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Publications

Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center

Filter Total Items: 2350

Finding concealed active faults: Extending the southern Whidbey Island fault across the Puget Lowland, Washington

The southern Whidbey Island fault zone (SWIF), as previously mapped using borehole data, potential field anomalies, and marine seismic reflection surveys, consists of three subparallel, northwest trending strands extending ∼100 km from near Vancouver Island to the northern Puget Lowland. East of Puget Sound, the SWIF makes landfall between the cities of Seattle and Everett but is concealed beneath
Authors
Brian L. Sherrod, Richard J. Blakely, Craig S. Weaver, Harvey M. Kelsey, Elizabeth Barnett, Lee Liberty, Karen L. Meagher, Kristin Pape

Preliminary Gravity and Ground Magnetic Data in the Arbuckle Uplift near Sulphur, Oklahoma

Improving knowledge of the geology and geophysics of the Arbuckle Uplift in south-central Oklahoma is a goal of the Framework Geology of Mid-Continent Carbonate Aquifers project sponsored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP). In May 2007, we collected ground magnetic and gravity observations in the Hunton Anticline region of the Arbuck
Authors
Daniel S. Scheirer, Essam Aboud

Magmatic and tectonic evolution of the Caetano caldera, north-central Nevada: A tilted, mid-Tertiary eruptive center and source of the Caetano Tuff

The Caetano Tuff is a late Eocene, rhyolite ash-flow tuff that crops out within an ∼90-km-long, east-west–trending belt in north-central Nevada, previously interpreted as an elongate graben or “volcano-tectonic trough.” New field, petrographic, geochemical, and geochronologic data show that: (1) the east half of the “trough” is actually the Caetano caldera, formed by eruption of the Caetano Tuff a
Authors
David John, Christopher D. Henry, Joseph Colgan

A prominent geophysical feature along the northern Nevada rift and its geologic implications, north-central Nevada

We consider the origin and character of a prominent large-scale geophysical feature in north-central Nevada that is coincident with the western margin of the northern Nevada rift—a mid-Miocene rift that includes mafic dike swarms and associated volcanic rocks expressed by a NNW-striking magnetic anomaly. The geophysical feature also correlates with mid-Miocene epithermal gold deposits and is coinc
Authors
David A. Ponce, Jonathan M.G. Glen

Large-magnitude Miocene extension of the Eocene Caetano caldera, Shoshone and Toiyabe Ranges, Nevada

Because major mineral deposits in north-central Nevada predate significant Basin and Range extension, a detailed understanding of the timing and kinematics of extensional faulting is necessary to place these deposits in their original structural context. The complexity of pre-Cenozoic deformation in northern Nevada makes restoring Basin and Range faulting difficult without locating well-dated, reg
Authors
Joseph Colgan, David John, Christopher D. Henry, Robert J. Fleck

Analysis of a spatial point pattern: Examining the damage to pavement and pipes in Santa Clara Valley resulting from the Loma Prieta earthquake

This report describes some simple spatial statistical methods to explore the relationships of scattered points to geologic or other features, represented by points, lines, or areas. It also describes statistical methods to search for linear trends and clustered patterns within the scattered point data. Scattered points are often contained within irregularly shaped study areas, necessitating the us
Authors
G. A. Phelps

Fractionation of Cu and Zn isotopes during adsorption onto amorphous Fe(III) oxyhydroxide: Experimental mixing of acid rock drainage and ambient river water

Fractionation of Cu and Zn isotopes during adsorption onto amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide is examined in experimental mixtures of metal-rich acid rock drainage and relatively pure river water and during batch adsorption experiments using synthetic ferrihydrite. A diverse set of Cu- and Zn-bearing solutions was examined, including natural waters, complex synthetic acid rock drainage, and simple NaNO
Authors
Laurie S. Balistrieri, D.M. Borrok, R. B. Wanty, W.I. Ridley

Mineral deposit densities for estimating mineral resources

Estimates of numbers of mineral deposits are fundamental to assessing undiscovered mineral resources. Just as frequencies of grades and tonnages of well-explored deposits can be used to represent the grades and tonnages of undiscovered deposits, the density of deposits (deposits/area) in well-explored control areas can serve to represent the number of deposits. Empirical evidence presented here in
Authors
Donald A. Singer

Axial high topography and partial melt in the crust and mantle beneath the western Galápagos Spreading Center

The hot spot-influenced western Galápagos Spreading Center (GSC) has an axial topographic high that reaches heights of ∼700 m relative to seafloor depth ∼25 km from the axis. We investigate the cause of the unusual size of the axial high using a model that determines the flexural response to loads resulting from the thermal and magmatic structure of the lithosphere. The thermal structure simulated
Authors
Tanya M. Blacic, Garrett Ito, Anjana K. Shah, Juan Pablo Canales, Jian Lin