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Publications

Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center

Filter Total Items: 2358

Microbial endophytes and compost improve plant growth in two contrasting types of hard rock mining waste

The re-vegetation of mining wastes with native plants is a comparatively low-cost solution for mine reclamation. However, re-vegetation fails when extreme pH values, low organic matter, or high concentrations of phytotoxic elements inhibit plant establishment and growth. Our aim was to determine whether the combined addition of municipal waste compost and diazotrophic endophytes (i.e., microorgani
Authors
Courtney Creamer, Mary-Catherine Leewis, Francesca C. Governali, John Freeman, Floyd Gray, Emily G. Wright, Andrea L. Foster

Methods for robust estimates of tree biomass from pollen accumulation rates: Quantifying paleoecological reconstruction uncertainty

Pollen accumulation rates (PAR, grains cm–2 year–1) have been shown to be a reliable but methodologically complex bioproxy for quantitative reconstruction of past tree abundance. In a prior study, we found that the PARs of major tree taxa – Pseudotsuga, Pinus, Notholithocarpus, and the pollen group TC (Taxaceae and Cupressaceae families) – were robust and precise estimators of contemporary tree bi
Authors
Clarke Alexandra Knight, John J. Battles, M. Jane Bunting, Marie Rhondelle Champagne, James A. Wanket, David Wahl

Achieving sub-nanoTesla precision in multirotor UAV aeromagnetic surveys

An uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) multirotor aeromagnetic system using a 5-m sling load for a magnetic sensor system is described and characterized. Four magnetic surveys with identical flight lines were completed, at two nominal altitudes of 25 and 40 m. The surveys were used to assess the repeatability of data collected with the described UAV aeromagnetic system, and comparison with a ground surv
Authors
Geoffrey Phelps, Robert E. Bracken, John Spritzer, David S. White

Mississippian sedimentary facies patterns in east-central California and implications for development of the Permian last chance thrust

Mississippian sedimentary facies belts in east-central California, occurring primarily in the autochthon (lower plate) of the Last Chance Thrust, are consistently oriented in a northeast–southwest direction. The boundary of one belt is marked by the depositional limit of the Osagean to Meramecian Santa Rosa Hills Limestone; a second belt farther to the northwest is bordered by the erosional trunca
Authors
Calvin H. Stevens, Paul Stone

Evolution of the last chance thrust concept

The concept of the Permian Last Chance Thrust has passed through many stages. Here we point out which critical observations have led to changes in the way this important feature has been interpreted.
Authors
Calvin H. Stevens, Paul Stone

Remote sensing application for landslide detection, monitoring along eastern Lake Michigan (Miami Park, MI)

We assessed the nature and spatial and temporal patterns of deformation over the Miami Park bluffs on the eastern margin of Lake Michigan and investigated the factors controlling its observed deformation. Our approach involved the following steps: (1) extracting bluff deformation rates (velocities along the line of sight of the satellite) using a stack of Sentinel-1A radar imagery in ascending acq
Authors
Guzalay Sataer, Mohamed Sultan, Mustafa Kemal Emil, John A. Yellich, Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Richard Becker, Esayas Gebremichael, Karem Abdelmohsen

Tephrochronology of the Miocene Monterey and Modelo Formations, California

Tuff beds have been known in the Miocene Monterey and Modelo Formations since the initial descriptions; however, age control and correlation is predominantly biostratigraphy. Here we combine tephrochronology and biostratigraphy in order to provide numerical age control for eight sedimentary sequences of the Monterey and Modelo Formations from Monterey, California to Orange County, California. We c
Authors
Jeffrey R. Knott, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, John A. Barron, Elmira Wan, Nancy Heizler, Priscilla Martinez

Focus areas for data acquisition for potential domestic resources of 13 critical minerals in the conterminous United States and Puerto Rico — Antimony, barite, beryllium, chromium, fluorspar, hafnium, helium, magnesium, manganese, potash, uranium, vanadiu

The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) is conducted in phases to identify areas for acquiring new geologic framework data to identify potential domestic resources of the 35 mineral materials designated as critical minerals for the United States. This report describes the data sources and summary results for 13 critical minerals evaluated in the conterminous United States and Puerto Ric
Authors
Jane M. Hammarstrom, Connie L. Dicken, Laurel G. Woodruff, Allen K. Andersen, Sean T. Brennan, Warren C. Day, Benjamin J. Drenth, Nora K. Foley, Susan Hall, Albert H. Hofstra, Anne E. McCafferty, Anjana K. Shah, David A. Ponce

Impact of climate change on mollusks and other invertebrate resources at the Dominican University of California archaeological site (CA-MRN-254), Marin County, California

We have identified and provided ecological interpretations of 30 taxa recovered at two shellmounds at the Dominican University of California archaeology site in Marin County, California (CA-MRN-254). A Q-mode cluster analysis was used to group the samples according to their faunal similarity. The clusters ranged from a diverse grouping of 100 samples with 27 taxa (Cluster A) to those with a more r
Authors
Mary McGann, Charles L. Powell

High geomagnetic field intensity recorded by anorthosite xenoliths requires a strongly powered late Mesoproterozoic geodynamo

Acquiring high-fidelity ancient magnetic field intensity records from rocks is crucial for constraining the long-term evolution of Earth’s core. However, robust estimates of ancient field strengths are often difficult to recover due to alteration or nonideal behavior. We use rocks known as anorthosite that formed in the deep crust and were brought to the near surface where they acquired thermal re
Authors
Yiming Zhang, Nicholas L. Swanson-Hysell, Margaret Susan Avery, Roger R. Fu

A model of the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil carbon following coastal wetland loss applied to a Louisiana salt marsh in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain

The potential for carbon sequestration in coastal wetlands is high due to protection of carbon (C) in flooded soils. However, excessive flooding can result in the conversion of the vegetated wetland to open water. This transition results in the loss of wetland habitat in addition to the potential loss of soil carbon. Thus, in areas experiencing rapid wetland submergence, such as the Mississippi Ri
Authors
Donald R. Schoolmaster, Camille Stagg, Courtney Creamer, Claudia Laurenzano, Eric Ward, Mark Waldrop, Melissa M. Baustian, Tiong Aw, Sergio Merino, Rachel Katherine Villani, Laura Scott

Miocene terrestrial paleoclimates inferred from pollen in the Monterey Formation, Naples Coastal Bluffs section, California

We present here a comprehensive record of Miocene terrestrial ecosystems from exposures of the Monterey Formation along the Naples coastal bluffs, west of Santa Barbara, California. Constrained by an updated chronology, pollen analyses of 28 samples deposited between 18 and 6 Ma reflect the demise of mesophytic taxa that grew in a warm, wet environment during the late early and early middle Miocen
Authors
Linda E. Heusser, John A. Barron, Gregg Blake, Jon Nichols
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