Publications
Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Filter Total Items: 2339
Geochronologic and geochemical data from metasedimentary and associated rocks in the Lane Mountain area, San Bernardino County, California
Eugeoclinal metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks in the Lane Mountain area, California, are considered part of the El Paso terrane, which is commonly thought to have been displaced several hundred kilometers (km) southeastward from its place of origin during late Paleozoic truncation of the North American continental margin. Uranium-lead dating of detrital zircons from this area was undertaken t
Authors
Paul Stone, M. Robinson Cecil, Howard J. Brown, Jorge A. Vazquez
Exploratory analysis of machine learning techniques in the Nevada geothermal play fairway analysis
Play fairway analysis (PFA) is commonly used to generate geothermal potential maps and guide exploration studies, with a particular focus on locating and characterizing blind geothermal systems. This study evaluates the application of machine learning techniques to PFA in the Great Basin region of Nevada. Following the evaluation of various techniques, we identified two approaches to PFA that prod
Authors
Connor M. Smith, James E. Faulds, Stephen C. Brown, Mark Coolbaugh, Jacob DeAngelo, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Erick Burns, Drew Lorenz Siler, Sven Treitel, Eli Mlawsky, Michael Fehler, Chen Gu, Bridget F. Ayling
Geologic energy storage
Introduction As the United States transitions away from fossil fuels, its economy will rely on more renewable energy. Because current renewable energy sources sometimes produce variable power supplies, it is important to store energy for use when power supply drops below power demand. Battery storage is one method to store power. However, geologic (underground) energy storage may be able to retain
Authors
Marc L. Buursink, Steven T. Anderson, Sean T. Brennan, Erick R. Burns, Philip A. Freeman, Joao S. Gallotti, Celeste D. Lohr, Matthew D. Merrill, Eric A. Morrissey, Michelle R. Plampin, Peter D. Warwick
Magnetotelluric monitoring of the Geysers Steam Field, northern California: Phase 2
An original magnetotelluric (MT) survey collected in 2017 included 42 MT stations mainly in the northwestern part of The Geysers geothermal field in northern California. These data were modeled in 3D and imaged the electrically conductive cover, the electrically resistive steam field, and the electrically resistive Geysers plutonic complex (Peacock et al., 2020; Peacock et al. 2020a). Success of
Authors
Jared R. Peacock, David Alumbaugh, Michael Albert Mitchell, Craig Hartline
Imaging the magmatic plumbing of the Clear Lake Volcanic Field using 3-D gravity inversions
The Quaternary Clear Lake Volcanic Field (CLVF) in the Northern California Coast Range is the youngest of a string of northward-younging volcanic centers in the state. The CLVF is located within the broad San Andreas Transform Fault System and has been active intermittently for ∼2 million years. Heat beneath the CLVF supports The Geysers, one of the largest producing geothermal fields in the world
Authors
Michael Albert Mitchell, Jared R. Peacock, Seth D. Burgess
City-scale geothermal energy everywhere to support renewable resilience – A transcontinental cooperation
Cities have important and varying incentives to transform their energy sector to all-electric with low carbon emissions. However, they often encounter a number of impediments when attempting to implement such a change. For example, while urban areas have the highest energy demand-density, cities often lack the space for installing additional energy generation and/or long-duration energy storage sy
Authors
Gregor Goetzl, Erick R. Burns, Andrew J. Stumpf, Yu-Feng Lin, Amanda Kolker, Maciej R. Klonowski, Cornelia Steiner, Ryan Cain Cahalan, Jeff D. Pepin
The drift history of the Dharwar Craton and India from 2.37 Ga to 1.01 Ga with refinements for an initial Rodinia configuration
Coupled paleomagnetic and geochronologic data derived from mafic dykes provide valuable records of continental movement. To reconstruct the Proterozoic paleogeographic history of Peninsular India, we report paleomagnetic directions and U-Pb zircon ages from twenty-nine mafic dykes in the Eastern Dharwar Craton near Hyderabad. Paleomagnetic analysis yielded clusters of directional data that corresp
Authors
Scott R Miller, Joseph Meert, Anthony Francis Pivarunas, Anup K. Sinha, Manoj K. Pandit, Paul A. Mueller, George Kamenov
Analysis of the United States documented unplugged orphaned oil and gas well dataset
In coordination with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and in response to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) produced a documented unplugged orphaned oil and gas well dataset (called the DOW dataset hereafter) that contains the location and status of these wells nationwide as of 2022. The DOW dataset includes 117,672 wells across 27 states. The data
Authors
Matthew D. Merrill, Claire A. Grove, Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, Philip A. Freeman
Effect of thermal and mechanical processes on hydraulic transmissivity evolution
Fracture healing is a critical component of enhanced geothermal systems, the earthquake cycle, and induced seismicity. Accordingly, there is significant interest in understanding the process of healing and its effects on fluid transport. The creation, reactivation, and sustainability of fracture networks depend on complex coupling among thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, and chemical processes. We us
Authors
Tamara Nicole Jeppson, David A. Lockner, Joshua M. Taron, Diane E. Moore, Brian D. Kilgore, Nicholas M. Beeler, Stephen H. Hickman
When less is more: How increasing the complexity of machine learning strategies for geothermal energy assessments may not lead toward better estimates
Previous moderate- and high-temperature geothermal resource assessments of the western United States utilized data-driven methods and expert decisions to estimate resource favorability. Although expert decisions can add confidence to the modeling process by ensuring reasonable models are employed, expert decisions also introduce human and, thereby, model bias. This bias can present a source of err
Authors
Stanley Paul Mordensky, John Lipor, Jacob DeAngelo, Erick R. Burns, Cary Ruth Lindsey
Ice and ocean constraints on early human migrations into North America along the Pacific Coast
Founding populations of the first Americans likely occupied parts of Beringia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The timing, pathways, and modes of their southward transit remain unknown, but blockage of the interior route by North American ice sheets between ~26 and 14 cal kyr BP (ka) favors a coastal route during this period. Using models and paleoceanographic data from the North Pacific, we
Authors
Summer K. Praetorius, Jay R. Alder, Alan Condron, Alan Mix, Maureen Walczak, Beth Elaine Caissie, Jon Erlandson
Timing of rhyolite intrusion and Carlin-type gold mineralization at the Cortez Hills Carlin-type deposit, Nevada, USA
Carlin-type gold deposits (CTDs) of Nevada are the largest producers of gold in the United States, a leader in world gold production. Although much has been resolved about the characteristics and origin of CTDs in Nevada, major questions remain, especially about (1) the role of magmatism, whether only a source of heat or also metals, (2) whether CTDs only formed in the Eocene, and (3) whether pre-
Authors
Christopher D. Henry, David John, Robert W. Leonardson, William T McIntosh, Matt T. Heizler, Joseph Colgan, Kathryn E. Watts