Publications
Products (journal articles, reports, fact sheets) authored by current and past scientists are listed below. Please check the USGS Pubs Warehouse for other USGS publications.
Filter Total Items: 1826
Environmental geochemistry at the global scale
Land degradation and pollution caused by population pressure and economic development pose a threat to the sustainability of the Earth's surface, especially in tropical regions where a long history of chemical weathering has made the surface environment particularly fragile. Systematic baseline geochemical data provide a means of monitoring the state of the environment and identifying problem area
Authors
J. Plant, D. Smith, B. Smith, L. Williams
Using imaging spectroscopy to map acidic mine waste
The process of pyrite oxidation at the surface of mine waste may produce acidic water that is gradually neutralized as it drains away from the waste, depositing different Fe-bearing secondary minerals in roughly concentric zones that emanate from mine-waste piles. These Fe-bearing minerals are indicators of the geochemical conditions under which they form. Airborne and orbital imaging spectrometer
Authors
G.A. Swayze, K. S. Smith, R. N. Clark, S. J. Sutley, R.M. Pearson, J.S. Vance, P. L. Hageman, Paul H. Briggs, A. L. Meier, M.J. Singleton, S. Roth
Identification of a basaltic component on the Martian surface from Thermal Emission Spectrometer data
The Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument collected 4.8×106 spectra of Mars during the initial aerobraking and science‐phasing periods of the mission (September 14, 1997, through April 29, 1998). Two previously developed atmosphere‐removal models were applied to data from Cimmeria Terra (25°S, 213°W). The surface spectra derived for these two models agree well, indica
Authors
P. R. Christensen, J. L. Bandfield, M. D. Smith, V.E. Hamilton, Roger N. Clark
Yellowstone plume head: Postulated tectonic relations to the Vancouver Slab, continental boundaries, and climate
No abstract available.
Authors
Kenneth Lee Pierce, Lisa A. Morgan, Richard W. Saltus
Paleozoic strata of the Dyckman Mountain area, northeastern Medfra quadrangle, Alaska
Paleozoic rocks in the Dyckman Mountain area (northeastern Medfra quadrangle; Farewell terrane) include both shallowand deep-water lithologies deposited on and adjacent to a carbonate platform. Shallow-water strata, which were recognized by earlier workers but not previously studied in detail, consist of algal-laminated micrite and skeletal-peloidal wackestone, packstone, and lesser grainstone. Th
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Dwight Bradley, Anita G. Harris
Sulfur-, oxygen-, and carbon-isotope studies of Ag-Pb-Zn vein-breccia occurrences, sulfide-bearing concretions, and barite deposits in the north-central Brooks Range, with comparisons to shale-hosted stratiform massive sulfide deposits: A section in Ge
Stratiform shale-hosted massive sulfide deposits, sulfidebearing concretions and vein breccias, and barite deposits are widespread in sedimentary rocks of Late Devonian to Permian age in the northern Brooks Range. All of the sulfide-bearing concretions and vein breccias are hosted in mixed continental-marine clastic rocks of the Upper Devonian to Lower Mississippian Endicott Group. The clastic roc
Authors
Karen D. Kelley, David L. Leach, Craig A. Johnson
The chemical characteristics of ground water near Fairbanks, Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
Major- and trace-element abundances, and Sr and Pb isotopic compositions, of ground waters in and near Fairbanks, Alaska, were determined to characterize their chemical characteristics and to assess the factors controlling variations in dissolved arsenic concentrations. Collected samples show majorelement (Ca>Mg>Na>K) and strontium and lead isotopic compositions characteristic of waters that have
Authors
G. Lang Farmer, Richard J. Goldfarb, Michael R. Lilly, Bob Bolton, Allen L. Meier, Richard F. Sanzolone
Bedrock assemblages of the Bering Strait region: Implications for offshore metal sources in the marine environment: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
The Bering Strait region is important habitat for Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). Elevated metal levels in tissues of some walrus have raised concerns about the sources of these metals. This study synthesizes and integrates onshore geology, regional gravity and magnetic data, and information about mineral deposits and the natural processes that weather, erode, and disperse metals in
Authors
Travis L. Hudson, Richard W. Saltus
Regional baseline geochemistry and environmental effects of gold placer mining operations on the Fortymile River, eastern Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
A systematic water-quality study of the Fortymile River and many of its major tributaries in eastern Alaska was conducted in June of 1997 and 1998. Surface-water samples were collected for chemical analyses to establish regional baseline geochemistry values and to evaluate the possible environmental effects of suction-dredge placer gold mining and bulldozer-operated placer gold mining (commonly re
Authors
Richard B. Wanty, Bronwen Wang, Jim Vohden, Paul H. Briggs, Allen L. Meier
Geologic setting of the Fortymile River area - Polyphase deformational history within part of the eastern Yukon-Tanana uplands of Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
The Fortymile River area lies within the Yukon-Tanana lithotectonic terrane of east-central Alaska. This terrane is a mosaic of several lithotectonic assemblages, each with a coherent lithologic, metamorphic, and deformational history. Previous workers have shown that the Fortymile River area is underlain by rocks of the Seventymile, Taylor Mountain, and Nisutlin assemblages. The Taylor Mountain t
Authors
Warren C. Day, Bruce M. Gamble, Mitchell W. Henning, Bruce D. Smith
New geochronological evidence for the timing of early Tertiary ridge subduction in southern Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
We present new U/Pb (monazite, zircon) and 40Ar/39Ar (biotite, amphibole) ages for 10 Tertiary plutons and dikes that intrude the Chugach–Prince William accretionary complex of southern Alaska. The Sanak pluton of Sanak Island yielded ages of 61.1±0.5 Ma (zircon) and 62.7±0.35 (biotite). The Shumagin pluton of Big Koniuji Island yielded a U/Pb zircon age of 61.1±0.3 Ma. Two biotite ages from the K
Authors
Dwight Bradley, Randall Parrish, William Clendenen, Daniel R. Lux, Paul W. Layer, Matthew Heizler, D. Thomas Donley
Paleozoic strata of the Dyckman Mountain area, northeastern Medfra quadrangle, Alaska: A section in Geologic studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey, 1998
Paleozoic rocks in the Dyckman Mountain area (northeastern Medfra quadrangle; Farewell terrane) include both shallowand deep-water lithologies deposited on and adjacent to a carbonate platform. Shallow-water strata, which were recognized by earlier workers but not previously studied in detail, consist of algal-laminated micrite and skeletal-peloidal wackestone, packstone, and lesser grainstone. Th
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Dwight Bradley, Anita G. Harris