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: 1350
Faulting and seismic activity Faulting and seismic activity
This chapter traces some of the ideas and concepts leading to the current understanding of the process of faulting and earthquake generation, gives examples of engineering geology investigations contributing to that understanding, describes some engineering projects that have been strongly influenced by the process, and suggests needed research. Each of these topics is discussed in...
Authors
Manuel G. Bonilla
The Marina District, San Francisco, California: Geology, history, and earthquake effects The Marina District, San Francisco, California: Geology, history, and earthquake effects
A northwest-trending valley in the bedrock surface is buried by firm Pleistocene bay clay, a dense Pleistocene sand layer, soft Holocene bay sediments, loose to dense Holocene beach and dune sands, and artificial fill that have an aggregate maximum thickness of about 90 m (300 ft). Artificial filling of a cove at the site of The Marina District proceeded gradually from the late 1860s to...
Authors
Manuel G. Bonilla
The world landslide problem The world landslide problem
Thousands of people may be killed by landslides each year and property damage may be in the tens of billions of dollars, but the techniques for recognizing and coping with landslides are well developed. Landslides are generally more manageable and predictable than earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and some storms, but only a few countries have taken advantage of this knowledge to reduce...
Authors
E. E. Brabb
By
Geology, Energy, and Minerals Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Landslide Hazards Program, Mineral Resources Program, National Laboratories Program, Science and Decisions Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
A reinterpretation of the timing, position, and significance of part of the Sacramento Mountains detachment fault, southeastern California A reinterpretation of the timing, position, and significance of part of the Sacramento Mountains detachment fault, southeastern California
A contact previously considered to be part of the Sacramento Mountains detachment fault (SDF), exposed in the Sacramento Mountains metamorphic core complex, is reinterpreted as an unconformity between Tertiary rhyolite of Eagle Peak and cataclastically deformed crystalline lower-plate rocks. This reinterpretation is based on outcrop-scale topographic relief and the absence of deformation...
Authors
Carol Simpson, Janet Schweitzer, Keith A. Howard
An axial view of a metamorphic core complex: Crustal structure of the Whipple and Chemehuevi Mountains, southeastern California An axial view of a metamorphic core complex: Crustal structure of the Whipple and Chemehuevi Mountains, southeastern California
A 135‐km‐long, NW‐SE trending, seismic refraction/wide‐angle reflection profile provides a unique along‐strike view of the crustal structure of a belt of metamorphic core complexes in southeastern California: the Whipple, Chemehuevi, and Sacramento mountains metamorphic core complexes. Interpretation of the seismic data was done by two‐dimensional forward modeling of travel times and...
Authors
J. M. Wilson, Jill McCarthy, R.A. Johnson, Keith A. Howard
Franciscan Complex, Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence: Pacheco Pass to Del Puerto Canyon, California Franciscan Complex, Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence: Pacheco Pass to Del Puerto Canyon, California
This field trip covers part of the Diablo Range and adjacent San Joaquin Valley of central California (Fig. 1 ). The core of the range is made up of rocks of the Franciscan Complex, flanked by Coast Range ophiolite (CRO) and Great Valley sequence (GVS). The Franciscan Complex in this area consists of deformed and metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks containing fossils of Late...
Authors
Allan P. Bennison, M. Clark Blake, B. F. Cox, William P. Elder, W. G. Ernst, Tekla Harms, T. H. Nilsen
Field Trip 9: San Francisco to Point Reyes: Both sides of the San Andreas fault Field Trip 9: San Francisco to Point Reyes: Both sides of the San Andreas fault
No abstract available.
Authors
J. C. Clark, Clyde Wahrhaftig, E. E. Brabb
Mineralization patterns in time and space in the Great Basin of Nevada Mineralization patterns in time and space in the Great Basin of Nevada
No abstract available.
Authors
Dennis P. Cox, Steve Ludington, M.G. Sherlock, Donald A. Singer
ALACARTE User Interface - AML Code and Demonstration Maps ALACARTE User Interface - AML Code and Demonstration Maps
ALACARTE offers a convenient way to compile geologic maps in the computer as spatial databases that can be used to prepare both cartographic images and analytic derivatives. It is a menu-controlled shell, organized in geologic terms, that provides on-screen control of the program ARC/INFO, a commercial geographic information system (GIS). Input can be from imported scans, digitizer...
Authors
Todd T. Fitzgibbon, Carl M. Wentworth
Application of the FINDER system to the search for epithermal vein gold-silver deposits : Kushikino, Japan, a case study Application of the FINDER system to the search for epithermal vein gold-silver deposits : Kushikino, Japan, a case study
The FINDER system employs geometric probability, Bayesian statistics, and the normal probability density function to integrate spatial and frequency information to produce a map of probabilities of target centers. Target centers can be mineral deposits, alteration associated with mineral deposits, or any other target that can be represented by a regular shape on a two dimensional map...
Authors
Donald A. Singer, Ryoichi Kouda
Geologic map and structure sections of the Los Gatos 7-1/2' quadrangle, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties, California Geologic map and structure sections of the Los Gatos 7-1/2' quadrangle, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties, California
No abstract available.
Authors
R. J. McLaughlin, J. C. Clark, E. E. Brabb, E. J. Helley
Factors affecting the recognition of faults exposed in exploratory trenches Factors affecting the recognition of faults exposed in exploratory trenches
Trenching-a widely used method for evaluating fault activity-has limitations that can mislead investigators. Some segments of fault strands in trench walls may not be visible, and this nonvisibility can lead to incorrect interpretations of time of most recent displacement and recurrence intervals on a fault. We examined the logs of 163 trench exposures and tabulated data on more than 1...
Authors
Manuel G. Bonilla, James J. Lienkaemper