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: 1912
New perspectives on a 140-year legacy of mining and abandoned mine cleanup in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado New perspectives on a 140-year legacy of mining and abandoned mine cleanup in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado
The Gold King mine water release that occurred on 5 August 2015 near the historical mining community of Silverton, Colorado, highlights the environmental legacy that abandoned mines have on the environment. During reclamation efforts, a breach of collapsed workings at the Gold King mine sent 3 million gallons of acidic and metal-rich mine water into the upper Animas River, a tributary to...
Authors
Douglas B. Yager, David L. Fey, Thomas Chapin, Raymond H. Johnson
Rare earth element ore geology of carbonatites Rare earth element ore geology of carbonatites
For nearly 50 years, carbonatites have been the primary source of niobium and rare earth elements (REEs), in particular the light REEs, including La, Ce, Pr, and Nd. Carbonatites are a relatively rare type of igneous rock composed of greater than 50 vol % primary carbonate minerals, primarily calcite and/or dolomite, and contain the highest concentrations of REEs of any igneous rocks...
Authors
Philip L. Verplanck, Anthony N. Mariano, Anthony Mariano
Geologic materials and human health: Chapter 5.14 Geologic materials and human health: Chapter 5.14
No abstract available.
Authors
Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Suzette A. Morman
Book review: Current perspectives on zinc deposits Book review: Current perspectives on zinc deposits
This book, published in 2015 by the Irish Association for Economic Geology (IAEG), is a compilation of papers and abstracts written by selected authors who attended the ZINC 2010 Conference in Cork, Ireland. Unlike most books produced each decade by the IAEG, which are focused primarily on achievements of the Irish and European mineral sectors, this book has a global perspective of a...
Authors
Karen D. Kelley
Book Review: Potassic igneous rocks and associated gold-copper mineralization, Fourth edition (D. Muller and D.I. Groves) Book Review: Potassic igneous rocks and associated gold-copper mineralization, Fourth edition (D. Muller and D.I. Groves)
The fourth edition of this comprehensive textbook, which succeeds those published in 1995, 1997, and 2000, very nicely summarizes the geochemical and petrological characteristics of potassic igneous rock complexes and the different tectonic settings in which they occur. The authors provide an overview and a classification of these rocks and they outline the geochemical differences...
Authors
Karen D. Kelley
The F'derik-Zouerate iron district: Mesoarchean and Paleoproterozoic iron formation of the Tiris Complex, Islamic Republic of Mauritania The F'derik-Zouerate iron district: Mesoarchean and Paleoproterozoic iron formation of the Tiris Complex, Islamic Republic of Mauritania
High-grade hematitic iron ores (of HIF, containing 60-65 wt%Fe) have been mined in Mauritania since 1952 from Superior-type iron deposits of the F'derik-Zouerate district. Depletion of the high-grade ores in recent years has resulted in new exploration projects focused on lower-grade magnetite ores occurring in Algoma-type banded iron formation (of BIF, containing ca. 35 wt% Fe)...
Authors
Cliff D. Taylor, Carol A. Finn, Eric D. Anderson, Dwight Bradley, Mohamed Joud, Ahmed Taleb Mohamed, John D. Horton, Craig A. Johnson
Natural thorium resources and recovery: Options and impacts Natural thorium resources and recovery: Options and impacts
This paper reviews the front end of the thorium fuel cycle, including the extent and variety of thorium deposits, the potential sources of thorium production, and the physical and chemical technologies required to isolate and purify thorium. Thorium is frequently found within rare earth element–bearing minerals that exist in diverse types of mineral deposits, often in conjunction with...
Authors
Timothy Ault, Bradley S. Van Gosen, Steven Krahn, Allen Croff
Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data
A three-dimensional lithospheric-scale resistivity model of the North American mid-continent has been estimated based upon EarthScope magnetotelluric data. Details of the resistivity model are discussed in relation to lithospheric sutures, defined primarily from aeromagnetic and geochronologic data, which record the southward growth of the Laurentian margin in the Proterozoic. The...
Authors
Paul A. Bedrosian
Book review: New concepts and discoveries: the Geological Society of Nevada 2015 Symposium Proceedings Book review: New concepts and discoveries: the Geological Society of Nevada 2015 Symposium Proceedings
The Nevada Geological Society has a long history of convening meetings and workshops focused on the geology and metallogeny of the western United States relevant to the mineral exploration and mining community across the Great Basin. One outgrowth of the Geological Society of Nevada’s 2015 Symposium is a two-volume set, edited by W.M. Pennell and L.J. Garside, entitled New Concepts and...
Authors
Warren C. Day
Latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene evolution of the ancestral Rio Grande at the Española-San Luis Basin boundary, northern New Mexico Latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene evolution of the ancestral Rio Grande at the Española-San Luis Basin boundary, northern New Mexico
We use stratigraphic relations, paleoflow data, and 40Ar/39Ar dating to interpret net aggradation, punctuated by at least two minor incisional events, along part of the upper ancestral Rio Grande fluvial system between 5.5 and 4.5 Ma (in northern New Mexico). The studied fluvial deposits, which we informally call the Sandlin unit of the Santa Fe Group, overlie a structural high between...
Authors
Daniel J. Koning, Scott B. Aby, V. J. Grauch, Matthew J. Zimmerer
Trace elements in stormflow, ash, and burned soil following the 2009 station fire in southern California Trace elements in stormflow, ash, and burned soil following the 2009 station fire in southern California
Most research on the effects of wildfires on stream water quality has focused on suspended sediment and nutrients in streams and water bodies, and relatively little research has examined the effects of wildfires on trace elements. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to determine the effect of the 2009 Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Los Angeles, CA on...
Authors
Carmen A. Burton, Todd M. Hoefen, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Katherine L. Baumberger, Adam R. Backlin, Elizabeth Gallegos, Robert N. Fisher
Geologic and geochemical insights into the formation of the Taiyangshan porphyry copper–molybdenum deposit, Western Qinling Orogenic Belt, China Geologic and geochemical insights into the formation of the Taiyangshan porphyry copper–molybdenum deposit, Western Qinling Orogenic Belt, China
Taiyangshan is a poorly studied copper–molybdenum deposit located in the Triassic Western Qinling collisional belt of northwest China. The intrusions exposed in the vicinity of the Taiyangshan deposit record episodic magmatism over 20–30 million years. Pre-mineralization quartz diorite porphyries, which host some of the deposit, were emplaced at 226.6 ± 6.2 Ma. Syn-collisional monzonite...
Authors
Kun-Feng Qiu, Ryan D. Taylor, Yao-Hui Song, Hao-Cheng Yu, Kai-Rui Song, Nan Li