Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by geology, energy, and mineral scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications, click the button below.
Filter Total Items: 1404
Quantifying the undiscovered geothermal resources of the United States Quantifying the undiscovered geothermal resources of the United States
In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released summary results of an assessment of the electric power production potential from the moderate- and high-temperature geothermal resources of the United States (Williams et al., 2008a; USGS Fact Sheet 2008-3082; http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3082). In the assessment, the estimated mean power production potential from undiscovered...
Authors
Colin F. Williams, Marshall J. Reed, Jacob DeAngelo, S. Peter Galanis
Digital coordinates and age for 3,869 foraminifer samples collected by Chevron Petroleum geologists in Washington and Oregon Digital coordinates and age for 3,869 foraminifer samples collected by Chevron Petroleum geologists in Washington and Oregon
The general location and age of more than 33,500 mostly foraminifer samples from Chevron Petroleum Company surface localities in California were provided by Brabb and Parker (2003, 2005). Malmborg and others (2008) provided digital latitude, longitude, and age for more than 13,000 of these samples. We provide here for the first time the digital latitude, longitude, and age for nearly 4...
Authors
William B. West, Earl E. Brabb, William T. Malmborg, John M. Parker
The Boring Volcanic Field of the Portland-Vancouver area, Oregon and Washington: Tectonically anomalous forearc volcanism in an urban setting The Boring Volcanic Field of the Portland-Vancouver area, Oregon and Washington: Tectonically anomalous forearc volcanism in an urban setting
More than 80 small volcanoes are scattered throughout the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area of northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington. These volcanoes constitute the Boring Volcanic Field, which is centered in the Neogene Portland Basin and merges to the east with coeval volcanic centers of the High Cascade volcanic arc. Although the character of volcanic activity is typical...
Authors
Russell C. Evarts, Richard M. Conrey, Robert J. Fleck, Jonathan T. Hagstrum
Copper: a metal for the ages Copper: a metal for the ages
Copper was one of the first metals ever extracted and used by humans, and it has made vital contributions to sustaining and improving society since the dawn of civilization. Copper was first used in coins and ornaments starting about 8000 B.C., and at about 5500 B.C., copper tools helped civilization emerge from the Stone Age. The discovery that copper alloyed with tin produces bronze...
Authors
Jeff Doebrich
The Columbia River Basalt Group: from the gorge to the sea The Columbia River Basalt Group: from the gorge to the sea
Miocene flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group inundated eastern Washington, Oregon, and adjacent Idaho between 17 and 6 Ma. Some of the more voluminous flows followed the ancestral Columbia River across the Cascade arc, Puget-Willamette trough, and the Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean. We have used field mapping, chemistry, and paleomagnetic directions to trace individual...
Authors
Ray E. Wells, Alan R. Niem, Russell C. Evarts, Jonathan T. Hagstrum
A flexible and all-inclusive search routine A flexible and all-inclusive search routine
No abstract available.
Authors
William B. Ferguson
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the arctic Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the arctic
Among the greatest uncertainties in future energy supply and a subject of considerable environmental concern is the amount of oil and gas yet to be found in the Arctic. By using a probabilistic geology-based methodology, the United States Geological Survey has assessed the area north of the Arctic Circle and concluded that about 30% of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13% of the world’s
Authors
Donald L. Gautier, Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald R. Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David W. Houseknecht, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, John H. Schuenemeyer, Kai Sorensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Zenon C. Valin, Craig J. Wandrey
Processes that initiate turbidity currents and their influence on turbidites: A marine geology perspective Processes that initiate turbidity currents and their influence on turbidites: A marine geology perspective
How the processes that initiate turbidity currents influence turbidite deposition is poorly understood, and many discussions in the literature rely on concepts that are overly simplistic. Marine geological studies provide information on the initiation and flow path of turbidity currents, including their response to gradient. In case studies of late Quaternary turbidites on the eastern...
Authors
David J. W. Piper, William R. Normark
The Portland Basin: A (big) river runs through it The Portland Basin: A (big) river runs through it
Metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA, lies within a small Neogene to Holocene basin in the forearc of the Cascadia subduction system. Although the basin owes its existence and structural development to its convergent-margin tectonic setting, the stratigraphic architecture of basin-fill deposits chiefly reflects its physiographic position along the lower reaches of the continental-scale...
Authors
Russell C. Evarts, Jim E. O'Connor, Ray E. Wells, Ian P. Madin
By
Geology, Energy, and Minerals Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Science and Decisions Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center
Magnetostratigraphic correlations of Permian-Triassic marine-to-terrestrial sections from China Magnetostratigraphic correlations of Permian-Triassic marine-to-terrestrial sections from China
We have studied three Permian–Triassic (PT) localities from China as part of a combined magnetostratigraphic, 40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb radioisotopic, and biostratigraphic study aimed at resolving the temporal relations between terrestrial and marine records across the Permo-Triassic boundary, as well as the rate of the biotic recovery in the Early Triassic. The studied sections from Shangsi...
Authors
J.M.G. Glen, S. Nomade, J.J. Lyons, I. Metcalfe, R. Mundil, P.R. Renne
Geologic and Geochronologic Studies of the Early Proterozoic Kanektok Metamorphic Complex of Southwestern Alaska Geologic and Geochronologic Studies of the Early Proterozoic Kanektok Metamorphic Complex of Southwestern Alaska
The Kanektok complex of southwestern Alaska appears to be a rootless terrane of early Proterozoic sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive rocks which were metamorphosed to amphibolite and granulite facies and later underwent a pervasive late Mesozoic thermal event accompanied by granitic plutonism and greenschist facies metamorphism of overlying sediments. The terrane is structurally...
Authors
Donald L. Turner, Robert B. Forbes, John N. Aleinikoff, Ian McDougall, Carl E. Hedge, Frederic H. Wilson, Paul W. Layer, Chad P. Hults
New fusulinids from Lower Permian turbidites at Conglomerate Mesa, southeastern inyo Mountains, east-central California New fusulinids from Lower Permian turbidites at Conglomerate Mesa, southeastern inyo Mountains, east-central California
Seven previously unrecognized fusulinid species from Lower Permian (Wolfcampian and Leonardian) turbidites near Conglomerate Mesa in east-central California, four of which are named as new species, are here described and figured. The four new species are Schwagerina merriami, S. wildei, Parafusulina mackevetti, and Skinnerella rossi. These fusulinid species have close affinities to...
Authors
C.H. Stevens, P. Stone