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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: 2546

The early Earth as an analogue for exoplanetary biogeochemistry The early Earth as an analogue for exoplanetary biogeochemistry

Planet Earth has evolved over the past 4.5 billion years from an entirely anoxic planet with possibly a different tectonic regime to the oxygenated world with horizontal plate tectonics that we know today. For most of this time, Earth has been inhabited by a purely microbial biosphere albeit with seemingly increasing complexity over time. A rich record of this geobiological evolution...
Authors
Eva Stüeken, Stephanie Olson, Elisha Kelly Moore, Bradford Foley

Deep lithospheric controls on surface deformation and seismicity around the East Anatolian Fault Zone and A3 Triple Junction Deep lithospheric controls on surface deformation and seismicity around the East Anatolian Fault Zone and A3 Triple Junction

The East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) is a plate-bounding strike-slip fault capable of hosting large earthquakes, as demonstrated by the extremely damaging February 2023 Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.7 mainshocks of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake sequence. Deformation related to this boundary, part of the Anatolia-Arabia-Africa (A3) Triple Junction, is diffuse, as was shown by part of this earthquake...
Authors
Jonathan Daily, Michael H. Darin, Donna L. Whitney, M. Cosca, Christian Teyssier, Nuretdin Kaymakci, Tuna Eken, Mary R. Reid, Susan L. Beck

Characterizing sulfur redox state and geochemical implications in deep-time using mineral chemistry network analysis Characterizing sulfur redox state and geochemical implications in deep-time using mineral chemistry network analysis

Sulfur (S) is a central element in global biogeochemical cycling and Earth’s redox evolution. Minerals that contain S are an important record of local environmental conditions at the time of their formation based on chemical speciation and redox. However, the oxidation state of S for hundreds of different S-containing minerals and thousands of S-containing mineral localities is unknown...
Authors
Elisha Kelly Moore, Joseph Diedolf, Shaunna M. Morrison, Daniel Hummer

Earthquake relocations delineate discrete a fault network and deformation corridor throughout Southeast Alaska and Southwest Yukon Earthquake relocations delineate discrete a fault network and deformation corridor throughout Southeast Alaska and Southwest Yukon

Deformation in southeastern Alaska and southwest Yukon is governed by the subduction and translation of the Pacific-Yakutat plates relative to the North American plate in the St. Elias region. Despite notable historical seismicity and major regional faults, studies of the region between the Fairweather and Denali faults are complicated by glacial coverage and the remote setting. In the...
Authors
Katherine M. Biegel, Jeremy M. Gosselin, Jan Dettmer, Maurice Colpron, Eva Enkelmann, Jonathan Saul Caine

Annual review 2023: Critical minerals Annual review 2023: Critical minerals

No abstract available.
Authors
Graham W. Lederer, James V. Jones, Darcy McPhee, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Robert R. Seal,, Kate M. Campbell, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Paul A. Bedrosian, Patricia Grace Macqueen, Garth E. Graham, Federico Solano, George N.D. Case, David George Pineault

Revisiting geophysical interpretations of the Midcontinent Rift below Lake Superior— Insights from GLIMPCE seismic-reflection line C Revisiting geophysical interpretations of the Midcontinent Rift below Lake Superior— Insights from GLIMPCE seismic-reflection line C

The 1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) has been investigated in the Lake Superior region for more than a century. The most influential geophysical data for modern paradigms has come from seismic-reflection profiles collected by the Great Lakes International Multidisciplinary Program on Crustal Evolution (GLIMPCE) in the late 1980s. We are revisiting seismic-reflection GLIMPCE line C...
Authors
V. J. S. Grauch, Samuel J. Heller, Laurel G. Woodruff, Esther K. Stewart

Thick- and thin-skinned contractional styles and the tectonic evolution of the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado, USA Thick- and thin-skinned contractional styles and the tectonic evolution of the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado, USA

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, USA, contain an unusual combination of thick- and thin-skinned contractional structures involving both basement and cover rocks in the Laramide Rocky Mountain foreland. These structures are truncated by down-faulted extensional basins to the east and west. Together with synorogenic sediments, these structures...
Authors
David A. Lindsey, Jonathan Saul Caine

Deep resistivity geophysics of the San Juan–Silverton caldera complex, San Juan County, Colorado (USA) Deep resistivity geophysics of the San Juan–Silverton caldera complex, San Juan County, Colorado (USA)

Magnetotelluric (MT) and audiomagnetotelluric (AMT) data are used to better understand the subsurface geology and mineral resources in the San Juan–Silverton caldera complex located near Silverton, Colorado, western United States, as part of the extensive southern Rocky Mountains volcanic field that covers much of southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Seven MT and AMT profiles...
Authors
Brian D. Rodriguez, Douglas Yager, Eric D. Anderson, Robert L. Runkel, Bennett Eugene Hoogenboom, Bruce Smith, Maria Deszcz-Pan

Climate-driven increases in stream metal concentrations in mineralized watersheds throughout the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA Climate-driven increases in stream metal concentrations in mineralized watersheds throughout the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA

Increasing stream metal concentrations apparently caused by climate warming have been reported for a small number of mountain watersheds containing hydrothermally altered bedrock with abundant sulfide minerals (mineralized watersheds). Such increases are concerning and could negatively impact downstream ecosystem health, water resources, and mine-site remediation efforts. However, the
Authors
Andrew H. Manning, Tanya N. Petach, Robert L. Runkel, Diane M. McKnight

Sulphide petrology and ore genesis of the stratabound Sheep Creek sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn prospect, and U–Pb zircon constraints on the timing of magmatism in the northern Alaska Range Sulphide petrology and ore genesis of the stratabound Sheep Creek sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn prospect, and U–Pb zircon constraints on the timing of magmatism in the northern Alaska Range

The Sheep Creek prospect is a stratabound Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn massive sulfide occurrence in the Bonnifield mining district, northern Alaska Range. The prospect is within a quartz–sericite–graphite–chlorite schist unit associated with Devonian carbonaceous and siliceous metasedimentary rocks. Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits in the district are hosted in felsic metavolcanic rocks (362...
Authors
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, John N. Aleinikoff, Suzanne Paradise, John F. Slack

Trace silicon determination in biological samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS): Insight into volatility of silicon species in hydrofluoric acid digests for optimal sample preparation and introduction to ICP-MS Trace silicon determination in biological samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS): Insight into volatility of silicon species in hydrofluoric acid digests for optimal sample preparation and introduction to ICP-MS

A method for the determination of trace levels of silicon from biological materials by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed. The volatility of water-soluble silicon species, hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6), and sodium metasilicate (Na2SiO3) was investigated by evaporating respective solutions (50 µg/mL silicon) in nitric acid (HNO3), nitric acid +...
Authors
Zikri Arslan, Heather A. Lowers
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