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Laurel G. Woodruff

Laurel Woodruff is a Research Geologist with the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA.

Science and Products

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Image shows a map if minerals near Lake Superior

Synthesis of the Tectonic, Magmatic, and Metallogenic Evolution of the Midcontinent Rift System

The overall project objective is to develop a comprehensive synthesis of the tectonic, magmatic, and metallogenic evolution of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) through time by integrating geophysical, magmatic, and geochemical data and to create 3-D models of the rift over its evolution.
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
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Synthesis of the Tectonic, Magmatic, and Metallogenic Evolution of the Midcontinent Rift System

The overall project objective is to develop a comprehensive synthesis of the tectonic, magmatic, and metallogenic evolution of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) through time by integrating geophysical, magmatic, and geochemical data and to create 3-D models of the rift over its evolution.
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example soil geochemistry data

Application of the National-Scale Soil Geochemical and Mineralogical Data for the Conterminous U.S.

Project goals were to produce interpretive products based on the existing national-scale geochemical and mineralogical data and maps for soils of the conterminous U.S.
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
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Application of the National-Scale Soil Geochemical and Mineralogical Data for the Conterminous U.S.

Project goals were to produce interpretive products based on the existing national-scale geochemical and mineralogical data and maps for soils of the conterminous U.S.
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Density and magnetic susceptibility measurements on Precambrian rocks in the Iron Mountain-Menominee region, Michigan-Wisconsin

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected rock physical property measurements to help understand causative sources of gravity and magnetic survey anomalies in the Iron Mountain-Menominee region, Michigan-Wisconsin. A total of 2,356 measurements of magnetic susceptibility and density from 152 locations have been conducted on Precambrian rocks. The measurements aid in interpretation of newly acqui
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Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Geochemical characterization of solid media from three watersheds that transect the basal contact of the Duluth Complex, northeastern Minnesota

To document regional water quality in areas of potential base-metal mining, bedrock, soil, streambed sediment, and surface-water samples were collected and analyzed in three watersheds that cross the basal part of the Duluth Complex (northeastern Minnesota). The three watershed each had different mineral-deposit settings: (1) copper-nickel-platinum group element mineralization (Filson Creek), (2)
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Bedrock geologic map of the Port Wing, Solon Springs, and parts of the Duluth and Sandstone 30' x 60' quadrangles, Wisconsin and Minnesota

No abstract available.
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Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center
Image: The Effects of Human Activity versus Natural Processes on U.S. Soil
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The Effects of Human Activity versus Natural Processes on U.S. Soil
Filter Total Items: 41

Exploring the geology of the Midcontinent Rift under western Lake Superior using a preliminary velocity model of seismic line GLIMPCE C

Seismic-reflection data were collected in the 1980s as part of the Great Lakes International Multidisciplinary Program on Crustal Evolution (GLIMPCE) to investigate the 1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift System (MRS). GLIMPCE Line C crosses western Lake Superior from north to south shores (Fig. 1 inset). Many previous workers have interpreted the MRS in Line C as an asymmetric central graben filled with 10–
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V. J. S. Grauch, Samuel J. Heller, Esther K. Stewart, Laurel G. Woodruff
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Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

National map of focus areas for potential critical mineral resources in the United States

Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) launched the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) to modernize the surface and subsurface geologic mapping of the United States, with a focus on identifying areas that may have the potential to contain critical mineral resources. EarthMRI can inform strategies to ensure secure and reliable domestic critical mineral supplies for the United St
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Jane M. Hammarstrom, Douglas C. Kreiner, Connie L. Dicken, Laurel G. Woodruff
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Mineral Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)

Focus areas for data acquisition for potential domestic resources of 13 critical minerals in the conterminous United States and Puerto Rico — Antimony, barite, beryllium, chromium, fluorspar, hafnium, helium, magnesium, manganese, potash, uranium, vanadiu

The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) is conducted in phases to identify areas for acquiring new geologic framework data to identify potential domestic resources of the 35 mineral materials designated as critical minerals for the United States. This report describes the data sources and summary results for 13 critical minerals evaluated in the conterminous United States and Puerto Ric
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Jane M. Hammarstrom, Connie L. Dicken, Laurel G. Woodruff, Allen K. Andersen, Sean T. Brennan, Warren C. Day, Benjamin J. Drenth, Nora K. Foley, Susan Hall, Albert H. Hofstra, Anne E. McCafferty, Anjana K. Shah, David A. Ponce
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Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)

Mineral deposits of the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System in the Lake Superior region – Metallogeny of the prolifically mineralized Keweenawan LIP

The Keweenawan large igneous province (LIP) of the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America is perhaps the most prolifically and diversely mineralized LIP known on Earth (Nicholson et al., 1992). The MRS is an approximately 2,200 km curvilinear continental rift that stretches from Kansas northeast to the Lake Superior region where it turns southeast and extends through lower Michigan (Fig.
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Laurel G. Woodruff, Klaus Schulz, Suzanne Nicholson, Connie L. Dicken
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Integrated geophysical analysis provides an alternate interpretation of the northern margin of the North American Midcontinent Rift System, Central Lake Superior

The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) is a 1.1 Ga sequence of voluminous basaltic eruptions and multiple intrusions followed by widespread sedimentation that extends across the Midcontinent and northern Great Lakes region of North America. Previous workers have commonly used seismic-reflection data (Great Lakes International Multidisciplinary Program on Crustal Evolution [GLIMPCE] line A) to demonstr
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V. J. Grauch, Eric D. Anderson, Samuel J. Heller, Esther K. Stewart, Laurel G. Woodruff
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center

Mineral deposits of the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift system in the Lake Superior region – A space and time classification

The Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America hosts a diverse suite of magmatic and hydrothermal mineral deposits in the Lake Superior region where rift rocks are exposed at or near the surface. Historically, hydrothermal deposits, such as Michigan’s native copper deposits and the White Pine sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposit, were major MRS metal producers. On-going e
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Laurel G. Woodruff, Klaus J. Schulz, Suzanne W. Nicholson, Connie L. Dicken
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Mineral resource database for deposits related to the Mesoproterozoic Midcontinent Rift System, United States and Canada

The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America is one of the world’s largest continental rifts and has an age of 1.1 Ga (giga-annum). The MRS hosts a diverse suite of magmatic and hydrothermal mineral deposits in the Lake Superior region where rift rocks are exposed at or near the surface. As part of the construction of a database summarizing information on mineral deposits in the MRS, data f
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Laurel G. Woodruff, Klaus J. Schulz, Connie L. Dicken, Suzanne W. Nicholson
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Assessing the influence of natural copper-nickel-bearing bedrocks of the Duluth Complex on water quality in Minnesota, 2013–15

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the University of Minnesota-Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute, completed an assessment of regional water quality in areas of potential base-metal mining in Minnesota. Bedrock, soil, streambed sediment, and surface-water samples were collected in three watersheds that cross the basal part of the Duluth Complex with different mineral-deposit
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Sarah M. Elliott, Perry M. Jones, Laurel G. Woodruff, Carrie E. Jennings, Aliesha L. Krall, Daniel L. Morel
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Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Focus areas for data acquisition for potential domestic resources of 11 critical minerals in the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico—Aluminum, cobalt, graphite, lithium, niobium, platinum-group elements, rare earth elements, tantalum, tin,

In response to a need for information on potential domestic sources of critical minerals, the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) was established to identify and prioritize areas for acquisition of new geologic mapping, geophysical data, and elevation data to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework of the United States. Phase 1 of Earth MRI concentrated on those geologic terrane
Authors
Jane M. Hammarstrom, Connie L. Dicken, Warren C. Day, Albert H. Hofstra, Benjamin J. Drenth, Anjana K. Shah, Anne E. McCafferty, Laurel G. Woodruff, Nora K. Foley, David A. Ponce, Thomas P. Frost, Lisa L. Stillings
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Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI)

Soil mineralogy and geochemistry along a north-south transect in Alaska and the relation to source-rock terrane

Soils collected along a predominately north-south transect in Alaska were used to evaluate regional differences in the soil mineralogy and geochemistry in the context of a geotectonic framework for Alaska. The approximately 1,395-kilometer-long transect followed the Dalton, Elliott, and Richardson Highways from near Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. Sites were selected with a site spacing of approximately 10
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Bronwen Wang, Chad P. Hults, Dennis D. Eberl, Laurel G. Woodruff, William F. Cannon, Larry P. Gough
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Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Alaska Science Center

Geochemical and mineralogical maps, with interpretation, for soils of the conterminous United States

Between 2007 and 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a low-density (1 site per 1,600 square kilometers, 4,857 sites) geochemical and mineralogical survey of soils in the conterminous United States. The sampling protocol for the national-scale survey included, at each site, a sample from a depth of 0 to 5 centimeters, a composite of the soil A horizon, and a deeper sample from the soil C hor
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David B. Smith, Federico Solano, Laurel G. Woodruff, William F. Cannon, Karl J. Ellefsen
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Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center

Titanium

Titanium is a mineral commodity that is essential to the smooth functioning of modern industrial economies. Most of the titanium produced is refined into titanium dioxide, which has a high refractive index and is thus able to impart a durable white color to paint, paper, plastic, rubber, and wallboard. Because of their high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance, titanium metal and tita
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Laurel G. Woodruff, George M. Bedinger, Nadine M. Piatak
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Mineral Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, National Minerals Information Center

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