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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 2485

Using the D-Claw software package to model lahars in the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond, Mount Baker, Washington Using the D-Claw software package to model lahars in the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond, Mount Baker, Washington

Lahars, or volcanic mudflows, are the most hazardous eruption-related phenomena that will affect communities living along rivers that originate on Mount Baker. In the past 15,000 years, the largest lahars from Mount Baker have affected the Middle Fork Nooksack River drainage and beyond. Here we use the physics-based D-Claw software package to model nine lahar scenarios that are initiated...
Authors
Cynthia A. Gardner, Mary Catherine Benage, Charles M. Cannon, David L. George

The feasibility of using lidar-derived digital elevation models for gravity data reduction The feasibility of using lidar-derived digital elevation models for gravity data reduction

Gravity data require submeter elevation accuracy for data processing, and differential global navigation satellite system (dGNSS) equipment is commonly used to acquire three-dimensional positional data to achieve such accuracy. However, lidar (light detection and ranging) data are commonly used to develop digital elevation models (DEMs) of Earth’s surface. Therefore, using elevations...
Authors
Jacob T. Murchek, Benjamin J. Drenth, James J. Reitman, Eric D. Anderson, Benjamin Patrick Magnin, James M. DeGraff

Horizontal transport of Picture Gorge Basalt magma through the Monument Dike Swarm determined by magnetic fabric Horizontal transport of Picture Gorge Basalt magma through the Monument Dike Swarm determined by magnetic fabric

Flood basalts of the mid-Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) cover 210,000 km2 of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The source of CRBG melt is debated; widely spaced feeder dike swarms can be projected toward hypothetical sources near the Oregon-Idaho border. In this study, we use anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) to track magma flow in the Monument dike swarm (MDS), the...
Authors
Margaret Susan Avery, Anthony Francis Pivarunas

Oligocene–Miocene development and evolution of the south Dome Rock Mountains basin, lower Colorado River corridor, Arizona, USA Oligocene–Miocene development and evolution of the south Dome Rock Mountains basin, lower Colorado River corridor, Arizona, USA

Sedimentary basins in the Colorado River extensional corridor record large-magnitude Basin and Range extension and younger dextral shear deformation in the evolving Pacific−North America plate boundary. The south Dome Rock Mountains basin is located in west-central Arizona (USA), where the history of basin evolution, style of deformation, and timing of the transition between extension...
Authors
Timothy A. Brickey, Paul J. Umhoefer, Scott E.K. Bennett, Christine Regalla, Nancy R. Riggs, Skyler Pendleton Mavor

Integrating marine historical ecology into management of Alaska’s Pacific cod fishery for climate readiness Integrating marine historical ecology into management of Alaska’s Pacific cod fishery for climate readiness

The Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) fishery was closed in 2020 after a rapid decline in biomass caused by the marine heat waves of 2014–2019. Pacific cod are exceptionally thermally sensitive and management of this fishery is now challenged by increasingly unpredictable climate conditions. Fisheries monitoring is critical for climate readiness, but short-term monitoring data may be...
Authors
Catherine F. West, Loren McClenachan, Steven J. Barbeaux, Ingrid B. Spies, Jason A. Addison, Bruce T. Anderson, Courtney A. Hofman, Katherine L. Reedy, Emma A. Elliott Smith, Michael A. Etnier, Thomas E. Helser, Bruce P. Finney

Increased flood exposure in the Pacific Northwest following earthquake-driven subsidence and sea-level rise Increased flood exposure in the Pacific Northwest following earthquake-driven subsidence and sea-level rise

Climate-driven sea-level rise is increasing the frequency of coastal flooding worldwide, exacerbated locally by factors like land subsidence from groundwater and resource extraction. However, a process rarely considered in future sea-level rise scenarios is sudden (over minutes) land subsidence associated with great (>M8) earthquakes, which can exceed 1 m. Along the Washington, Oregon...
Authors
Tina Dura, William Chilton, David Small, Andra Garner, Andrea D. Hawkes, Diego Melgar, Simon E. Engelhart, Lydia M. Staisch, Robert C. Witter, Alan Nelson, Harvey Kelsey, Jonathan Allan, David S. Bruce, Jessica DePaolis, Mike Priddy, Richard W. Briggs, Robert Weiss, SeanPaul La Selle, Michael J. Willis, Benjamin P. Horton

Bølling-Allerød productivity in the subarctic Pacific driven by seasonal upwelling Bølling-Allerød productivity in the subarctic Pacific driven by seasonal upwelling

The Bølling-Allerød deglacial event is marked by high diatom productivity and opal deposition throughout the subarctic Pacific. This opal could either constitute a strengthened biological pump and thus carbon sequestration, or a weakened biological pump and release of marine-sequestered CO2 to the atmosphere. We quantify silicic acid supply at IODP Site U1340 in the Bering Sea using...
Authors
Kimberly A. deLong, Terrence Blackburn, Beth Elaine Caissie, Jason A. Addison, Zuzanna Stroynowski, Maria R. Sipala, Franco Marcantonio, Ana Christina Ravelo

Prospectivity modeling of the NASA VIPER landing site at Mons Mouton near the Lunar South Pole Prospectivity modeling of the NASA VIPER landing site at Mons Mouton near the Lunar South Pole

We use a high-resolution digital elevation model and a numerical thermal model to produce a variety of inputs for a water-ice prospectivity model for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) landing site. These input data are maps of topography, surface slope, surface aspect, surface curvature, maximum temperature, depth to ice stability, permanently shadowed regions...
Authors
Joshua Aaron Coyan, Matthew Siegler, José Martinez-Comacho, Ross A. Beyer, Mark Shirley

Lithium from magma to mine in an early Yellowstone hotspot caldera Lithium from magma to mine in an early Yellowstone hotspot caldera

Renewable energy technologies rely on the extraction of metals not historically in high demand, such as lithium (Li), for which ore deposit models are incompletely understood. One of the world’s largest Li deposits is hosted in lake sediments of the 16.4 Ma McDermitt caldera, which formed during the early stages of Yellowstone hotspot volcanism in the western United States. Eruptive and
Authors
Kathryn E. Watts

Geochemistry and radiogenic isotopes constrain the mantle source region of the Mountain Pass Intrusive Suite, California Geochemistry and radiogenic isotopes constrain the mantle source region of the Mountain Pass Intrusive Suite, California

The Mountain Pass carbonatite stock is the largest rare earth element (REE) deposit and only active REE mine in the United States. The carbonatite intrusion and spatially associated alkaline silicate intrusions constitute the Mountain Pass Intrusive Suite, which is located within the Mojave Province in California. Both the carbonatite and the alkaline silicate rocks are enriched in large...
Authors
Erin Kay Benson, Kathryn E. Watts, Ian William Hillenbrand

Fossil diatoms in Arctic marine surface sediments Fossil diatoms in Arctic marine surface sediments

Diatoms are one of the main constituents of marine phytoplankton in the Arctic, and thanks to their siliceous skeletons, diatom fossils are relatively well preserved in sediments. Due to their species-specific sensitivity to different ocean conditions, their abundance and assemblages in sediments are routinely used by paleoceanographers to reconstruct the state of the surface ocean in...
Authors
Christof Pearce, Beth Elaine Caissie, Alice Carter-Champion, Audrey Limoges, Tiia Luostarinen, Gavin L. Simpson, Kaarina Weckstrom
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