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Publications

Products (journal articles, reports, fact sheets) authored by current and past scientists are listed below. Please check the USGS Pubs Warehouse for other USGS publications.

Filter Total Items: 1739

Insights into the metamorphic history and origin of flake graphite mineralization at the Graphite Creek graphite deposit, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA

Graphite Creek is an unusual flake graphite deposit located on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA. We present field observations, uranium-lead (U–Pb) monazite and titanite geochronology, carbon (C) and sulfur (S) stable isotope geochemistry, and graphite Raman spectroscopy data from this deposit that support a new model of flake graphite ore genesis in high-grade metamorphic environments. The Graph

Groundwater quality near the Montebello Oil Field, Los Angeles County, California

Groundwater quality and potential sources and migration pathways of chemical constituents associated with hydrocarbon-bearing formations were assessed by the U.S. Geological Survey for the California State Water Resources Control Board Oil and Gas Regional Monitoring Program (RMP). Groundwater samples were collected as part of the RMP from 21 preexisting wells used for public supply, monitoring, o

Sampling and analysis plan for the Koocanusa Reservoir and upper Kootenai River, Montana, water-quality monitoring program, 2021

In 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey will collect water-quality samples and environmental data from 3 sites in Koocanusa Reservoir and from 1 site in the Kootenai River. The transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir is in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northwestern Montana, United States, and was formed with the construction of Libby Dam on the Kootenai River 26 kilometers upstream from Libby,

A model of transmissivity and hydraulic conductivity from electrical resistivity distribution derived from airborne electromagnetic surveys of the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Midwest USA

Groundwater-flow models require the spatial distribution of the hydraulic conductivity parameter. One approach to defining this spatial distribution in groundwater-flow model grids is to map the electrical resistivity distribution by airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey and establish a petrophysical relation between mean resistivity calculated as a nonlinear function of the resistivity layering a

40Ar/39Ar geochronology of magmatic-steam alunite from Alunite Ridge and Deer Trail Mountain, Marysvale Volcanic Field, Utah: Timing and duration of miocene hydrothermal activity associated with concealed intrusions

Porphyry and epithermal deposits are important sources of base and precious metals. Most actively mined deposits have been exhumed such that ore bodies are relatively close to the surface and are therefore locatable and economic to extract. Identifying and characterizing concealed deposits, particularly more deeply buried porphyry deposits, represents a far greater challenge for mineral exploratio

Geophysical data provide three dimensional insights into porphyry copper systems in the Silverton caldera, Colorado, USA

The Silverton caldera in southwest Colorado, USA hosts polymetallic veins and pervasively altered rocks indicative of porphyry copper systems. Nearly a kilometer of erosion has exposed multiple levels of the hydrothermal systems from shallow lithocaps down to quartz-sericite-pyrite veins. New airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey data are integrated with previous alteration mapping and porp

First principles calibration of 40Ar abundances in 40Ar/39Ar mineral neutron fluence monitors: Methodology and preliminary results

The accuracy and traceability of geochronometers are of vital importance to questions asked by many Earth scientists. The widely applied 40Ar/39Ar geochronometer relies on the co-irradiation of samples with neutron fluence monitors (reference materials) of known ages; the ages and uncertainties of these monitors are critical to our ability to apply this chronometer. Previously, first principles, a

Tectonics, fault zones, and topography in the Alaska-Canada Cordillera with a focus on the Alaska Range and Denali fault zone

Synergistic interactions between geologic structures and topography have long been recognized to reflect numerous Earth processes and rock properties over time. It was not until the advent of plate tectonics in the midtwentieth century that researchers began to view the nature of the northern Cordillera orogen as a quilt of foreign pieces of crust or “suspect terranes”. The Alaska Range shows comp

A case of Te-rich low-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag deposits in a calc-alkaline magmatic arc, NE China

Tellurium-bearing low-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag deposits are significant producers of gold, silver, and potentially strategic elements if mineral processing methods are optimized for recovery. Although these deposits are generally related to alkaline magmatism, our study documents an unusual occurrence of Te-rich low-sulfidation epithermal systems in the North Heilongjiang Belt in northeast Chi

Rapid and gradual permafrost thaw: A tale of two sites

Warming temperatures and increasing disturbance by wildfire and extreme weather events is driving permafrost change across northern latitudes. The state of permafrost varies widely in space and time, depending on landscape, climate, hydrologic, and ecological factors. Despite its importance, few approaches commonly measure and monitor the changes in deep (>1 m) permafrost conditions with high spat

Formation of orogenic gold deposits by progressive movement of a fault-fracture mesh through the upper crustal brittle-ductile transition zone

Orogenic gold deposits are comprised of complex quartz vein arrays that form as a result of fluid flow along transcrustal fault zones in active orogenic belts. Mineral precipitation in these deposits occurs under variable pressure conditions, but a mechanism explaining how the pressure regimes evolve through time has not previously been proposed. Here we show that extensional quartz veins at the G

Antimony in mine wastes: Geochemistry, mineralogy, microbiology

Antimony (Sb) is a valuable mined commodity, used mostly in fire retardants, and considered a critical element. It is also a potential environment hazard classed as a carcinogen. Antimony is concentrated in tailings and waste rock from Sb mines as well as other locations, such as precious metal deposits, where Sb is present in the ore but not recovered. This review covers the aqueous geochemistry,