Publications
Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Filter Total Items: 2485
Arctic fold-and-thrust belts Arctic fold-and-thrust belts
The modern Arctic has been formed through a series of continent–continent collisions, accretion of terranes and phases of crustal extension. The Neoproterozoic Timanian, Paleozoic Caledonian and Uralian, and late Mesozoic Verkhoyansk–Kolyma, Chukotkan and Brookian orogenies formed several large fold-and-thrust belts (FTBs). The FTBs are exposed across vast areas of continents and...
Authors
Sergey S. Drachev, Andrey K. Khudoley, Iwona Klonowska, Jaroslaw Majka, Thomas E. Moore, Karsten Piepjohn, Andrey V. Prokopiev
Dietary bioavailability of uranium to a model freshwater invertebrate Dietary bioavailability of uranium to a model freshwater invertebrate
Uranium (U) mining increases environmental exposures. Understanding how U is taken up by organisms can aid in evaluating the potential for bioaccumulation and toxicity. Although the importance of aqueous geochemical speciation is well recognized for U bioavailability after dissolved exposures, far less is known about the processes controlling U bioavailability after dietary exposures...
Authors
Marie Noele Croteau, Christopher C. Fuller, Daniel J. Cain, Kate M. Campbell
Grand Canyon landslide-dam and paleolake triggered by the Meteor Crater impact at 56 ka Grand Canyon landslide-dam and paleolake triggered by the Meteor Crater impact at 56 ka
This paper hypothesizes that the Meteor Crater impact in Arizona, USA, 56,000 years ago triggered landslides in Grand Canyon that dammed the Colorado River and formed Nankoweap paleolake. This is compatible with shock and earthquake physics for the impact that infer a M5.4 seismic event, attenuated to an effective magnitude of M3.5 at Grand Canyon. Results that support the hypothesis...
Authors
Karl Karlstrom, Christopher H. Baisan, David A. Kring Kring, Richard Hereford, Christian Turney, A. Hogg, Laura M. Norman, P. O’Brien, Jonathon Palmer, T.M. Rittenour, J. Ballensky, L.J. Crossey
‘The fish that stop’: Drivers of historical decline for Pacific cod and implications for modern management in an era of rapidly changing climate ‘The fish that stop’: Drivers of historical decline for Pacific cod and implications for modern management in an era of rapidly changing climate
n the Gulf of Alaska, a series of marine heat waves depleted Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) biomass to the lowest abundance ever recorded and led to the fishery’s closure in 2020. Although the fishery has been productive for decades, this collapse may have historical precedents. Traditional knowledge holders refer to cod as ‘the fish that stop’, and there is a suggested period of...
Authors
Loren McClenachan, Bruce T. Anderson, Jason A. Addison, Steven J. Barbeaux, Karoline Moore, Kai Muir, Katherine L. Reedy, Ingrid B. Spies, Catherine F. West
Avian navigation: Comparing the olfactory navigational “map” and the infrasound direction-finding hypotheses to aeronautics Avian navigation: Comparing the olfactory navigational “map” and the infrasound direction-finding hypotheses to aeronautics
Animal navigation has long been a fascinating but bewildering subject. Humans and animals might well share similar navigational strategies because they developed within the same physical environments. A “map-and-compass” model has been proposed to explain the two-step avian navigational process, but the “map” step has remained elusive. Although scalar values from bicoordinate geomagnetic...
Authors
Jonathan T. Hagstrum
Permafrost–wildfire interactions: active layer thickness estimates for paired burned and unburned sites in northern high latitudes Permafrost–wildfire interactions: active layer thickness estimates for paired burned and unburned sites in northern high latitudes
As the northern high-latitude permafrost zone experiences accelerated warming, permafrost has become vulnerable to widespread thaw. Simultaneously, wildfire activity across northern boreal forest and Arctic/subarctic tundra regions impacts permafrost stability through the combustion of insulating organic matter, vegetation, and post-fire changes in albedo. Efforts to synthesis the...
Authors
Anna Talucci, Michael M. Loranty, Jean E. Holloway, Brendan M. Rogers, Heather D. Alexander, Natalie Baillargeon, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Logan T. Berner, Amy Breen, Leya Brodt, Brian Buma, Jacqueline Dean, Clement J.F. Delcourt, Lucas R. Diaz, Catherine M. Dieleman, Thomas A. Douglas, Gerald Frost, Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, M. Torre Jorenson, Mark J. Lara, Rachel A. Loehman, Michelle C. Mack, Kristen L. Manies, Christina Minions, Susan M. Natali, Jonathan A. O’Donnell, David Olefeldt, Alison K. Paulson, Adrian V. Rocha, Lisa B. Saperstein, T.A. Shestakova, Seeta Sistla, Oleg Sizov, Andrey Soromotin, Merritt R. Turetksy, Sander Veraverbeke, Michelle A. Walvoord
Complex carbonate ore mineralogy in the Mountain Pass carbonatite rare earth element deposit, USA Complex carbonate ore mineralogy in the Mountain Pass carbonatite rare earth element deposit, USA
Economic concentrations of rare earth element (REE) minerals are uncommon in the Earth’s crust, with most occurring in carbonatites. Unlike most igneous rocks composed of silicate minerals, carbonatites are dominated by carbonate minerals, some of which can incorporate significant light REEs (LREEs; La, Ce, Pr, Nd). Technological applications of REEs are numerous and they have been...
Authors
Kathryn E. Watts, Allen K. Andersen
Leveraging wildfire to augment forest management and amplify forest resilience Leveraging wildfire to augment forest management and amplify forest resilience
Successive catastrophic wildfire seasons in western North America have escalated the urgency around reducing fire risk to communities and ecosystems. In historically frequent-fire forests, fuel buildup as a result of fire exclusion is contributing to increased fire severity. The probability of high-severity fire can be reduced by active forest management that reduces fuels, prompting...
Authors
Kristen I. Shive, Clarke Alexandra Knight, Zachary L Steel, Charlotte K. Stanley, Kristen N. Wilson
Assimilation of reduced carbon triggers platinum alloy saturation in mafic and ultramafic magmas Assimilation of reduced carbon triggers platinum alloy saturation in mafic and ultramafic magmas
It is generally observed that magmatic sulfide ores have higher ratios of Pd/Pt than the mantle-like values of their parental magmas. This discrepancy has defied simple explanation because the partitioning behavior of both elements between sulfide and silicate liquids is very similar. Assimilation of sulfur- and carbon-rich country rocks by mafic and ultramafic magmas is considered a...
Authors
Ying Zhou Li, William D. Smith, Michael Jenkins, Zhuosen Yao, James E. Mungall
Using subducting plate motion to constrain Cascadia slab geometry and interface strength Using subducting plate motion to constrain Cascadia slab geometry and interface strength
Subduction zones are home to multiple geohazards driven by the evolution of the regional tectonics, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides. Past evolution builds the present-day structure of the margin, while the present-day configuration of the system determines the state-of-stress in which individual hazardous events manifest. Regional simulations of subduction zones...
Authors
Menno Fraters, Magali Billen, John Naliboff, Lydia M. Staisch, Janet Watt, Haoyuan Li
Enhanced geothermal systems electric-resource assessment for the Great Basin, southwestern United States Enhanced geothermal systems electric-resource assessment for the Great Basin, southwestern United States
The U.S. Geological Survey recently (2025) completed a provisional assessment of the geothermal-electric resources associated with high-temperature, low-permeability rock formations of the Great Basin, Southwestern United States. If sufficient technological advances to commercialize enhanced geothermal systems occur, then a current best provisional estimate for electric-power generation...
Authors
Erick R. Burns, Colin F. Williams, Jacob DeAngelo
Cave records reveal recent origin of North America’s deepest canyon Cave records reveal recent origin of North America’s deepest canyon
We explore how and when Hells Canyon, North America’s deepest river gorge (~2,400 m deep), formed, addressing these fundamental questions first posed by W. Lindgren [The Gold Belt of the Blue Mountains of Oregon (1901)]. Existing hypotheses about the canyon’s formation and timing of incision remain speculative due to a lack of direct constraints and geomorphic analysis in the canyon...
Authors
Matthew Morriss, Nate Mitchell, Brian Yanites, Lydia M. Staisch, Oliver Korup