Images

Cross-polarized light photomicrograph of minerals in drill core samples from the Local Boy deposit, Duluth Complex, Minnesota. The number in the upper right hand corner is the drill core number.

Cross-polarized light photomicrograph of minerals in drill core samples from the Mesaba copper-nickel deposit, Duluth Complex, Minnesota. The number in the upper right hand corner is the drill core number.

This is a sample of axinite with iron, making it ferroaxinite. Axinite is primarily used as a collectors mineral.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Puiva Mount, Russia, and is 3.0cm in size.

Elbaite is one of the best-known members of the tourmaline mineral family, particularly for its high-quality gemstones. Read more about the tourmaline mineral family here. 

Epidote is a silicate mineral used mostly as a semiprecious gemstone.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and is 6.0cm in size.

This sample is of the mineral cerussite, once an important source of lead for paints and pigments. With the phasing out of lead-based paints, cerussite is now mostly valued as a collectors mineral.

Sample provided by Carlin Green, USGS. Sample originated from Mibladen, Morocco, and is 5.6cm in size.

Scanning Electron Microscope backscatter image of legacy steelmaking slag from the Calumet region, Chicago, Illinois, showing silicate minerals, some of which may have acid-neutralizing potential.

Map showing sediment-hosted copper and porphyry copper deposits across the world.

USGS scientist David Fey walking through the Eureka Graben in the Silverton caldera complex.

USGS geologist Niki Wintzer conducting field work at Yellow Pine/Stibnite gold-antimony-tungsten mining area in central Idaho. 

USGS geologist Niki Wintzer conducting field work at Yellow Pine/Stibnite gold-antimony-tungsten mining area in central Idaho. 

An open pit within the Yellow Pine/Stibnite gold-antimony-tungsten mining area in central Idaho. 

Layered deposit of unconsolidated heavy mineral sands along the shores of Folly Beach, South Carolina.

Intensely altered propylitic rocks (red and yellow) in the Red Mountain mining district, overprinting the regional, propylitically altered igneous rocks (grayish-green), peaks at top of image. View to west.

Geologist doing field work in Alaska

Sample of eudialyte (pink) within layered vein consisting of quartz, albite, and sodic amphibole, Dora Bay, Alaska. Size of sample is 11 by 9 cm. Sample of coarse-grained, tabular bastnäsite within matrix of ferruginous dolomite, Birthday Claim, Mountain Pass, California. Photographs by Philip Verplanck, U.S. Geological Survey. SIR 2010-5070-J

Aerial view looking into the center of the dome-shaped pluton.

A low-level helicopter towing a large wire-loop contraption hanging from a cable is flying straight across an open field in Nebraska on a clear day.

Aerial view over Weka Dur, Afghanistan’s largest known gold deposit, Badakhshan Province.

Helicopter towing a large, wire-loop contraption hanging from a cable is turning in air on a relatively clear day in Nebraska.

Aerial view near Herat. Dark red iron stains hint that other minerals might be found.