Mission Areas
Energy and Minerals
Mission Areas L2 Landing Page Tabs
Assessment of Undiscovered Mineral Resources
Mineral resource assessments are a tool used for determining the potential for undiscovered domestic and global deposits of minerals such as copper. Land management agencies, industry and the public use this unbiased mineral resource information to help determine future resource development.
Mineral Resources and the Environment
Understanding potential and existing environmental impacts promotes sustainable development of needed mineral materials and responsible stewardship of our natural resources.
Laboratories, Analytical Research, and Methods Development
Laboratories provide data to help characterize and improve understanding of mineral resources and materials. Diverse technique and method development support our Program's research and provide data to other land management agencies and the public.
Minerals Information and Materials Flow
Information on domestic and international supplies and uses of mineral commodities is essential to the U.S. economy and to national security. Statistics and information on domestic and international minerals production, consumption, and materials flow is collected based on surveys of the domestic mineral industry and foreign governments.
Mineral Resources Research
Understanding the formation of major mineral deposits, which provide for society’s needed resources, can have broad impact on the economy and the environment.
Data Analysis, Inventory, and Delivery
Comprehensive data storage and delivery systems serve mineral resource and related data to USGS scientists and the general public.
Characterization and Identification of Critical Mineral Resources
Demand for critical mineral commodities is on the rise with increasing applications in consumer products such as phones and tablets. Research and assessment activities address the need for more up-to-date information on the nation's and the world's critical mineral resources.
Characterization of the Midcontinent Rift Region Mineral Resources
Geological, geochemical and geophysical studies in the midcontinent region of the U.S. help to better understand the region’s potential for critical mineral resources in rocks that are deeply buried.
Potential Toxicity of Multiple Metals Associated with PGE Deposits
Water quality and aquatic life standards that are set by Federal and state regulatory agencies are used to evaluate the quality of our nation’s water and the health of aquatic ecosystems. These standards currently are based on hardness of the water and are determined for single metals, not for mixtures of metals that are typically found in natural systems. Metal mixtures can potentially be...
Assessing Impacts to Ecosystems from Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Region
The use of uranium is an alternative energy source to petroleum products and some of the United States’ highest quality ore is located on the Colorado Plateau. However, some regions where suitable mining efforts are conducted include areas that are near important environmental resources such as National Parks that provide viewscapes and habitat for wildlife.
Oil and Gas
Oil and gas undiscovered resource assessments for conventional and unconventional accumulations, reserve growth evaluations, and energy economic analyses for the U.S. and world.
TRIGA Reactor
We operate a low–enriched uranium–fueled, pool–type reactor, the Geological Survey TRIGA® Reactor, to support science by providing information on geologic, plant, and animal specimens to advance methods and techniques unique to nuclear reactors. Samples from around the world are submitted to the USGS for analysis using the reactor facility.
Minerals Information Periodicals and Data Products
Periodical publications that provide statistical data on production, distribution, stocks, and consumption of significant mineral commodities. Information on minerals-related issues, including minerals conservation, sustainability, availability, materials flow, and the economic health of the U.S. minerals industry is also available.
Mineral Resources Online Spatial Data
Interactive maps and downloadable data for regional and global geology, geochemistry, geophysics, and mineral resources. Includes web services providing data for users of Geographic Information System software (GIS). Links to portals for minerals information, geochemical data, and geophysical data.
Mineral Deposit Models
Conceptual models describing the essential characteristics of groups of similar mineral deposits.
Energy Data
Browse all energy-related datasets.
Energy Tools
View and download map-based energy data, search energy GIS data collections, browse the coal photomicrograph atlas and coal quality database, perform an advanced publications search, explore seismic reflection profiling data in Alaska, look at and print world geology maps, peruse the energy multimedia library, and more.
The Neogene genus Streptochilus (Brönnimann and Resig, 1971) from the Gulf of California
Four species of the planktonic foraminiferal genus Streptochilus from key Neogene marine localities are documented in relation to the evolution of the Gulf of California: S. globigerus, S. latus, S. macdougallae sp. nov., and S. inglei sp. nov. Planktonic foraminiferal bioevents and strontium isotopes in the Bouse, Tirabuzón, Carmen and Ojo de...
Miranda Martínez, A.Y.; Carreño, A.L.; McDougall, Kristin
Geologic map of the Beacon Rock quadrangle, Skamania County, Washington
The Beacon Rock 7.5′ quadrangle is located approximately 50 km east of Portland, Oregon, on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge, a scenic canyon carved through the axis of the Cascade Range by the Columbia River. Although approximately 75,000 people live within the gorge, much of the region remains little developed and is encompassed by the...
Evarts, Russell C.; Fleck, Robert J. Regional and temporal variability of melts during a Cordilleran magma pulse: Age and chemical evolution of the jurassic arc, eastern mojave desert, California
Intrusive rock sequences in the central and eastern Mojave Desert segment of the Jurassic Cordilleran arc of the western United States record regional and temporal variations in magmas generated during the second prominent pulse of Mesozoic continental arc magmatism. U/Pb zircon ages provide temporal control for describing variations in rock and...
Barth, A.P.; Wooden, J.L.; Miller, David M.; Howard, Keith A.; Fox, Lydia; Schermer, Elizabeth R.; Jacobson, C.E. Assessing changes in the physico-chemical properties and fluoride adsorption capacity of activated alumina under varied conditions
Adsorption using activated alumina is a simple method for removing fluoride from drinking water, but to be cost effective the adsorption capacity must be high and effective long-term. The intent of this study was to assess changes in its adsorption capacity under varied conditions. This was determined by evaluating the physico-chemical properties...
Craig, Laura; Stillings, Lisa; Decker, David L. Re-Os systematics and geochemistry of cobaltite (CoAsS) in the Idaho cobalt belt, Belt-Purcell Basin, USA: Evidence for middle Mesoproterozoic sediment-hosted Co-Cu sulfide mineralization with Grenvillian and Cretaceous remobilization
We report the first study of the Re-Os systematics of cobaltite (CoAsS) using disseminated grains and massive sulfides from samples of two breccia-type and two stratabound deposits in the Co-Cu-Au Idaho cobalt belt (ICB), Lemhi subbasin to the Belt-Purcell Basin, Idaho, USA. Using a 185Re + 190Os spike solution, magnetic and non-...
Saintilan, N.J.; Creaser, R.A.; Bookstrom, Arthur A. Cascadia subduction tremor muted by crustal faults
Deep, episodic slow slip on the Cascadia subduction megathrust of western North America is accompanied by low-frequency tremor in a zone of high fluid pressure between 30 and 40 km depth. Tremor density (tremor epicenters per square kilometer) varies along strike, and lower tremor density statistically correlates with upper plate faults that...
Wells, Ray; Blakely, Richard J.; Wech, Aaron G.; McCrory, Patricia A.; Michael, Andrew The Evergreen basin and the role of the Silver Creek fault in the San Andreas fault system, San Francisco Bay region, California
The Evergreen basin is a 40-km-long, 8-km-wide Cenozoic sedimentary basin that lies mostly concealed beneath the northeastern margin of the Santa Clara Valley near the south end of San Francisco Bay (California, USA). The basin is bounded on the northeast by the strike-slip Hayward fault and an approximately parallel subsurface fault that is...
Jachens, Robert C.; Wentworth, Carl M.; Graymer, Russell W.; Williams, Robert; Ponce, David A.; Mankinen, Edward A.; Stephenson, William J.; Langenheim, Victoria Reconnaissance sedimentology of selected tertiary exposures in the upland region bordering the Yukon Flats basin, east-central Alaska
This report summarizes reconnaissance sedimentologic and stratigraphic observations made during six days of helicopter-supported fieldwork in 2002 on Tertiary sedimentary rocks exposed in the upland region around the flanks of the Yukon Flats basin in east-central Alaska (fig. 1). This project was a cooperative effort between the Alaska Division...
LePain, David L.; Stanley, Richard G.
Geologic map of the Providence Mountains in parts of the Fountain Peak and adjacent 7.5' quadrangles, San Bernardino County, California
IntroductionThe Providence Mountains are in the eastern Mojave Desert about 60 km southeast of Baker, San Bernardino County, California. This range, which is noted for its prominent cliffs of Paleozoic limestone, is part of a northeast-trending belt of mountainous terrain more than 100 km long that also includes the Granite Mountains, Mid Hills,...
Stone, Paul; Miller, David M.; Stevens, Calvin H.; Rosario, Jose J.; Vazquez, Jorge A.; Wan, Elmira; Priest, Susan S.; Valin, Zenon C.
Geospatial analysis identifies critical mineral-resource potential in Alaska
Alaska consists of more than 663,000 square miles (1,717,000 square kilometers) of land—more than a sixth of the total area of the United States—and large tracts of it have not been systematically studied or sampled for mineral-resource potential. Many regions of the State are known to have significant mineral-...
Jacques, Katherine; Landowski, Claire; Karl, Susan M.; Labay, Keith A.
Mineral commodity summaries 2017
This report is the earliest Government publication to furnish estimates covering 2016 nonfuel mineral industry data. Data sheets contain information on the domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, and 5-year salient statistics for more than 90 individual minerals and materials.
Ober, Joyce A. Paleomagnetism and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the Plio-Pleistocene Boring Volcanic Field: Implications for the geomagnetic polarity time scale and paleosecular variation
Paleomagnetic directions and 40Ar/39Ar ages have been determined for samples of lava flows from the same outcrops, where possible, for 84 eruptive units ranging in age from 3200 ka to 60 ka within the Boring Volcanic Field (BVF) of the Pacific Northwest, USA. This study expands upon our previous results for the BVF, and compares the...
Hagstrum, Jonathan T.; Fleck, Robert J.; Evarts, Russell C.; Calvert, Andrew T.
Axinite
This is a sample of axinite with iron, making it ferroaxinite. Axinite is primarily used as a collectors mineral.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Puiva Mount, Russia, and is 3.0cm in size.
Azurite and Malachite
A sample of azurite, the blue mineral, and malachite, the green mineral. Both azurite and malachite are copper minerals that were once used as pigments but are now mostly valued as collectors minerals. They do serve as good indicators of copper deposits that can be developed. Read more information about copper here.
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Clinozoisite
This sample is clinozoisite, a calcium aluminum silicate mineral. It is mostly prized as a collectors mineral rather than a source of its industrial mineral commodities.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Hachupa, Pakistan, and is 6.0cm in size.
Epidote and Quartz
Epidote is a silicate mineral used mostly as a semiprecious gemstone.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and is 6.0cm in size.
Pyrrohtite
Pyrrhotite is an iron sulfide mineral related to iron pyrite, which is one of the minerals known as Fool's Gold. Pyrrhotite, although not one of the Fool's Gold minerals, is sometimes called magnetic pyrite as it is weakly magnetic. It is most valued as a collectors mineral.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Eagle Mine, Michigan, and is 4
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Torbernite
Torbernite is a copper phosphate mineral that contains uranium, making it somewhat radioactive. Although it can be used as a uranium ore, it's more valued as a collectors mineral. It can be used as a good indicator of uranium deposits, however.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Musonoi Mine, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is 5.0cm
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Sample of Apophyllite and Prehnite
These two minerals are apophyllite and prehnite. Both apophyllite, the clear crystals, and prehnite, the green mineral, are primarily prized as collectors minerals.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Virginia Crushed Stone Quarry, Virginia, and is 4.6cm in size.
Sample of Cerussite
This sample is of the mineral cerussite, once an important source of lead for paints and pigments. With the phasing out of lead-based paints, cerussite is now mostly valued as a collectors mineral.
Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Mibladen, Morocco, and is 5.6cm in size.
Loading Coal in the Trapper Mine
Coal is loaded into trucks at the Trapper Mine in northwest Colorado.
Pyrite and Quartz
A sample of pyrite and quartz. Iron pyrite, also known as Fool's Gold due to its resemblance to gold, often occurs in quartz veins. Pyrite is an important source of sulfur dioxide, which is primarily used to create sulfuric acid, an important industrial acid. In fact, consumption of sulfuric acid has been regarded as one of the best indexes of a nation's industrial
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Barre Granite
Granite is an igneous rock that we’ve used for building materials for thousands of years. It’s name comes from the Latin word “granum,” meaning “grain,” which refers to the grains of quartz and feldspar that define granite. This one is from the Barre formation in Vermont.
EarthWord–Ferrous
While not a Ferris wheel, this EarthWord is just as magnetic an attraction...
Proven under Pressure: USGS Advances Capabilities for High-Pressure Seafloor Samples Containing Gas Hydrate
Meet USGS' newest laboratory!
The Top 5 Mineral-Producing States
In 2016, these five states led the pack in mineral production, accounting for about one third of the total mineral production value for the entire country.
USGS Estimates 304 Trillion Cubic Feet of Natural Gas in the Bossier and Haynesville Formations of the U.S. Gulf Coast
USGS also estimates 4 billion barrels of oil and 2 billion barrels of natural gas liquids in the two formations.
Up in the Air to Look Deep Underground
Look, in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s...underground mineral research?
Risk and Reliance: The U.S. Economy and Mineral Resources
The USGS National Minerals Information Center tracks how much the United States relies on other countries for minerals critical to the economy and national security.
EarthWord–Hyperspectral
It’s not a caffeinated ghost, but this EarthWord is nearly as trippy...
Cutting-Edge Tools to Explore Alaska’s Mineral Potential
Managing 72 million acres of Federal lands in Alaska is not easy, especially when the land’s many uses need to be balanced. There are several competing interests, including the development of mineral resources that are critical to the American economy.
The Top 5 U.S. Minerals by Production Value
In 2016, the United States mined $74.6 billion worth of minerals, and the following five mineral commodities accounted for 68.5 percent of that value.
How an Electron Microprobe Helps Find Minerals (and Makes Pretty Pictures!)
Today’s high-end electronics increasingly rely on mineral commodities...and research into those mineral commodities is increasingly using high-end electronics too!
Ordinary Minerals Give Smartphones Extraordinary Capabilities
Earlier this year, Apple’s iPhone celebrated the 10th anniversary of its introduction to the world, an event that fueled a transformation within the technology and communications sector. This revolution would influence billions of smartphone users around the world forever altering many aspects of human life.
EarthWord–Rock vs. Mineral
Ever wondered what the difference between a rock and a mineral was? This EarthWord should cover it...
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Locations
Energy and Minerals Mission Area Headquarters
Alaska Science Center
Phone: (907) 786-7000
Fax: (907) 786-7020
Eastern Energy Resources Science Center
Phone: 703-648-6401
Eastern Mineral & Environmental Resources Science Center
Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
Phone: 703-648-5953
Central Energy Resources Science Center
Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center
Phone: 303-236-1800
Fax: 303-236-3200