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Publications

Results from our Program’s research and minerals information activities are published in USGS publications series as well as in outside journals.  To follow Minerals Information Periodicals, subscribe to the Mineral Periodicals RSS feed.

Filter Total Items: 2294

Northward migration of the Oregon forearc on the Gales Creek fault

The Gales Creek fault (GCF) is a 60-km-long, northwest-striking dextral fault system (west of Portland, Oregon) that accommodates northward motion and uplift of the Oregon Coast Range. New geologic mapping and geophysical models confirm inferred offsets from earlier geophysical surveys and document ∼12 km of right-lateral offset of a basement high in Eocene Siletz River Volcanics since ca. 35 Ma a
Authors
Ray Wells, Richard J. Blakely, Sean Bemis

Focus areas for data acquisition for potential domestic resources of 11 critical minerals in Alaska—Aluminum, cobalt, graphite, lithium, niobium, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, tantalum, tin, titanium, and tungsten, chap. C of U.S. Geologic

Phase 2 of the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) focuses on geologic belts that are favorable for hosting mineral systems that may contain select critical minerals. Phase 1 of the Earth MRI program focused on rare earth elements (REE), and phase 2 adds aluminum, cobalt, graphite, lithium, niobium, platinum-group metals, tantalum, tin, titanium, and tungsten. This report describes the
Authors
Douglas C. Kreiner, James V. Jones

Focus areas for data acquisition for potential domestic resources of 11 critical minerals in the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico—Aluminum, cobalt, graphite, lithium, niobium, platinum-group elements, rare earth elements, tantalum, tin,

In response to a need for information on potential domestic sources of critical minerals, the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI) was established to identify and prioritize areas for acquisition of new geologic mapping, geophysical data, and elevation data to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework of the United States. Phase 1 of Earth MRI concentrated on those geologic terrane
Authors
Jane M. Hammarstrom, Connie L. Dicken, Warren C. Day, Albert H. Hofstra, Benjamin J. Drenth, Anjana K. Shah, Anne E. McCafferty, Laurel G. Woodruff, Nora K. Foley, David A. Ponce, Thomas P. Frost, Lisa L. Stillings

Micrometer-scale characterization of solid mine waste aids in closure due diligence

Precious- and base-metal mining often occurs in deposits with high acid-generating potential, resulting in mine waste that contains metals in forms of varying bioavailability, and therefore toxicity. The solids that host these metals are often noncrystalline, nanometer to micrometer in size, or undetectable by readily available analytical techniques (e.g., X-ray diffraction). This analytical short
Authors
Bryn E. Kimball, Heather E. Jamieson, Robert R. Seal, Agatha Dobosz, Nadine M. Piatak

Geophysical characterization of a Proterozoic REE terrane at Mountain Pass, eastern Mojave Desert, California

Mountain Pass, California (USA), located in the eastern Mojave Desert, hosts one of the world’s richest rare earth element (REE) deposits. The REE-rich terrane occurs in a 2.5-km-wide, northwest-trending belt of Mesoproterozoic (1.4 Ga) stocks and dikes, which intrude a larger Paleoproterozoic (1.7 Ga) metamorphic block that extends ∼10 km southward from Clark Mountain to the eastern Mescal Range.
Authors
Kevin Denton, David A. Ponce, Jared R. Peacock, David M. Miller

The Zn–Pb mineralization of Florida Canyon, an evaporite-related Mississippi Valley-type deposit in Bongará district, northern Peru

The Florida Canyon evaporite-related Zn–Pb sulfide deposit, in northern Peru, is one of the largest Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits in South America. Triassic carbonate and former evaporite-bearing rocks of the Pucará Group host the ore bodies that comprise two different styles: (i) predominantly stratabound ore associated with hydrocarbon-rich porous dolostones and evaporite dissolution br
Authors
Saulo B de Oliveira, David L Leach, Caetano Juliani, Lena VS Monteiro, Craig A. Johnson

Geology and assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Lomonosov-Makarov Province, 2008

The Lomonosov-Makarov Province lies in the central Arctic Ocean and encompasses the northern part of the oceanic Amerasia Basin (Makarov and Podvodnikov Basins) and the adjoining Lomonosov Ridge and Siberian continental margins. The Amerasia Basin is thought to have been created in the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous by rotational rifting of the Alaska-Siberia margin away from the Canada margin abou
Authors
Thomas E. Moore, Kenneth J. Bird, Janet K. Pitman

Apatite trace element geochemistry and cathodoluminescent textures—Acomparison between regional magmatism and the Pea Ridge IOA-REE andBoss IOCG deposits, southeastern Missouri iron metallogenic province, USA

The southeast Missouri iron metallogenic province contains a remarkable wealth of historically important Fe, Cu, Au, and rare earth element (REE) deposits including the Pea Ridge iron oxide-apatite-rare earth element (IOA-REE) deposit and the Boss iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit. These deposits are coeval with silicic and intermediate composition magmatism in the St. Francois Mountains terra
Authors
Celestine N. Mercer, Kathryn E. Watts, Juliane Gross

Alaska Geochemical Database Version 3.0 (AGDB3)—Including “Best Value” Data Compilations for Rock, Sediment, Soil, Mineral, and Concentrate Sample Media

The Alaska Geochemical Database Version 3.0 (AGDB3) contains new geochemical data compilations in which each geologic material sample has one “best value” determination for each analyzed species, greatly improving speed and efficiency of use. Like the Alaska Geochemical Database Version 2.0 before it, the AGDB3 was created and designed to compile and integrate geochemical data from Alaska to facil
Authors
Matthew Granitto, Bronwen Wang, Nora B. Shew, Susan M. Karl, Keith A. Labay, Melanie B. Werdon, Susan S. Seitz, John E. Hoppe

Porphyry copper potential of the U.S. Southern Basin and Range using ASTER data integrated with geochemical and geologic datasets to assess potential near-surface deposits in well-explored permissive tracts

ArcGIS was used to spatially assess and rank potential porphyry copper deposits using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data together with geochemical and geologic datasets in order to estimate undiscovered deposits in the southern Basin and Range Province in the southwestern United States. The assessment was done using a traditional expert opinion three-part m
Authors
John C. Mars, Gilpin R. Robinson,, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Lukas Zürcher, Helen A. Whitney, Federico Solano, Mark E. Gettings, Stephen Ludington

Geochemistry of hematite veins in IOA-IOCG deposits of SE Missouri, USA: Relation to felsic magmatism and caldera lakes

The paragenesis, textures, and chemical compositions of secondary hematite in regional potassic altered rhyolites, four IOA deposits, the sedimentary iron deposit at Pilot Knob and the Boss IOCG deposit in SE Missouri were determined and compared to primary magnetite from the IOA and IOCG deposits. Magnetite is composed of elements characteristics of mafic to intermediate intrusions whereas hemati
Authors
Corey J. Meighan, Albert H. Hofstra, Erin E. Marsh, Heather A. Lowers, Alan Koenig

Absence of magnetite microlites, geochemistry of magnetite veins and replacements in IOA deposits, SE Missouri, USA: Relations to intermediate intrusions

The paragenesis, textures, and chemical compositions of magnetite in two mafic to intermediate intrusions and four IOA deposits in SE Missouri were studied to discriminate between igneous and hydrothermal sources. In this study, we found that replacement magnetite with mineral inclusion-rich cores yields erroneously high Ti, Al, Si, Mg, and Mn contents as determined by EMP and LA-ICP-MS due to ru
Authors
Corey J. Meighan, Albert H. Hofstra, David Adams, Erin E. Marsh, Heather A. Lowers, Alan Koenig