Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Publications
Mapping the 3-D extent of the Stillwater Complex, Montana—Implications for potential platinum group element exploration and development
Geophysical models characterize the exposed and interpreted buried extent of the Stillwater Complex, critical for understanding the origin of the layered mafic intrusion and its associated high-grade platinum group element resources. The 3D models, constrained by gravity, magnetic, xenolith, seismic, borehole, and rock property data indicate that...
Finn, Carol A.; Zientek, Michael L.; Parks, Heather L.; Peterson, Dana Elise Interpreting and reporting 40Ar/39Ar geochronologic data
The 40Ar/39Ar dating method is among the most versatile of geochronometers, having the potential to date a broad variety of K-bearing materials spanning from the time of Earth’s formation into the historical realm. Measurements using modern noble-gas mass spectrometers are now producing 40Ar/39Ar dates with analytical uncertainties of ∼0.1%,...
Schaen, Allen J.; Jicha, Brian R.; Hodges, Kip V.; Vermeesch, Pieter; Stelten, Mark E.; Mercer, Cameron M.; Phillips, David; Rivera, Tiffany; Jourdan, Fred; Matchan, Erin L.; Hemming, Sidney R.; Morgan, Leah E.; Kelley, Simon P.; Cassata, William S.; Heizler, Matt T.; Vasconcelos, Paulo M.; Benowitz, Jeff A.; Koppers, Anthony A.P. ; Mark, Darren F.; Niespolo, Elizabeth M.; Courtney J. Sprain; Hames, William E.; Kuiper, Klaudia F.; Turrin, Brent D.; Renne, Paul R.; Ross, Jake; Nomade, Sebastian; Guillou, Hervé; Webb, Laura E.; Cohen, Barbara A.; Calvert, Andrew T.; Joyce, Nancy; Ganderød, Morgan; Wijbrans, Jan; Ishizuka, Osamu; He, Huaiyu; Ramirez, Adán; Pfänder, Jörg; Lopez-Martínez, Margarita; Qiu, Huaning; Singer, Brad S. Using saline or brackish aquifers as reservoirs for thermal energy storage, with example calculations for direct-use heating in the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA
Tools to evaluate reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES; heat storage in slow-moving or stagnant geochemically evolved permeable zones in strata that underlie well-connected regional aquifers) are developed and applied to the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) beneath the Portland Basin, Oregon, USA. The performance of RTES for heat storage and...
Van Houten, Boz; Burns, Erick; Bershaw, John; Williams, Colin F.; Wells, Ray E; Uddenberg, Matt W; Scanlon, Darby P; Cladouhos, Trenton T; Van Houten, Boz Surface displacement distributions for the July 2019 Ridgecrest, California earthquake ruptures
The 2019 Ridgecrest, California earthquake sequence generated surface fault rupture along two orthogonal cross faults, including the dominantly left-lateral and northeast-striking Mw6.4 rupture and dominantly right-lateral and northwest-striking Mw7.1 rupture. We present >650 field-based surface-displacement observations for these ruptures,...
Duross, Christopher; Gold, Ryan D.; Dawson, Timothy E.; Scharer, Katherine; Kendrick, Katherine; Akciz, Sinan; Angster, Stephen J.; Bachhuber, Jeffery; Bacon, Steven; Bennett, Scott E. K.; Blair, Luke; Brooks, Benjamin A.; Bullard, Thomas; Burgess, W. Paul; Chupik, Colin; DeFrisco, Michael; Delano, Jaime; Dolan, James D.; Frost, Erik; Graehl, Nick; Haddon, Elizabeth; Hatem, Alexandra Elise; Hernandez, Janis; Hitchcock, Christopher S.; Hudnut, Kennth; Thompson Jobe, Jessica; Koehler, Richard D; Kozaci, Ozgur; Ladinsky, Tyler C.; Madugo, Christopher; McPhillips, Devin; Milliner, Christopher; Morelan, Alexander; Olson, Brian; Patton, Jason; Philibosian, Belle; Pickering, Alexandra J.; Pierce, Ian; Ponti, Daniel J.; Seitz, Gordon G.; Spangler, Eleanor; Swanson, Brian J.; Thomas, Kate; Treiman, Jerome; Valencia, Francesca; Williams, Alana; Zinke, Robert
Rock strength properties of granitic rocks in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California
Yosemite National Park, located in the central part of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, is a glacially carved landscape filled with iconic rock formations such as Cathedral Peak, El Capitan, and Half Dome. Igneous rocks, consisting primarily of variations of granite, granodiorite, and tonalite, make up the majority of the bedrock geology and...
Collins, Brian D.; Sandrone, Federica; Gastaldo, Laurent; Stock, Greg M.; Jaboyedoff, Michel
Using information from global climate models to inform policymaking—The role of the U.S. Geological Survey
This report provides an overview of model-based climate science in a risk management context. In addition, it summarizes how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will continue to follow best scientific practices and when and how the results of this research will be delivered to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other stakeholders to...
Terando, Adam; Reidmiller, David; Hostetler, Steven W.; Littell, Jeremy S.; Beard, T. Douglas; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Belnap, Jayne; Plumlee, Geoffrey S. Between the supercontinents: Mesoproterozoic Deer Trail Group, an intermediate age unit between the Mesoproterozoic Belt–Purcell Supergroup and the Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup in northeastern Washington, USA
Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic basins in western North America record the evolving position of the Laurentian craton within two supercontinents during their growth and dismemberment: Columbia (Nuna) and Rodinia. The western-most exposures of the Columbia rift-related Belt–Purcell Supergroup are preserved in northeastern Washington,...
Box, Stephen E.; Pritchard, Chad J.; Stephens, Travis S.; O'Sullivan, Paul B. Understanding rates of change: A case study using fossil pollen records from California to assess the potential for and challenges to a regional data synthesis
Abstract: Insights into the rates at which ecosystems and vegetation respond to a changing climate is fundamental to anticipating impacts of projected climate change. Characterization of vegetation change over millennia to centuries has potential to make an important contribution toward this goal, and regional scale syntheses of fossil pollen data...
Anderson, Lysanna; Wahl, David; Bhattacharya, T. Correlations along a 140 km transect in the westernmost Peach Spring Tuff, and tracing changing facies through depositional environments
Tephrochronology is the correlation of tephra beds and tuffs by various means, and it is an important tool in refining stratigraphic and structural interpretations. The 18.78 Ma Peach Spring Tuff (PST) is a large-volume ignimbrite that was deposited across a ~200 km x 360 km area of southeastern California, northwestern Arizona, and southern...
Buesch, David C.
Bayesian modeling of non-stationary, univariate, spatial data for the Earth sciences
Some Earth science data, such as geochemical measurements of element concentrations, are non-stationary—the mean and the standard deviation vary spatially. It is important to estimate the spatial variations in both statistics because such information is indicative of geological and other Earth processes. To this end, an estimation method is...
Ellefsen, Karl J.; Van Gosen, Bradley S.
User guide to the bayesian modeling of non-stationary, univariate, spatial data using R language package BMNUS
Bayesian modeling of non-stationary, univariate, spatial data is performed using the R-language package BMNUS. A unique advantage of this package is that it can map the mean, standard deviation, quantiles, and probability of exceeding a specified value. The package includes several R-language classes that prepare the data for the modeling, help...
Ellefsen, Karl J.; Goldman, Margaret A.; Van Gosen, Bradley S. Time-dependent accumulation of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, and Zn in mayfly and caddisfly larvae in experimental streams: Metal sensitivity, uptake pathways, and mixture toxicity
Conceptual and quantitative models were developed to assess time-dependent processes in four sequential experimental stream studies that determined abundances of natural communities of mayfly and caddisfly larvae dosed with single metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Zn) or multiple metals (Cd+Zn, Co+Cu, Cu+Ni, Cu+Zn, Ni+Zn, Cd+Cu+Zn, Co+Cu+Ni, Cu+Ni+Zn)....
Balistrieri, Laurie S.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Travis S.