Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

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

Mineral supply for sustainable development requires resource governance

Successful delivery of the United Nations sustainable development goals and implementation of the Paris Agreement requires technologies that utilize a wide range of minerals in vast quantities. Metal recycling and technological change will contribute to sustaining supply, but mining must continue and grow for the foreseeable future to ensure that such minerals remain available to industry. New lin
Authors
Saleem H. Ali, Damien Giurco, Nicholas Arndt, Edmund Nickless, Graham Brown, Alecos Demetriades, Ray Durrheim, Maria Amélia Enriquez, Judith Kinnaird, Anna Littleboy, Lawrence D. Meinert, Roland Oberhänsli, Janet Salem, Richard Schodde, Gabi Schneider, Olivier Vidal, Natalia Yakovleva

Introduction to the 2008 Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA) professional paper

The amount of yet-to-find oil and gas in the high northern latitudes is one of the great uncertainties of future energy supply. The possibility of extensive new petroleum developments in the Arctic Ocean is of interest to the Arctic nations, to petroleum companies, and to those concerned with the delicate and changing Arctic environment. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 2008 Circum-Arctic Resourc
Authors
Donald L. Gautier, Thomas E. Moore

Comparing measurement response and inverted results of electrical resistivity tomography instruments

In this investigation, we compare the results of electrical resistivity measurements made by six commercially available instruments on the same line of electrodes to determine if there are differences in the measured data or inverted results. These comparisons are important to determine whether measurements made between different instruments are consistent. We also degraded contact resistance on o
Authors
Andrew D. Parsekian, Niels Claes, Kamini Singha, Burke J. Minsley, Bradley Carr, Emily Voytek, Ryan Harmon, Andy Kass, Austin Carey, Drew Thayer, Brady Flinchum

High-precision 41K/39K measurements by MC-ICP-MS indicate terrestrial variability of δ41K

Potassium is a major component in continental crust, the fourth-most abundant cation in seawater, and a key element in biological processes. Until recently, difficulties with existing analytical techniques hindered our ability to identify natural isotopic variability of potassium isotopes in terrestrial materials. However, measurement precision has greatly improved and a range of K isotopic compos
Authors
Leah E. Morgan, Danielle P. Santiago Ramos, Brett Davidheiser-Kroll, John Faithfull, Nicholas S. Lloyd, Rob M. Ellam, John A. Higgins

Characteristics and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the Erdenet Cu-Mo deposit, Mongolia

The Early to Middle Triassic Erdenet porphyry Cu-Mo deposit, in northern Mongolia, developed in a continent-continent arc collision zone, within the Central Asian orogenic belt. The porphyry system is related to multiple intrusions of crystal-crowded biotite granodiorite porphyry, which formed a composite stock about 900 m in diameter, with multiple porphyritic microgranodiorite dikes. Wall rocks
Authors
Imants Kavalieris, Bat-Erdene Khashgerel, Leah E. Morgan, Alexander Undrakhtamir, Adiya Borohul

Marine geology and tectonics--What is under all that water?

This chapter is divided into two main sections. The first section is on Marine Geology Seascapes (what earth scientists call bathymetry). The second section is on Tectonics of Marine Areas.
Authors
David W. Scholl, Warren J. Nokleberg

Regional geology and tectonics

This chapter describes the regional geology and tectonic origins of the major geologic units for the Northern Cordillera. The goals of the chapter are to: (1) provide a summary and regional overview of this vast region that contains a complicated geologic history; and (2) describe the major geologic units and tectonic events that cover a broad geologic time span from the Proterozoic to the Holocen
Authors
Warren J. Nokleberg

Geologic road guides for the Southern Canadian Cordillera--Viewing geology and tectonics along major highways

The Geologic Road Guides for the Southern Canadian Cordillera provide a layperson’s understanding of the major geologic units and their tectonic origins along portions of two sets of major highways corridors, herein termed the Southern Road Guide and the Northern Road Guide. The two routes are shown on the Southern Canadian Cordillera Geologic Map. The first page of each Road Guide is this map tha
Authors
Warren J. Nokleberg, Raymond A. Price

Networking our science to characterize the state, vulnerabilities, and management opportunities of soil organic matter

Soil organic matter (SOM) supports the Earth's ability to sustain terrestrial ecosystems, provide food and fiber, and retains the largest pool of actively cycling carbon. Over 75% of the soil organic carbon (SOC) in the top meter of soil is directly affected by human land use. Large land areas have lost SOC as a result of land use practices, yet there are compensatory opportunities to enhance prod
Authors
Jennifer W. Harden, Gustaf Hugelius, Anders Ahlström, Joseph C. Blankinship, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Corey Lawrence, Julie Loisel, Avni Malhotra, Robert B. Jackson, Stephen M. Ogle, Claire Phillips, Rebecca Ryals, Katherine Todd-Brown, Rodrigo Vargas, Sintana E. Vergara, M. Francesca Cotrufo, Marco Keiluweit, Katherine Heckman, Susan E. Crow, Whendee L. Silver, Marcia DeLonge, Lucas E. Nave

The story of a Yakima fold and how it informs Late Neogene and Quaternary backarc deformation in the Cascadia subduction zone, Manastash anticline, Washington, USA

The Yakima folds of central Washington, USA, are prominent anticlines that are the primary tectonic features of the backarc of the northern Cascadia subduction zone. What accounts for their topographic expression and how much strain do they accommodate and over what time period? We investigate Manastash anticline, a north vergent fault propagation fold typical of structures in the fold province. F
Authors
Harvey M. Kelsey, Tyler C. Ladinsky, Lydia M. Staisch, Brian L. Sherrod, Richard J. Blakely, Thomas Pratt, William Stephenson, Jackson K. Odum, Elmira Wan