Publications

High-grade hematitic iron ores (or HIF, containing 60–65 percent Fe) have been mined in Mauritania from Superior-type iron deposits since 1952. Depletion of the high grade ores in recent years has resulted in a number of new projects focused on lower grade magnetite ores in Algoma-type banded iron formation (or BIF, containing approximately 35 percent Fe). Large deposits of oolitic-type...

A hydrogeologic study was conducted to support mineral-resource assessment activities in Mauritania, Africa. Airborne magnetic depth estimates reveal two primary groundwater basins: the porous coastal Continental Terminal Basin (fill deposits); and the interior, fractured interior Taoudeni Basin. In the Continental Terminal Basin, there is uniform vertical recharge and localized...

Multispectral satellite data acquired by the Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensors were processed and interpreted in support of the PRISM-II project (Second Projet de Renforcement Institutionnel du Secteur Minier de la Republique Islamique de Mauritanie). This...

The State of Alaska’s Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska’s statewide potential for SCM resources. The SCM Assessment is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and geochemical data...

No abstract available.

River water samples collected from 78 watersheds rivers along a 500-km transect across a Late Cretaceous-Tertiary andesitic volcanic arc terrane in west-central Panama provide a synoptic overview of riverine geochemistry, chemical denudation, and CO2 consumption in the tropics. D/H and 18O/16O relationships indicate that bedrock dissolution of andesitic arc crust in Panama is driven by...

Mauritania has 80 known uranium mineral occurrences and is the current focus of active exploration for uranium by a number of private companies. Seventeen occurrences have had resource estimates published and can be considered as mineral deposits. Fourteen of these are calcrete-type deposits with a total resource of 138.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 331 ppm U3O8. The three...

A digital elevation model (DEM) of the entire country of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania was produced using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data as required for deliverable 65 of the contract. In addition, because of significant recent advancements of availability, seamlessness, and validity of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) global...

The presence of Neoproterozoic through Cambrian, continental, siliciclastic sedimentary rocks interbedded with dolomitic carbonates, shales, and glacial tillites similar to the Katanga Supergroup host rocks of the Central African Copperbelt and other sediment-hosted copper-bearing Proterozoic sequences worldwide, is first order criteria for consideration of the Neoproterozoic units of...

Under the World Bank-funded Second Projet de Renforcement Institutionnel du Secteur Minier de la Republique Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II), this Phase V geochemistry report follows earlier Phase I and Phase II summary reports on geochemical data (U.S. Geological Survey, 2007 and Eppinger, 2007; respectively). All the reports are based on evaluations of geochemical data collected in...

Government-sponsored, national-scale, soil and sediment geochemical databases are used to estimate regional and local background concentrations for environmental issues, identify possible anthropogenic contamination, estimate mineral endowment, explore for new mineral deposits, evaluate nutrient levels for agriculture, and establish concentration relationships with human or animal health...

Aeromagnetic and radiometric data were used to map shallow Precambrian basement lithology and structure and determine the depth to magnetic basement, which in most cases, corresponds to the depth to crystalline basement of interest for mineral exploration. These depths, along with those determined from gravity data, help identify basins with hydrologic potential. In addition, the...