Energy and Minerals
Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by Energy and Mineral scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications please click the button below.
Conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources
This report presents a novel conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geologically based environmental assessment, or geoenvironmental assessment, of undiscovered uranium resources within an area likely to contain uranium deposits. The framework is based on a source-to-receptor model that prioritizes the most likely contaminant sources,...
Gallegos, Tanya J.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Seal, Robert R.
Surficial geochemistry and bioaccessibility of tellurium in semi-arid mine tailings
Tellurium (Te) is a critical element due to its use in solar technology. However, some forms are highly toxic. Few studies have examined Te behavior in the surficial environment, thus little is known about its potential human and environmental health impacts. This study characterizes two physicochemically distinct Te-enriched mine tailings piles...
Hayes, Sarah M.; Ramos, Nicole A
Preliminary geologic map of the Greater Antilles and the Virgin Islands
IntroductionThis geologic map of the Greater Antilles and the Virgin Islands is a compilation of information from the literature, integrated to provide a seamless geologic map of the region. The geology shown on sheet 1 covers Cuba, the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico...
Wilson, Frederic H.; Orris, Greta; Gray, Floyd
Rare earth elements in coal and coal fly ash
The rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 elements sharing similar chemical properties. They include yttrium (Y, atomic number 39), scandium (Sc, atomic number 21), and the 15 elements of the lanthanide series, atomic numbers 57 (lanthanum, La) to 71 (lutetium, Lu). Because promethium (Pm, atomic number 61) does not occur in the Earth’s...
Scott, Clint; Kolker, Allan
Hydrologic balance, water quality, chemical-mass balance, and geochemical modeling of hyperalkaline ponds at Big Marsh, Chicago, Illinois, 2016–17
Hyperalkaline (pH greater than 12) ponds and groundwater exist at Big Marsh near Lake Calumet, Chicago, Illinois, a site used by the steel industry during the mid-1900s to deposit steel- and iron-making waste, in particular, slag. The hyperalkaline ponds may pose a hazard to human health and the environment. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in...
Gahala, Amy M.; Seal, Robert R.; Piatak, Nadine M.
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...
Wang, Bronwen; Hults, Chad P.; Eberl, Dennis D.; Woodruff, Laurel G.; Cannon, William F.; Gough, Larry P.
Resource Assessment Economic Filter (RAEF)—A graphical user interface supporting implementation of simple engineering mine cost analyses of quantitative mineral resource assessment simulations
Economic evaluations of undiscovered mineral resources provide important context in which to consider the results of quantitative mineral resource assessments. The U.S. Geological Survey economic analysis method uses a simple engineering cost model approach developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines that applies mine and mill engineering cost equations...
Shapiro, Jason L.; Robinson,, Gilpin R. Natural hazards and mineral commodity supply: Quantifying risk of earthquake disruption to South American copper supply
Mineral resources, and their mining and enrichment operations, are not equally distributed across Earth. The concentration of mineral supply in certain regions, owing to the geology or geography of the mineral resource, raises the level of risk related to supply disruption. Where mineral production coincides with areas prone to natural hazards,...
Schnebele, Emily; Jaiswal, Kishor; Luco, Nicolas; Nassar, Nedal T. USGS critical minerals review
The United States’ supply of critical minerals has been a concern and a source of potential strategic vulnerabilities for U.S. economic and national security interests for decades (for example, see Strategic and Critical Minerals Stockpiling Act, 1939). More recently, with the rapid increase in the types of materials being used in advanced...
Fortier, Steven M.; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Ryker, Sarah J.; Day, Warren C.; Seal, Robert R.
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...
Smith, David B.; Solano, Federico; Woodruff, Laurel G.; Cannon, William F.; Ellefsen, Karl J.
Geochemistry and mineralogy of soils collected in the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas
Presented in this report are the chemical and mineralogical results of a soil study conducted in the lower Rio Grande valley, Texas. Samples were collected from soils formed on Holocene alluvial flood-plain and distributary channel deposits of the Rio Grande, flood plain and meander-belt deposits of the Pliocene Goliad Formation, and the...
Whitney, Helen A.; Solano, Federico; Hubbard, Bernard E. Emerging investigator series: Atmospheric cycling of indium in the northeastern United States
Indium is critical to the global economy and is used in an increasing number of electronics and new energy technologies. However, little is known about its environmental behavior or impacts, including its concentrations or cycling in the atmosphere. This study determined indium concentrations in air particulate matter at five locations across the...
White, Sarah Jane; Hemond, Harold F.