Geology

Data products grouped by: Geochemistry, Geochronology, Topographic data, Geologic mapping, and Mineral resources.

Alaska has potential for a wide range of critical minerals including, but not limited to, graphite, lithium, tin, tungsten, rare earth elements, and platinum-group elements.

In January 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey released the first ever digital geologic map of Alaska. This map reflects more than a century of work and provides a visual context for the abundant mineral and energy resources found throughout the state. The map also is available to use in three different formats: a professional GIS database, a public interactive version via a web browser, and an...

We provide GIS and database support for Alaska-based research projects, including database design, data capture, and maintenance, GIS analysis and display, and production of datasets and metadata for publication and data releases.

Alaska has more large earthquakes than the rest of the United States combined. More than three-quarters of the state’s population live in an area that can experience a magnitude 7 earthquake. Our research provides objective science that helps stakeholders prepare for and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes and tsunamis, which bolsters the economic health and well-being of Alaska and the...

Our objective is to provide a strategic framework for planning, coordination, and execution of the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) in Alaska. Earth MRI aims to improve knowledge of the U.S. geologic framework through new geological and geophysical mapping and to identify areas that have the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources.

The Alaska Petroleum Systems project has three main objectives: (A) conduct research that increases our understanding of Alaska petroleum systems, (B) conduct assessments of undiscovered oil and gas resources, and (C) deliver energy-resource information to land and resource managers, policy makers, and the public.

The Alaska Resource Data File (ARDF) site provides descriptions of mines, prospects, and mineral occurrences for individual U.S. Geological Survey 1:250,000-scale quadrangles in Alaska.

Critical minerals are essential to the U.S. economy and national security, have a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption, and serve an essential function in the manufacturing of many products. Often, critical minerals are found as co- or by-products in deposits mined for precious or base metals.

Ophiolites are sections of oceanic lithosphere that have been structurally emplaced onto continental crust. The ultramafic components of some ophiolites contain podiform chromitites, an important potential source of several strategic and critical minerals, including chromium and platinum group elements (PGE).

Alaska is dominated by a history of tectonic events that foster mobilization and concentration of a wide variety of mineral commodities that are critical to the US economy and are vital to national defense, renewable-energy, and emerging electronics technologies.

The Yukon-Tanana upland in eastern interior Alaska is a geologically complex block containing deposits of base-metal, platinum-group-element, and gold-silver-copper mineralization. It also hosts numerous mineral systems that are known or suspected to contain critical minerals.