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Publications

Results from our Program’s research and minerals information activities are published in USGS publications series as well as in outside journals.  To follow Minerals Information Periodicals, subscribe to the Mineral Periodicals RSS feed.

Filter Total Items: 2586

In search of the Abrams post office, Trinity County In search of the Abrams post office, Trinity County

An understanding of earth history depends in part on stratigraphy, a division of geology in which the distinctive features of natural units or formations of layered rocks are studied and described and names are assigned to them. The procedures for describing and naming rock units in a uniform way are incorporated in documents known as stratigraphic codes. The North American Stratigraphic...
Authors
Marvin A. Lanphere, William P. Irwin

Thermal maturity of tectonostratigraphic terranes within the Franciscan Complex, California Thermal maturity of tectonostratigraphic terranes within the Franciscan Complex, California

Indicators of organic metamorphism provide valuable tools for analyzing the thermal history of tectonostratigraphic terranes. Paleotemperature estimates derived from vitrinite reflectance, for example, are more precise than values based upon inorganic mineral assemblages in low‐grade rocks. Isothermal geometries must be interpreted within the context of structural and stratigraphic data...
Authors
M.B. Underwood, M. Clark Blake, D. G. Howell

Attenuation of the Coast Range ophiolite by extensional faulting and nature of the Coast Range "thrust," California Attenuation of the Coast Range ophiolite by extensional faulting and nature of the Coast Range "thrust," California

The late Mesozoic Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence in California were juxtaposed against the Franciscan Complex during a long tectonic history that included imbricate thrust faulting, low‐angle detachment, and high‐angle reverse faulting. Many low‐angle faults previously mapped as thrusts invariably juxtapose younger over older rocks, suggesting a normal sense of offset...
Authors
A. S. Jayko, M. Clark Blake, Tekla Harms

Remagnetization of the Coast Range Ophiolite and Lower Part of the Great Valley Sequence in Northern California and Southwest Oregon Remagnetization of the Coast Range Ophiolite and Lower Part of the Great Valley Sequence in Northern California and Southwest Oregon

Overprinted magnetizations have been found at four localities in the Middle Jurassic Coast Range ophiolite and the overlying Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Great Valley sequence in northern California and at one locality in the partially correlative Lower Cretaceous Days Creek Formation in southwest Oregon. At Del Puerto Canyon, on the east side of the Diablo Range, a pilot study of...
Authors
L.S. Frei, M. Clark Blake

Correlation of early Cretaceous blueschists in Washington, Oregon and northern California Correlation of early Cretaceous blueschists in Washington, Oregon and northern California

The protolith and metamorphic histories of Early Cretaceous blueschists that occur in Washington, Oregon, and California are remarkably similar. These blueschists are the Shuksan metamorphic suite of northwestern Washington, the Condrey Mountain schist of northern California and southern Oregon, and the Pickett Peak terrane of northern California and southwestern Oregon. We suggest that...
Authors
E. H. Brown, M.C. Blake

Real-time landslide warning during heavy rainfall Real-time landslide warning during heavy rainfall

A real-time system for issuing warnings of landslides during major storms is being developed for the San Francisco Bay region, California. The system is based on empirical and theoretical relations between rainfall and landslide initiation, geologic determination of areas susceptible to landslides, real-time monitoring of a regional network of telemetering rain gages, and National...
Authors
David K. Keefer, R. C. Wilson, R. K. Mark, E. E. Brabb, W. M. Brown, S. D. Ellen, E. L. Harp, G. F. Wieczorek, C.S. Alger, R.S. Zatkin

New estimates of displacement along the San Andreas fault in central California based on paleobathymetry and paleogeography New estimates of displacement along the San Andreas fault in central California based on paleobathymetry and paleogeography

Studies of depth-related benthic foraminiferal biofacies permit the construction of paleobathymetric maps of the La Honda and San Joaquin basins of central California. These maps support the hypothesis that the La Honda and San Joaquin basins were contiguous during the late Oligocene and early Miocene and subsequently were separated by about 320–330 km of right-lateral displacement on...
Authors
Richard G. Stanley

Implications of the northwestwardly younger age of the volcanic rocks of west-central California: Alternative Interpretation Implications of the northwestwardly younger age of the volcanic rocks of west-central California: Alternative Interpretation

Fox and others (1985) have made an important contribution to our understanding of iihe evolution of the Mendocino triple junction and the San Andreas transform. They have summarized a large amount of data on the ages and distribution of volcanic centers along the central California coast; their summary clearly shows that the locus of volcanism migrated northwestward along the coast...
Authors
Richard G. Stanley
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