Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 2481

Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, California and Nevada Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, California and Nevada

Ongoing arc magmatism along western North America was preceded by ancestral arc magmatism that began ca. 45 Ma and evolved into modern arc volcanism. The southern ancestral arc segment, active from ca. 30 to 3 Ma, adjoins the northern segment in northern California across a proposed subducted slab tear. The east edge of the Walker Lane approximates the east edge of the southern arc whose...
Authors
Edward A. du Bray, David A. John, Brian L. Cousens

The importance of mineralogical input into geometallurgy programs The importance of mineralogical input into geometallurgy programs

Mineralogy is the link between ore formation and ore extraction. It is the most fundamental component of geomet programs, and the most important aspect of a life-of-project approach to mineral resource projects. Understanding orebodies is achieved by understanding the mineralogy and texture of the materials, throughout the process, because minerals hold the information required to unlock...
Authors
K. Olson Hoal, J.D. Woodhead, Kathleen S. Smith

Geochemistry of soils from the San Rafael Valley, Santa Cruz County, Arizona Geochemistry of soils from the San Rafael Valley, Santa Cruz County, Arizona

This study was conducted to determine whether surficial geochemical methods can be used to identify subsurface mineraldeposits covered by alluvium derived from surrounding areas. The geochemical investigation focused on an anomalous geo-physical magnetic high located in the San Rafael Valley in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The magnetic high, inferred to be asso-ciated with a buried...
Authors
Helen W. Folger, Floyd Gray

Paleomagnetic contributions to the Klamath Mountains terrane puzzle-a new piece from the Ironside Mountain batholith, northern California Paleomagnetic contributions to the Klamath Mountains terrane puzzle-a new piece from the Ironside Mountain batholith, northern California

We obtained paleomagnetic samples from six sites within the Middle Jurassic Ironside Mountain batholith (~170 Ma), which constitutes the structurally lowest part of the Western Hayfork terrane, in the Klamath Mountains province of northern California and southern Oregon. Structural attitudes measured in the coeval Hayfork Bally Meta-andesite were used to correct paleomagnetic data from...
Authors
Edward A. Mankinen, C. Sherman Gromme, W. Porter Irwin

Principal facts and an approach to collecting gravity data using near-real-time observations in the vicinity of Barstow, California Principal facts and an approach to collecting gravity data using near-real-time observations in the vicinity of Barstow, California

A gravity survey was done in the vicinity of Barstow, California, in which data were processed and analyzed in the field. The purpose of the data collection was to investigate possible changes in gravity across mapped Quaternary faults and to improve regional gravity coverage, adding to the existing national gravity database. Data were collected, processed, analyzed, and interpreted in...
Authors
G. Phelps, C. Cronkite-Ratcliff, L. Klofas

Magnetotelluric survey to locate the Archean-Proterozoic suture zone in the northeastern Great Basin, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho Magnetotelluric survey to locate the Archean-Proterozoic suture zone in the northeastern Great Basin, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho

North-central Nevada contains a large amount of gold in linear belts, the origin of which is not fully understood. During July 2008, September 2009, and August 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey, as part of the Assessment Techniques for Concealed Mineral Resources project, collected twenty-three magnetotelluric soundings along two profiles in Box Elder County, Utah; Elko County, Nevada...
Authors
Jay A. Sampson, Brian D. Rodriguez

Crustal-scale recycling in caldera complexes and rift zones along the Yellowstone hotspot track: O and Hf isotopic evidence in diverse zircons from voluminous rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field, Idaho Crustal-scale recycling in caldera complexes and rift zones along the Yellowstone hotspot track: O and Hf isotopic evidence in diverse zircons from voluminous rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field, Idaho

Rhyolites of the Picabo volcanic field (10.4–6.6 Ma) in eastern Idaho are preserved as thick ignimbrites and lavas along the margins of the Snake River Plain (SRP), and within a deep (>3 km) borehole near the central axis of the Yellowstone hotspot track. In this study we present new O and Hf isotope data and U–Pb geochronology for individual zircons, O isotope data for major phenocrysts...
Authors
Dana L. Drew, Ilya N. Bindeman, Kathryn E. Watts, Axel K. Schmitt, Bin Fu, Michael McCurry

A non-destructive method for dating human remains A non-destructive method for dating human remains

The skeletal remains of several Native Americans were recovered in an eroded state from a creek bank in northeastern New Mexico. Subsequently stored in a nearby museum, the remains became lost for almost 36 years. In a recent effort to repatriate the remains, it was necessary to fit them into a cultural chronology in order to determine the appropriate tribe(s) for consultation pursuant...
Authors
Warren K. Lail, David Sammeth, Shannon Mahan, Jason Nevins

Tackling “boundary faults” across the Alaska-Yukon border: a report from the field Tackling “boundary faults” across the Alaska-Yukon border: a report from the field

One day in late May, a team of geologists from two countries and four different organizations got together in a remote corner of the Yukon Territory to try to rectify a mapping discrepancy called a “boundary fault.”
Authors
Rick Saltus

Tectono-magmatic evolution and distribution of porphyry Cu systems in the Central Tethys Region of Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, and southern Pakistan Tectono-magmatic evolution and distribution of porphyry Cu systems in the Central Tethys Region of Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, and southern Pakistan

Recent compilation of geodynamic, geochemical, geochronologic, and ore deposits data provided an opportunity to review the continental margin, intra-oceanic, and post-collisional tectonic settings in the Central Tethys Region. These settings formed during sequential rifting of microcontinents from the passive margin of Gondwana, their northward transport across the Neo-Tethys Ocean, and...
Authors
Lukas Zurcher, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Jane M. Hammarstrom, John C. Mars, Stephen Ludington, Michael L. Zientek, Pamela Dunlap, John C. Wallis

Previously unrecognized regional structure of the Coastal Belt of the Franciscan Complex, northern California, revealed by magnetic data Previously unrecognized regional structure of the Coastal Belt of the Franciscan Complex, northern California, revealed by magnetic data

Magnetic anomalies provide surprising structural detail within the previously undivided Coastal Belt, the westernmost, youngest, and least-metamorphosed part of the Franciscan Complex of northern California. Although the Coastal Belt consists almost entirely of arkosic graywacke and shale of mainly Eocene age, new detailed aeromagnetic data show that it is pervasively marked by long...
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Robert J. McLaughlin
Was this page helpful?