Publications

The growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for regional and national digital geologic maps attributed with age and lithology information. Such maps can be conveniently used to generate derivative maps for purposes including mineral-resource assessment, metallogenic studies, tectonic studies, and environmental research. This Open-File Report is...

Stable isotopic (dD and d18O) data indicate about 13% total evaporative concentration has occurred in Yellowstone Lake, yet lake waters are enriched in dissolved As, B, Cl, Cs, Ge, Li, Mo, Sb, and W by at least an order-of-magnitude relative to the flow-weighted composition of inflowing streams. We conclude that lake water is a mixture of inflowing surface water and hydrothermal source...

No abstract available.

The U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research are collaborating with an Indiana utility company to determine the physical and chemical properties of feed coal and coal combustion products from a coal-fired power plant. The Indiana power plant utilizes a low-sulfur (0.23 to 0.47 weight percent S) and lowash (4.9 to 6.3 weight percent ash)...

This report is one in a series that presents results of an interdisciplinary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study of ground-water quality in the lower Red River watershed prior to open-pit and underground molybdenite mining at Molycorp’s Questa mine. The stretch of the Red River watershed that extends from just upstream of the town of Red River, N. Mex., to just above the town of Questa...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Mexico Environment Department, is investigating the pre-mining ground-water chemistry at the Molycorp molybdenum mine in the Red River Valley, northern New Mexico. The primary approach is to determine the processes controlling ground-water chemistry at an unmined, off-site, proximal analog. The Straight Creek drainage basin, chosen...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Mexico Environment Department, is investigating the pre-mining ground-water chemistry at the Molycorp molybdenum mine in the Red River Valley, New Mexico. The primary approach is to determine the processes controlling ground-water chemistry at an unmined, off-site but proximal analog. The Straight Creek catchment, chosen for this...

This work evaluates the use of the biotic ligand model (BLM), an aquatic toxicity model, to predict toxic effects of metals on aquatic biota in areas underlain by different rock types. The chemical composition of water, soil, and sediment is largely derived from the composition of the underlying rock. Geologic source materials control key attributes of water chemistry that affect metal...

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun a reassessment of the presence of World Trade Center (WTC) dust in residences, public buildings, and office spaces in New York City, New York. Background dust samples collected from residences, public buildings, and office spaces will be analyzed by multiple laboratories for the presence of WTC dust. Other laboratories are...

High-resolution aeromagnetic surveys over forearc basins can detect faults and folds in weakly magnetized sediments, thus providing geologic constraints on tectonic evolution and improved understanding of seismic hazards in convergent-margin settings. Puget Sound, Washington, and Cook Inlet, Alaska, provide two case histories. In each lowland region, shallow-source magnetic anomalies are...

No abstract available.

Many of the comments by Dublyansky and Smirnov (2005) on Marshall et al. (2003) reflect a longstanding debate over the origin of secondary calcite and opal deposits found in cavities and on fracture surfaces at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site of a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository (US Department of Energy, 2001). These comments require consideration of data and interpretations...