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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

Maps of quaternary deposits and liquefaction susceptibility in the Central San Francisco Bay Region, California Maps of quaternary deposits and liquefaction susceptibility in the Central San Francisco Bay Region, California

This report presents a map and database of Quaternary deposits and liquefaction susceptibility for the urban core of the San Francisco Bay region. It supercedes the equivalent area of U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-444 (Knudsen and others, 2000), which covers the larger 9-county San Francisco Bay region. The report consists of (1) a spatial database, (2) two small-scale...
Authors
Robert C. Witter, Keith L. Knudsen, Janet M. Sowers, Carl M. Wentworth, Richard D. Koehler, Carolyn E. Randolph, Suzanna K. Brooks, Kathleen D. Gans

Characterization of unsaturated zone hydrogeologic units using matrix properties and depositional history in a complex volcanic environment Characterization of unsaturated zone hydrogeologic units using matrix properties and depositional history in a complex volcanic environment

Characterization of the physical and unsaturated hydrologic properties of subsurface materials is necessary to calculate flow and transport for land use practices and to evaluate subsurface processes such as perched water or lateral diversion of water, which are influenced by features such as faults, fractures, and abrupt changes in lithology. Input for numerical flow models typically...
Authors
Lorraine E. Flint, David C. Buesch, Alan L. Flint

Lithostratigraphy and shear-wave velocity in the crystallized Topopah Spring Tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada Lithostratigraphy and shear-wave velocity in the crystallized Topopah Spring Tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Evaluation of the potential future response to seismic events of the proposed spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is in part based on the seismic properties of the host rock, the 12.8-million-year-old Topopah Spring Tuff. Because of the processes that formed the tuff, the densely welded and crystallized part has three lithophysal and...
Authors
D.C. Buesch, K.H. Stokoe, K.C. Won, Y.J. Seong, J.L. Jung, M.D. Schuhen

New insights into Arctic paleogeography and tectonics from U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology New insights into Arctic paleogeography and tectonics from U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology

To test existing models for the formation of the Amerasian Basin, detrital zircon suites from 12 samples of Triassic sandstone from the circum-Arctic region were dated by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The northern Verkhoyansk (NE Russia) has Permo-Carboniferous (265-320 Ma) and Cambro-Silurian (410-505 Ma) zircon populations derived via river...
Authors
E. L. Miller, J. Toro, G. Gehrels, J.M. Amato, A. Prokopiev, M.I. Tuchkova, V.V. Akinin, T.A. Dumitru, Thomas E. Moore, M.P. Cecile

Garnet--An Essential Industrial Mineral and January's Birthstone Garnet--An Essential Industrial Mineral and January's Birthstone

Garnet is one of the most common minerals in the world. Occurring in almost any color, it is most widely known for its beauty as a gem stone. Because of its hardness and other properties, garnet is also an essential industrial mineral used in abrasive products, non-slip surfaces, and filtration. To help manage our Nation's resources of such essential minerals, the U.S. Geological Survey...
Authors
James G. Evans, Phillip R. Moyle, David G. Frank, Donald W. Olson

Linking middle-school teachers to Earthscope Linking middle-school teachers to Earthscope

EarthScope is a multidisciplinary geophysical investigation of the structure and deformation of the North American continent. Components include a transportable array of digital seismometers (USArray) that will image the continental crust and underlying mantle, and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and strainmeters (Plate Boundary Observatory, PBO) that will measure tectonic and...
Authors
R. Butler, E. Bishop, C. Ault, B. Atwater, B. Magura, C. Hedeen, R. Blakely, Ray E. Wells, K. Shay, R. Wagner, T. Southworth-Neumeyer, D. Connor

Birth of the lower Colorado River–Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California Birth of the lower Colorado River–Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California

A detailed record of the late Cenozoic history of the lower Colorado River can be inferred from alluvial and (likely) lacustrine stratigraphy exposed in dissected alluvial basins below the mouth of the Grand Canyon. Numerous sites in Mohave, Cottonwood, and Detrital valleys contain stratigraphic records that directly bear on the mode, timing, and consequences of the river’s inception and
Authors
Kyle House, Keith A. Howard, J. W. Bell, M. E. Perkins, J. E. Faulds, A. Brock

Net dextral slip, Neogene San Gregorio–Hosgri fault zone, coastal California: Geologic evidence and tectonic implications Net dextral slip, Neogene San Gregorio–Hosgri fault zone, coastal California: Geologic evidence and tectonic implications

Reinterpretation of onshore and offshore geologic mapping, examination of a key offshore well core, and revision of cross-fault ties indicate Neogene dextral strike slip of 156 ± 4 km along the San Gregorio–Hosgri fault zone, a major strand of the San Andreas transform system in coastal California. Delineating the full course of the fault, defining net slip across it, and showing its...
Authors
William R. Dickinson, Mihai N. Ducea, Lewis I. Rosenberg, H. Gary Greene, Stephan A. Graham, Joseph C. Clark, Gerald E. Weber, Steven Kidder, W. Gary Ernst, Earl E. Brabb
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