Heather L Parks
Heather is a Geologist at the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center. She received a BS in Geology from Eastern Washington University in 2009. She joined the USGS in 2008 and is currently at the Spokane, WA center location.
Biography
Professional Experience:
- 2008 to present, Geologist, USGS, Spokane, WA
Education:
- B.S. in Geology, Eastern Washington University, 2009
Science and Products
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.
Critical Commodity Studies, Stillwater Complex, Montana
Scientific research can make our resource assessments of critical minerals more effective. This project focuses on the Stillwater Complex, Montana, which has rocks enriched in platinum-group elements (PGE), chromium, cobalt, and nickel. Project objectives are to update databases, evaluate new mapping techniques, document new styles of mineralization, and document and support research on the...
Grade and tonnage model for tungsten skarn deposits—2020 update
This report presents an updated grade and tonnage model for tungsten skarn deposits. As a critical component of the U.S. Geological Survey’s three-part form of quantitative mineral resource assessment, robust grade and tonnage models are essential to transforming mineral resource assessments into effective tools for decision makers. Using the best...
Green, Carlin J.; Lederer, Graham W.; Parks, Heather L.; Zientek, Michael L.
Mapping the 3-D extent of the Stillwater Complex, Montana—Implications for potential platinum group element exploration and development
Geophysical models characterize the exposed and interpreted buried extent of the Stillwater Complex, critical for understanding the origin of the layered mafic intrusion and its associated high-grade platinum group element resources. The 3D models, constrained by gravity, magnetic, xenolith, seismic, borehole, and rock property data indicate that...
Finn, Carol A.; Zientek, Michael L.; Parks, Heather L.; Peterson, Dana Elise
The surface trace tool—Modeling complex planar interactions using ArcGIS
The surface trace tool comprises a Python script written for ArcGIS that will determine the line of intersection between a planar feature and a surface. Specifically, this tool was designed for geologic applications where geologic planar-feature orientations are reported as strike and dip, and the intersecting surface is the ground. The tool...
Adams, Drew B.; Parks, Heather L.
Assessment of undiscovered copper resources of the world, 2015
The U.S. Geological Survey completed the first-ever global assessment of undiscovered copper resources for the two most significant sources of global copper supply: porphyry copper deposits and sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits. The geology-based study identified 236 areas for undiscovered copper in 11 regions of the world. Estimated...
Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Zientek, Michael L.; Parks, Heather L.; Dicken, Connie L.
Platinum-group elements
The platinum-group elements (PGEs)—platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium—are metals that have similar physical and chemical properties and tend to occur together in nature. PGEs are indispensable to many industrial applications but are mined in only a few places. The availability and accessibility of PGEs could be disrupted...
Schulz, Klaus J.; DeYoung,, John H.; Seal, Robert R.; Bradley, Dwight C.; Zientek, Michael L.; Loferski, Patricia J.; Parks, Heather L.; Schulte, Ruth F.; Seal, Robert R.
Geology and mineral resources of the North-Central Montana Sagebrush Focal Area: Chapter D in Mineral resources of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming
SummaryThe U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed to withdraw approximately 10 million acres of Federal lands from mineral entry (subject to valid existing rights) from 12 million acres of lands defined as Sagebrush Focal Areas (SFAs) in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming (for further discussion on the lands involved see...
Mauk, Jeffrey L.; Zientek, Michael L.; Hearn, B. Carter; Parks, Heather L.; Jenkins, M. Christopher; Anderson, Eric D.; Benson, Mary Ellen; Bleiwas, Donald I.; DeAngelo, Jacob; Denning, Paul; Dicken, Connie L.; Drake, Ronald M.; Fernette, Gregory L.; Folger, Helen W.; Giles, Stuart A.; Glen, Jonathan M. G.; Granitto, Matthew; Haacke, Jon E.; Horton, John D.; Kelley, Karen D.; Ober, Joyce A.; Rockwell, Barnaby W.; San Juan, Carma A.; Sangine, Elizabeth S.; Schweitzer, Peter N.; Shaffer, Brian N.; Smith, Steven M.; Williams, Colin F.; Yager, Douglas B.
Geology and mineral resources of the Southwestern and South-Central Wyoming Sagebrush Focal Area, Wyoming, and the Bear River Watershed Sagebrush Focal Area, Wyoming and Utah: Chapter E in Mineral resources of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming
SummaryThe U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed to withdraw approximately 10 million acres of Federal lands from mineral entry (subject to valid existing rights) from 12 million acres of lands defined as Sagebrush Focal Areas (SFAs) in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming (for further discussion on the lands involved see...
Wilson, Anna B.; Hayes, Timothy S.; Benson, Mary Ellen; Yager, Douglas B.; Anderson, Eric D.; Bleiwas, Donald I.; DeAngelo, Jacob; Dicken, Connie L.; Drake, Ronald M.; Fernette, Gregory L.; Giles, Stuart A.; Glen, Jonathan M. G.; Haacke, Jon E.; Horton, John D.; Parks, Heather L.; Rockwell, Barnaby W.; Williams, Colin F.
Spatial database for a global assessment of undiscovered copper resources: Chapter Z in Global mineral resource assessment
As part of the first-ever U.S. Geological Survey global assessment of undiscovered copper resources, data common to several regional spatial databases published by the U.S. Geological Survey, including one report from Finland and one from Greenland, were standardized, updated, and compiled into a global copper resource database. This integrated...
Zientek, Michael L.; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Johnson, Kathleen M.; Dicken, Connie L.; Dunlap, Pamela; Parks, Heather L.; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Zientek, Michael L.
Qualitative assessment of selected areas of the world for undiscovered sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits: Chapter Y in Global mineral resource assessment
A qualitative mineral resource assessment of sediment-hosted stratabound copper mineralized areas for undiscovered copper deposits was performed for 10 selected areas of the world. The areas, in alphabetical order, are (1) Belt-Purcell Basin, United States and Canada; (2) Benguela and Cuanza Basins, Angola; (3) Chuxiong Basin, China; (4) Dongchuan...
Zientek, Michael L.; Hammarstrom, Jane M.; Johnson, Kathleen M.; Zientek, Michael L.; Wintzer, Niki E.; Hayes, Timothy S.; Parks, Heather L.; Briggs, Deborah A.; Causey, J. Douglas; Hatch, Shyla A.; Jenkins, M. Christopher; Williams, David J.
Assessment of undiscovered copper resources associated with the Permian Kupferschiefer, Southern Permian Basin, Europe: Chapter U in Global mineral resource assessment
This study synthesizes available information and estimates the location and quantity of undiscovered copper associated with a late Permian bituminous shale, the Kupferschiefer, of the Southern Permian Basin in Europe. The purpose of this study is to (1) delineate permissive areas (tracts) where undiscovered reduced-facies sediment-hosted...
Zientek, Michael L.; Oszczepalski, Sławomir; Parks, Heather L.; Bliss, James D.; Borg, Gregor; Box, Stephen E.; Denning, Paul; Hayes, Timothy S.; Spieth, Volker; Taylor, Cliff D.
A geologic and mineral exploration spatial database for the Stillwater Complex, Montana
The Stillwater Complex is a Neoarchean, ultramafic to mafic layered intrusion exposed in the Beartooth Mountains in south-central Montana. This igneous intrusion contains magmatic mineralization that is variably enriched in strategic and critical commodities such as chromium, nickel, and the platinum-group elements. One deposit, the J-M Reef, is...
Zientek, Michael L.; Parks, Heather L.
Sediment-hosted stratabound copper assessment of the Neoproterozoic Roan Group, central African copperbelt, Katanga Basin, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia
This study estimates the location, quality, and quantity of undiscovered copper in stratabound deposits within the Neoproterozoic Roan Group of the Katanga Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. The study area encompasses the Central African Copperbelt, the greatest sediment-hosted copper-cobalt province in the world, containing...
Zientek, Michael L.; Bliss, James D.; Broughton, David W.; Christie, Michael; Denning, Paul; Hayes, Timothy S.; Hitzman, Murray W.; Horton, John D.; Frost-Killian, Susan; Jack, Douglas J.; Master, Sharad; Parks, Heather L.; Taylor, Cliff D.; Wilson, Anna B.; Wintzer, Niki E.; Woodhead, Jon