’s climate changes, its effects will be far-reaching, even into the realm of toxicology and the regulation of chemicals in our environment. Climatic changes can alter how different chemicals react to each other in the environment, impact the behavior of plants and animals, and even effect organisms’ metabolisms. As a result, studies of contaminants and their effects on organisms need to take climate change into account. USGS and its academic colleagues will present their findings on the effects of global climate change on how contaminants affect organisms and how that knowledge can aid in risk and damage assessments.  This presentation is part of a larger symposium reporting on a SETAC Pellston workshop on Global Climate Change and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.  The workshop was supported by USGS and organized with the assistance of USGS scientists.

Presentation Title: Mechanistic Toxicology in the Face of Global Climate Change

Time/Location: Ballroom B, 8:50-9:10a.m., Wednesday, November 16

High Risk in the Grand Canyon

Speaker: David Walters, USGS

Selenium, an important additive for brass plumbing, is toxic both to fish and to animals that eat fish. Worse, it builds up in food webs and becomes magnified as animals eat more fish that have been exposed to selenium. The Colorado River, which courses through the Grand Canyon, is well-known to have extremely high rates of selenium exposure, with more than 30 metric tonnes of dissolved Selenium flowing through the Grand Canyon per year. However, the stretch of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon had not been extensively studied for selenium contamination, largely due to the difficulty in reaching it. To remedy this lack, USGS scientists and their academic colleagues sampled and analyzed the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, finding selenium buildup in the food webs well above established risk levels.

Presentation Title: A Quantitative Food Web Approach for Estimating Selenium

Flux in the Colorado River in Grand Canyon

Time/Location: Exhibit Hall, 8:00a.m., Thursday, November 17

Climate Change & Drinking Water

Speaker: Andrew Todd, USGS

In a recent study of the Upper Snake River Basin in Colorado, , which has large deposits of minerals, USGS and academic scientists noticed some concerning trends: trace metals and sulfate concentrations were on the rise, threatening fish populations and potentially impacting drinking water supplies downstream. Although there were a few mines in the area, they were not in operation during the study, indicating another cause for the increase in contaminants was likely. One plausible scenario, which will be discussed, is that changes to underground water behavior and seasonal shifts due to climate change could be the driving force.

Presentation Title: Potential Effects of Climate Change on Water Quality in Mineralized Watersheds

Time/Location: Ballroom B, 11:30a.m., Wednesday, November 16

Heavy Metals: Do They Interfere with the Survival of Young Sturgeons?

Presenters: Robin Calfee, Ning Wang, Ed Little

White Sturgeon of the Columbia River are endangered, and part of the problem could be exposure  of their offspring to heavy metals, such as copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium that have contaminated their habitat as a result of metal processing activities.. To test whether or not these metals were affecting white sturgeon, USGS scientists tested both young sturgeon and rainbow trout at various stages of development with exposures to copper, zinc, cadmium, or lead.  Their results showed significant effects from the metals in the survival, growth, and behavior of the sturgeon specifically during early life stages. These effects are significant enough to indicate the metals may contribute to the lack of recruitment of young sturgeon in metal-contaminated sites.

Time/Location: Exhibit Hall, 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 16

Exhibits:

• Wednesday poster (WP223): Robin D. Calfee, Holly J. Puglis , Edward E. Little, Erinn Beahan (USGS, Columbia MO), Chris Mebane (USGS, Boise, ID), Eric Van Genderen (International Zinc Association, Durham, NC). Acute Sensitivity of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Copper, Cadmium, and Zinc.
• Wednesday poster (WP224): Ning Wang, Chris G. Ingersoll, Bill Brumbaugh, James Kunz, Rebecca Consbrock, Doug Hardesty (USGS, Columbia, MO); Chris Mebane (USGS, Boise, ID), Eric Van Genderen (International Zinc Association, Durham, NC). Sensitivity of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Selected Metals in Chronic Water-only Exposures .
• Wednesday poster (WP226): Edward E. Little, Robin D. Calfee, Holly J. Puglis, Erinn Beahan (USGS, Columbia MO).  Sublethal Effects on Behavior of White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to Copper, Cadmium, and Zinc.
• Wednesday Poster (WP230): Ed Little, Robin Calfee (USGS, Columbia, MO): Toxicity of Smelter Slag-Contaminated Sediments and Associated Metals from Lake Roosevelt to White Sturgeon.

Intersex Fish: Do Birth Control Chemicals Make Male Fish Grow Eggs?

Speaker: Diana Papoulias, USGS

Intersex fish, and specifically male fish exhibiting female traits, have been reported increasingly often, prompting significant research into the causes of this phenomenon. One possible culprit is chemicals that behave like estrogen, such as ethinyl estradiol, an active chemical in some birth control pills. USGS and academic colleagues studied largemouth bass in an attempt to see what effects, if any, a long exposure to a low concentration of ethinyl estradiol would have  on the ability of the bass to reproduce . They observed decreased size of the reproductive organs, increased production of egg yolk protein, and after 18 months of exposure small eggs were just beginning to appear in the male testes.

Presentation Title: Estrogenic Effects on Largemouth Bass at Multiple Biological Levels from Chronic Ethinyl Estradiol Exposure Following an Adverse Outcomes Paradigm

Time/Location: Room 311, 5:25 p.m., Tuesday, November 15

USEPA/USGS Study of CECs in Source Water and Finished Drinking Water: Pharmaceuticals and Anthropogenic Indicator Compounds

Speaker: E.T. Furlong

The author will discuss the pharmaceutical and indicator compound portion of a joint EPA/USGS study started in 2010 to measure more than 230 compounds of emerging concern in the source and treated drinking water throughout the United States.

Time/Location: Room 302, 8:25 a.m., Tuesday, November 15

Large Volatilization Losses of PAHs Soon After Application of Coal-Tar-Based Pavement Sealant

Speaker: P. Van Metre,

Preliminary results of USGS research suggest that coal-tar-based pavement sealants, recognized as a source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to urban streams and lakes, are a potentially important source of PAHs to the air as well. A large volume of PAHs is released when coal-tar based sealants are applied to pavement.  Concentrations of PAHs in air two hours after sealant was applied were about 5,000 times higher than in air over unsealed pavement and even two weeks after application, concentrations remained about 500 times higher.

Time/Location: Room 302, 2:45 p.m., Tuesday, November 15

Contact: Alex Demas               (571) 335-6535

Collage of minerals and what can be created using minerals.

Today the United States is the world’s leading user of mineral commodities. Every year about 25,000 pounds of new, non-fuel mineral materials are extracted from the Earth for e very person in the United States. But what are these minerals and how do we use them? Join us on October 5th to learn more about the minerals we use on a daily basis, where these resources come from, and the steps involved from mineral discovery to mineral use.

Free and Open to the Public!

Requests for accommodations (i.e. sign language interpreting) require notice at least two weeks before the event. Please either email Joan Corley or contact the Office of Equal Opportunity at 703-648-7770.

This announcement and directions can be found online.

Follow this event live on Twitter!

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Federal Facility — Photo Id is Required
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
Phone:  703-648-4748

Examples of Energy & Minerals Science

Please answer questions about USGS Energy & Minerals science.

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