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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: 2523

Natural thorium resources and recovery: Options and impacts Natural thorium resources and recovery: Options and impacts

This paper reviews the front end of the thorium fuel cycle, including the extent and variety of thorium deposits, the potential sources of thorium production, and the physical and chemical technologies required to isolate and purify thorium. Thorium is frequently found within rare earth element–bearing minerals that exist in diverse types of mineral deposits, often in conjunction with...
Authors
Timothy Ault, Bradley S. Van Gosen, Steven Krahn, Allen Croff

The F'derik-Zouerate iron district: Mesoarchean and Paleoproterozoic iron formation of the Tiris Complex, Islamic Republic of Mauritania The F'derik-Zouerate iron district: Mesoarchean and Paleoproterozoic iron formation of the Tiris Complex, Islamic Republic of Mauritania

High-grade hematitic iron ores (of HIF, containing 60-65 wt%Fe) have been mined in Mauritania since 1952 from Superior-type iron deposits of the F'derik-Zouerate district. Depletion of the high-grade ores in recent years has resulted in new exploration projects focused on lower-grade magnetite ores occurring in Algoma-type banded iron formation (of BIF, containing ca. 35 wt% Fe)...
Authors
Cliff D. Taylor, Carol A. Finn, Eric D. Anderson, Dwight Bradley, Mohamed Joud, Ahmed Taleb Mohamed, John D. Horton, Craig A. Johnson

Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data Making it and breaking it in the Midwest: Continental assembly and rifting from modeling of EarthScope magnetotelluric data

A three-dimensional lithospheric-scale resistivity model of the North American mid-continent has been estimated based upon EarthScope magnetotelluric data. Details of the resistivity model are discussed in relation to lithospheric sutures, defined primarily from aeromagnetic and geochronologic data, which record the southward growth of the Laurentian margin in the Proterozoic. The...
Authors
Paul A. Bedrosian

Geologic map of the Morena Reservoir 7.5-minute quadrangle, San Diego County, California Geologic map of the Morena Reservoir 7.5-minute quadrangle, San Diego County, California

Introduction Mapping in the Morena Reservoir 7.5-minute quadrangle began in 1980, when the Hauser Wilderness Area, which straddles the Morena Reservoir and Barrett Lake quadrangles, was mapped for the U.S. Forest Service. Mapping was completed in 1993–1994. The Morena Reservoir quadrangle contains part of a regional-scale Late Jurassic(?) to Early Cretaceous tectonic suture that...
Authors
Victoria R. Todd

Book review: New concepts and discoveries: the Geological Society of Nevada 2015 Symposium Proceedings Book review: New concepts and discoveries: the Geological Society of Nevada 2015 Symposium Proceedings

The Nevada Geological Society has a long history of convening meetings and workshops focused on the geology and metallogeny of the western United States relevant to the mineral exploration and mining community across the Great Basin. One outgrowth of the Geological Society of Nevada’s 2015 Symposium is a two-volume set, edited by W.M. Pennell and L.J. Garside, entitled New Concepts and...
Authors
Warren C. Day

Lithium brines: A global perspective Lithium brines: A global perspective

Lithium is a critical and technologically important element that has widespread use, particularly in batteries for hybrid cars and portable electronic devices. Global demand for lithium has been on the rise since the mid-1900s and is projected to continue to increase. Lithium is found in three main deposit types: (1) pegmatites, (2) continental brines, and (3) hydrothermally altered...
Authors
LeeAnn Munk, Scott Hynek, Dwight Bradley, David Boutt, Keith A. Labay, Hillary Jochens

Seasonal changes in atmospheric noise levels and the annual variation in pigeon homing performance Seasonal changes in atmospheric noise levels and the annual variation in pigeon homing performance

Repeated releases of experienced homing pigeons from single sites were conducted between 1972 and 1974 near Cornell University in upstate New York and between 1982 and 1983 near the University of Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania, USA. No annual variation in homing performance was observed at these sites in eastern North America, in contrast to results from a number of similar...
Authors
Jonathan T. Hagstrum, Hugh P. McIsaac, Douglas P. Drob

Latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene evolution of the ancestral Rio Grande at the Española-San Luis Basin boundary, northern New Mexico Latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene evolution of the ancestral Rio Grande at the Española-San Luis Basin boundary, northern New Mexico

We use stratigraphic relations, paleoflow data, and 40Ar/39Ar dating to interpret net aggradation, punctuated by at least two minor incisional events, along part of the upper ancestral Rio Grande fluvial system between 5.5 and 4.5 Ma (in northern New Mexico). The studied fluvial deposits, which we informally call the Sandlin unit of the Santa Fe Group, overlie a structural high between...
Authors
Daniel J. Koning, Scott B. Aby, V. J. Grauch, Matthew J. Zimmerer

Trace elements in stormflow, ash, and burned soil following the 2009 station fire in southern California Trace elements in stormflow, ash, and burned soil following the 2009 station fire in southern California

Most research on the effects of wildfires on stream water quality has focused on suspended sediment and nutrients in streams and water bodies, and relatively little research has examined the effects of wildfires on trace elements. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to determine the effect of the 2009 Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Los Angeles, CA on...
Authors
Carmen A. Burton, Todd M. Hoefen, Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Katherine L. Baumberger, Adam R. Backlin, Elizabeth Gallegos, Robert N. Fisher

Geologic history of the Blackbird Co-Cu district in the Lemhi subbasin of the Belt-Purcell Basin Geologic history of the Blackbird Co-Cu district in the Lemhi subbasin of the Belt-Purcell Basin

The Blackbird cobalt-copper (Co-Cu) district in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho occupies the central part of the Idaho cobalt belt—a northwest-elongate, 55-km-long belt of Co-Cu occurrences, hosted in grayish siliciclastic metasedimentary strata of the Lemhi subbasin (of the Mesoproterozoic Belt-Purcell Basin). The Blackbird district contains at least eight stratabound...
Authors
Arthur A. Bookstrom, Stephen E. Box, Pamela M. Cossette, Thomas P. Frost, Virginia Gillerman, George King, N. Alex Zirakparvar

Geology of the Greenwater Range, and the dawn of Death Valley, California—Field guide for the Death Valley Natural History Conference, 2013 Geology of the Greenwater Range, and the dawn of Death Valley, California—Field guide for the Death Valley Natural History Conference, 2013

Much has been written about the age and formation of Death Valley, but that is one—if not the last—chapter in the fascinating geologic history of this area. Igneous and sedimentary rocks in the Greenwater Range, one mountain range east of Death Valley, tell an earlier story that overlaps with the formation of Death Valley proper. This early story has been told by scientists who have...
Authors
J.P. Calzia, O.T. Ramo, Robert Jachens, Eugene Smith, Jeffrey Knott
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