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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: 1348

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

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

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

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

ALACARTE user manual ALACARTE user manual

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
Carl M. Wentworth, Todd T. Fitzgibbon
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