Publications

The United States continues to be the world's leading producer and consumer of diatomite. Production of diatomite in the United States during 2011 was estimated to be 600 kt (661,000 st), a slight increase compared with 2010 production. The unit value of diatomite varied widely by end use in 2011. Diatomite used as a lightweight aggregate was priced at $8.82/t ($8/st), while specialty...

Ammonia was produced by 12 companies at 27 plants in 15 states in the United States during 2011. Sixty-one percent of total U.S. ammonia production capacity was centered in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas because of those states' large reserves of natural gas, the dominant domestic feedstock. In 2011, U.S. producers operated at about 84 percent of their rated capacity (excluding plants...

In 2011, elemental sulfur and the byproduct sulfuric acid were produced at 109 operations in 29 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Total shipments were valued at about $1.6 billion. Elemental sulfur production was 8.2 Mt (9 million st); Louisiana and Texas accounted for about 53 percent of domestic production.

Four minerals represent 90 percent of the borates used by industry worldwide — the sodium borates, tincal and kernite; the calcium borate, colemanite; and the sodium-calcium borate, ulexite.

In 2010, the market appeared to bottom out with production continuing its downward trend and average unit values down for the first time since 1998.

Domestic production, consumption, exports and prices of perlite in the United States were all estimated to have decreased in 2011 compared with 2010, but not significantly. The weak economic conditions that prevailed in the United States for most of the 2011 probably accounted for these decreases. The only statistic that increased was imports, which were estimated to have risen by about...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Hampshire Geological Survey, measured the fluid temperature of groundwater in deep bedrock wells in the State of New Hampshire in order to characterize geothermal gradients in bedrock. All wells selected for the study had low water yields, which correspond to low groundwater flow from fractures. This reduced the potential for flow...

This chapter is the tenth in a series of 11 book-length chapters, collectively referred to as “this volume,” in the series U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386, Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. In the other 10 chapters, each of which concerns a specific glacierized region of Earth, the authors used remotely sensed images, primarily from the Landsat 1, 2, and 3...

Laurel Hill Creek is a watershed of 125 square miles located mostly in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, with small areas extending into Fayette and Westmoreland Counties. The upper part of the watershed is on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection 303(d) list of impaired streams because of siltation, nutrients, and low dissolved oxygen concentrations. The objectives of...

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC), in collaboration with Coastal Carolina University (CCU) and University of South Carolina (USC), conducted a scientific field study to investigate the ocean circulation and sediment transport processes offshore of Fire Island, NY. Although the physical processes along the entire...

The influence of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean on Late Pliocene global climate reconstructions has remained ambiguous due to a lack of well-dated Antarctic-proximal, paleoenvironmental records. Here we present ice sheet, sea-surface temperature, and sea ice reconstructions from the ANDRILL AND-1B sediment core recovered from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf. We provide evidence for a major...

The rates of Fe(II) oxidation and precipitation from groundwater are highly pH dependent. Elevated levels of dissolved CO2 can depress pH and cause difficulty in removing dissolved Fe and associated metals during treatment of ferruginous water. This paper demonstrates interdependent changes in pH, dissolved inorganic C species, and Fe(II) oxidation rates that occur as a result of the...