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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: 2592

Materials characterization of dusts generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center Materials characterization of dusts generated by the collapse of the World Trade Center

The major inorganic components of the dusts generated from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001 were concrete materials, gypsum, and man-made vitreous fibers. These components were likely derived from lightweight Portland cement concrete floors, gypsum wallboard, and spray-on fireproofing and ceiling tiles, respectively. All of the 36 samples collected...
Authors
Gregory P. Meeker, Stephen J. Sutley, Isabelle Brownfield, Heather Lowers, Amy M. Bern, Gregg A. Swayze, Todd M. Hoefen, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Roger N. Clark, Carol A. Gent

Environmental mapping of the World Trade Center area with imaging spectroscopy after the September 11, 2001 attack Environmental mapping of the World Trade Center area with imaging spectroscopy after the September 11, 2001 attack

The Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) was flown over the World Trade Center area on September 16, 18, 22, and 23, 2001. The data were used to map the WTC debris plume and its contents, including the spectral signatures of asbestiform minerals. Samples were collected and used as ground truth for the AVARIS mapping. A number of thermal hot spots were observed with...
Authors
Roger N. Clark, Gregg A. Swayze, Todd M. Hoefen, Robert O. Green, Keith E. Livo, Gregory P. Meeker, Stephen J. Sutley, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Betina Pavri, Charles M. Sarture, Joe Boardman, Isabelle Brownfield, Laurie C. Morath

The Columbia River Basalt Group: from the gorge to the sea The Columbia River Basalt Group: from the gorge to the sea

Miocene flood basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group inundated eastern Washington, Oregon, and adjacent Idaho between 17 and 6 Ma. Some of the more voluminous flows followed the ancestral Columbia River across the Cascade arc, Puget-Willamette trough, and the Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean. We have used field mapping, chemistry, and paleomagnetic directions to trace individual...
Authors
Ray E. Wells, Alan R. Niem, Russell C. Evarts, Jonathan T. Hagstrum

Geologic and Geochronologic Studies of the Early Proterozoic Kanektok Metamorphic Complex of Southwestern Alaska Geologic and Geochronologic Studies of the Early Proterozoic Kanektok Metamorphic Complex of Southwestern Alaska

The Kanektok complex of southwestern Alaska appears to be a rootless terrane of early Proterozoic sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive rocks which were metamorphosed to amphibolite and granulite facies and later underwent a pervasive late Mesozoic thermal event accompanied by granitic plutonism and greenschist facies metamorphism of overlying sediments. The terrane is structurally...
Authors
Donald L. Turner, Robert B. Forbes, John N. Aleinikoff, Ian McDougall, Carl E. Hedge, Frederic H. Wilson, Paul W. Layer, Chad P. Hults

Geochemical evolution of a high arsenic, alkaline pit-lake in the Mother Lode Gold District, California Geochemical evolution of a high arsenic, alkaline pit-lake in the Mother Lode Gold District, California

The Harvard orebody at the Jamestown gold mine, located along the Melones fault zone in the southern Mother Lode gold district, California, was mined in an open-pit operation from 1987 to 1994. Dewatering during mining produced a hydrologic cone of depression; recovery toward the premining ground-water configuration produced a monomictic pit lake with alkaline Ca-Mg-HCO3-SO4–type pit...
Authors
Kaye S. Savage, Roger P. Ashley, Dennis K. Bird

A preliminary study of older hot spring alteration in Sevenmile Hole, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming A preliminary study of older hot spring alteration in Sevenmile Hole, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming

Erosion in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone Caldera (640 ka), Wyoming, has exposed a cross section of older hydrothermal alteration in the canyon walls. The altered outcrops of the post-collapse tuff of Sulphur Creek (480 ka) extend from the canyon rim to more than 300 m beneath it. The hydrothermal minerals are zoned, with an advanced argillic alteration consisting...
Authors
Peter B. Larson, Allison Phillips, David A. John, Michael A. Cosca, Chad Pritchard, Allen K. Andersen, Jennifer Manion

Accelerated weathering of limestone for CO2 mitigation: Opportunities for the stone and cement industries Accelerated weathering of limestone for CO2 mitigation: Opportunities for the stone and cement industries

Large amounts of limestone fines co-produced during the processing of crushed limestone may be useful in the sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2). Accelerated weathering of limestone (AWL) is proposed as a low-tech method to capture and sequester CO2 from fossil fuel-fired power plants and other point sources such as cement manufacturing. AWL reactants are readily available, inexpensive...
Authors
William H. Langer, Carma A. San Juan, Greg H. Rau, Ken Caldeira

Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the arctic Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the arctic

Among the greatest uncertainties in future energy supply and a subject of considerable environmental concern is the amount of oil and gas yet to be found in the Arctic. By using a probabilistic geology-based methodology, the United States Geological Survey has assessed the area north of the Arctic Circle and concluded that about 30% of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13% of the world’s
Authors
Donald L. Gautier, Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald R. Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David W. Houseknecht, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, John H. Schuenemeyer, Kai Sorensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Zenon C. Valin, Craig J. Wandrey

U.S. Geological Survey research in Handcart Gulch, Colorado—An alpine watershed with natural acid-rock drainage U.S. Geological Survey research in Handcart Gulch, Colorado—An alpine watershed with natural acid-rock drainage

Handcart Gulch is an alpine watershed along the Continental Divide in the Colorado Rocky Mountain Front Range. It contains an unmined mineral deposit typical of many hydrothermal mineral deposits in the intermountain west, composed primarily of pyrite with trace metals including copper and molybdenum. Springs and the trunk stream have a natural pH value of 3 to 4. The U.S. Geological...
Authors
Andrew H. Manning, Jonathan S. Caine, Philip L. Verplanck, Dana J. Bove, Katherine G. Kahn

New Permian durhaminid cerioid corals from east-central California New Permian durhaminid cerioid corals from east-central California

Permian colonial corals from Artinskian to Kungurian strata in the Conglomerate Mesa area, Inyo Mountains, east-central California, include five new species, one of which is assigned to a new genus. The new taxa are: Malpaisia maceyi n. gen. and n. sp., Pararachnastraea bellula n. sp., P. delicata n. sp., P. owensensis n. sp., and Cordillerastraea inyoensis n. sp. These species, several...
Authors
C.H. Stevens, P. Stone

Magnetostratigraphic correlations of Permian-Triassic marine-to-terrestrial sections from China Magnetostratigraphic correlations of Permian-Triassic marine-to-terrestrial sections from China

We have studied three Permian–Triassic (PT) localities from China as part of a combined magnetostratigraphic, 40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb radioisotopic, and biostratigraphic study aimed at resolving the temporal relations between terrestrial and marine records across the Permo-Triassic boundary, as well as the rate of the biotic recovery in the Early Triassic. The studied sections from Shangsi...
Authors
J.M.G. Glen, S. Nomade, J.J. Lyons, I. Metcalfe, R. Mundil, P.R. Renne
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