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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: 1349

Episodic growth of a Late Cretaceous and Paleogene intrusive complex of pegmatitic leucogranite, Ruby Mountains core complex, Nevada, USA Episodic growth of a Late Cretaceous and Paleogene intrusive complex of pegmatitic leucogranite, Ruby Mountains core complex, Nevada, USA

Gneissic pegmatitic leucogranite forms a dominant component (>600 km3) of the midcrustal infrastructure of the Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range core complex (Nevada, USA), and was assembled and modified episodically into a batholithic volume by myriad small intrusions from ca. 92 to 29 Ma. This injection complex consists of deformed sheets and other bodies emplaced syntectonically into...
Authors
Keith A. Howard, J. L. Wooden, C. G. Barnes, W. R. Premo, A.W. Snoke, S.-Y. Lee

Updated paleomagnetic pole from Cretaceous plutonic rocks of the Sierra Nevada, California: Tectonic displacement of the Sierra Nevada block Updated paleomagnetic pole from Cretaceous plutonic rocks of the Sierra Nevada, California: Tectonic displacement of the Sierra Nevada block

We report remanent magnetization measurements from 13 sites in Cretaceous plutonic rocks in the northern Sierra Nevada (38°N–39.5°N). By increasing the number of available paleomagnetic sites, the new data tighten constraints on the displacement history of the Sierra Nevada block and its pre-extensional position relative to interior North America. We collected samples in freshly exposed...
Authors
John W. Hillhouse, Sherman Gromme

The influence of stream channels on distributions of Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa in the Mojave Desert, CA, USA: Patterns, mechanisms and effects of stream redistribution The influence of stream channels on distributions of Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa in the Mojave Desert, CA, USA: Patterns, mechanisms and effects of stream redistribution

Drainage channels are among the most conspicuous surficial features of deserts, but little quantitative analysis of their influence on plant distributions is available. We analysed the effects of desert stream channels (‘washes’) on Larrea tridentata and Ambrosia dumosa density and cover on an alluvial piedmont in the Mojave Desert, based on a spatial analysis of transect data...
Authors
S. Schwinning, D.R. Sandquist, D. M. Miller, D. R. Bedford, S. L. Phillips, J. Belnap

Disaster risk assessment case study: Recent drought on the Navajo Nation, USA Disaster risk assessment case study: Recent drought on the Navajo Nation, USA

The Navajo Nation is an ecologically sensitive semi-arid to arid section of the southern Colorado Plateau. In this remote part of the United States, located at the Four Corners (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah), traditional people live a subsistence lifestyle that is inextricably tied to, and dependent upon, landscape conditions and water supplies. Soft bedrock lithologies and...
Authors
Margaret Hiza, Klara B. Kelley, Harris Francis, Debra Block

Geology, geochronology, and paleogeography of the southern Sonoma volcanic field and adjacent areas, northern San Francisco Bay region, California Geology, geochronology, and paleogeography of the southern Sonoma volcanic field and adjacent areas, northern San Francisco Bay region, California

Recent geologic mapping in the northern San Francisco Bay region (California, USA) supported by radiometric dating and tephrochronologic correlations, provides insights into the framework geology, stratigraphy, tectonic evolution, and geologic history of this part of the San Andreas transform plate boundary. There are 25 new and existing radiometric dates that define three temporally...
Authors
David L. Wagner, George J. Saucedo, Kevin B. Clahan, Robert J. Fleck, Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert J. McLaughlin, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, James R. Allen, Alan L. Deino

Stratigraphy and chronology of offshore to nearshore deposits associated with the Provo shoreline, Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, Utah Stratigraphy and chronology of offshore to nearshore deposits associated with the Provo shoreline, Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, Utah

Stratigraphic descriptions and radiocarbon data from eleven field locations are presented in this paper to establish a chronostratigraphic framework for offshore to nearshore deposits of Lake Bonneville. Based on key marker beds and geomorphic position, the deposits are interpreted to have accumulated during the period from the late transgressive phase, through the overflowing phase...
Authors
Holly S. Godsey, Charles G. Oviatt, David M. Miller, Marjorie A. Chan

Erosion of tilted fault blocks and deposition of coarse sediments in half-graben basins during late stages of extension: Gold Butte area, Basin and Range Province Erosion of tilted fault blocks and deposition of coarse sediments in half-graben basins during late stages of extension: Gold Butte area, Basin and Range Province

The provenance and stratigraphic architecture of basin-filling Miocene sediments around the Gold Butte area, southern Nevada, and adjacent highlands record the erosion of fault blocks that progressively tilted during extension. This study focuses especially on upper Miocene correlatives of the red sandstone unit and the Muddy Creek Formation that were deposited during waning stages of...
Authors
Keith A. Howard, Sue Beard, M. A. Kuntz, Michael J. Kunk, Andrei M. Sarna-Wojcicki, M. E. Perkins, Ivo Lucchitta

Archeomagnetic dating in western North America: An updated reference curve based on paleomagnetic and archeomagnetic data sets Archeomagnetic dating in western North America: An updated reference curve based on paleomagnetic and archeomagnetic data sets

[1] A robust database of paleomagnetic (PM) and archeomagnetic (AM) data for western North America covering the past 4 millennia is assembled from three data sets: (1) published PM data for dated lava flows, (2) recently published AM data generated by R. L. DuBois, and (3) published AM data generated by J. L. Eighmy. Chronologic information for the AM data sets has been reassessed, and...
Authors
Jonathan T. Hagstrum, Eric Blinman

Rainfall infiltration-induced landslides Rainfall infiltration-induced landslides

Unfavorable groundwater conditions are often the determining factor in triggering landslides. Whereas regional hydrogeology typically determines overall groundwater conditions, surficial rainfall infiltration into slopes also drives potential instability.
Authors
Brian D. Collins, Dobroslav Znidarcic

Chromium-Makes stainless steel stainless Chromium-Makes stainless steel stainless

Chromium, a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point, is a silvery white, hard, and bright metal plating on steel and other material. Commonly known as chrome, it is one of the most important and indispensable industrial metals because of its hardness and resistance to corrosion. But it is used for more than the production of stainless steel...
Authors
S.J. Kropschot, Jeff Doebrich

A deposit model for Mississippi Valley-Type lead-zinc ores A deposit model for Mississippi Valley-Type lead-zinc ores

This report is a descriptive model of Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) lead-zinc deposits that presents their geological, mineralogical and geochemical attributes and is part of an effort by the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program to update existing models and develop new models that will be used for an upcoming national mineral resource assessment. This deposit modeling effort...
Authors
David L. Leach, Ryan D. Taylor, David L. Fey, Sharon F. Diehl, Richard W. Saltus
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