Graham Lederer is a Physical Scientist for the USGS Geology, Energy & Minerals (GEM) Science Center in Reston, VA.
In my role at the U.S. Geological Survey, I study the supply of materials important to society through materials flow analysis and mineral resource assessment. Materials flow analysis provides a quantitative framework for understanding how mineral resources are transformed into mineral commodities and enter industrial supply chains through processes like primary production, trade, manufacturing, end use, and recycling. Mineral resource assessment involves characterizing mineral deposits and integrating geological, geochemical, and geophysical datasets to better understand how and where minerals resources are concentrated in the Earth.
As a geologist, I am primarily interested in the physical and chemical evolution of the Earth’s crust. My research on ancient and modern orogens focuses on the many processes that create and modify continental crust including deformation, metamorphism, partial melting, and magmatism. Interpreting the spatial and temporal patterns of these petrogenetic processes requires a combination of field- and laboratory-based techniques including detailed structural mapping, microstructural analysis, trace element geochemistry, and accessory phase geochronology. To date, my projects have ranged from characterizing strain in the Grenville basement complex of the Virginia Blue Ridge, constraining the timescales of partial melting in the Himalayan mid-crust through U-Th-Pb dating of syn-tectonic leucogranites, evaluating rare earth phosphate mineralization mechanisms in Proterozoic gneisses of eastern California, and assessing the timing and tempo of large igneous provinces associated with catastrophic changes in Earth history.
Science and Products
Extracting data from maps: applying lessons learned from the AI for Critical Mineral Assessment Competition
21st Century Prospecting: AI-assisted Surveying of Critical Mineral Potential
MinFrame - Methodological infrastructure needed for resource assessment, modeling, and evaluation
Mineral Resource Assessment Training
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Extracting data from maps: applying lessons learned from the AI for Critical Mineral Assessment Competition
This project will share techniques developed in two AI/ML competitions run in Fall 2022, Automated Map Georeferencing, and Automated Map Feature Extraction with USGS stakeholders. We will develop a strategy to operationalize successful approaches, benefiting any activity that uses legacy map data.21st Century Prospecting: AI-assisted Surveying of Critical Mineral Potential
The USGS Mineral Resources Program entered a partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). The partnership objective is to accelerate advances in science for understanding critical minerals, assessing unknown resources, and increase mineral security for the Nation so USGS can more efficiently assess critical mineral deposits within the United States.MinFrame - Methodological infrastructure needed for resource assessment, modeling, and evaluation
Assessing the mineral resources of the United States represents a core function of the Energy and Minerals Mission Area since the inception of the U.S. Geological Survey under the Organic Act of 1879. As reaffirmed by the Energy Policy Act of 2020, assessment of identified and undiscovered resources of critical mineral commodities continues to form a focal point of the Mineral Resources Program...Mineral Resource Assessment Training
The USGS Mineral Resources Program conducts mineral resource assessments and is training USGS scientists in how to conduct these assessments for future work. As a practical exercise, the scientists will conduct an assessment for tungsten in the U.S. - Data
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