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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 2350

Gravity surveys using a mobile atom interferometer

Mobile gravimetry is important in metrology, navigation, geodesy, and geophysics. Atomic gravimeters could be among the most accurate mobile gravimeters, but are currently constrained by being complex and fragile. Here, we demonstrate a mobile atomic gravimeter, measuring tidal gravity variations in the laboratory as well as surveying gravity in the field. The tidal gravity measurements achieve a
Authors
Xuejian Wu, Zachary Pagel, Bola S. Malek, Timothy H. Nguyen, Fei Zi, Daniel Scheirer, Holger Muller

A river is born: Highlights of the geologic evolution of the Colorado River extensional corridor and its river: A field guide honoring the life and legacy of Warren Hamilton

The Colorado River extensional corridor, which stretched by a factor of 2 in the Miocene, left a series of lowland basins and intervening bedrock ranges that, at the dawn of the Pliocene, were flooded by Colorado River water newly diverted from the Colorado Plateau through Grand Canyon. This water and subsequent sediment gave birth, through a series of overflowing lakes, to an integrated Colorado
Authors
Keith A. Howard, Kyle House, Barbara E John, Ryan S. Crow, Philip A Pearthree

Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentation, tectonics, and metallogeny of Sonora, Mexico

We will embark on a five-day journey through northern, western, and central Sonora, in which we will see excellent examples of mostly Mesozoic to Cenozoic tectonics, sedimentation, and metallogeny. On Day 1, we will visit the porphyry copper deposit at Ajo, Arizona, and several Pleistocene cinder cones and maar craters in the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve. On Day 2, we will see L- and L-S tectonites
Authors
Jason Price, Thierry Calmus, S. Bennett, Lucas Ochoa-Landín

Porphyry copper potential of the U.S. Southern Basin and Range using ASTER data integrated with geochemical and geologic datasets to assess potential near-surface deposits in well-explored permissive tracts

ArcGIS was used to spatially assess and rank potential porphyry copper deposits using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data together with geochemical and geologic datasets in order to estimate undiscovered deposits in the southern Basin and Range Province in the southwestern United States. The assessment was done using a traditional expert opinion three-part m
Authors
John C. Mars, Gilpin R. Robinson,, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Lukas Zürcher, Helen A. Whitney, Federico Solano, Mark E. Gettings, Stephen Ludington

One hundred and sixty years of Grand Canyon geological mapping

No abstract available. 
Authors
Karl Karlstrom, Laura Crossey, Peter W. Huntoon, George Billingsley, Michael Timmons, Ryan S. Crow

Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal 'mystery' eruption of 539/40 CE

Ilopango volcano (El Salvador) erupted violently during the Maya Classic Period (250–900 CE) in a densely-populated and intensively-cultivated region of the southern Maya realm, causing regional abandonment of an area covering more than 20,000 km2. However, neither the regional nor global impacts of the Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) eruption in Mesoamerica have been well appraised due to limitations i
Authors
Robert A. Dull, John R. Southon, Steffen Kutterolf, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Armin Freundt, David Wahl, Payson Sheets, Paul Amaroli, Walter Hernandez, Micheal C. Weimann, Clive Oppenheimer

Occurrence and sources of radium in groundwater associated with oil fields in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California

Geochemical data from 40 water wells were used to examine the occurrence and sources of radium (Ra) in groundwater associated with three oil fields in California (Fruitvale, Lost Hills, South Belridge). 226Ra+228Ra activities (range=0.010-0.51 Bq/L) exceeded the 0.185 Bq/L drinking-water standard in 18% of the wells (not drinking-water wells). Radium activities were correlated with TDS concentrati
Authors
Peter B. McMahon, Avner Vengosh, Tracy Davis, Matthew K. Landon, Rebecca L. Tyne, Michael Wright, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew G. Hunt, Peter H. Barry, A.J. Kondash, Z. Wang, Christopher J. Ballentine

An initial assessment of areas where landslides could enter the West Arm of Glacier Bay, Alaska and implications for tsunami hazards

Tsunamis generated by landslides in Glacier Bay are uncommon, but have potential to be extraordinarily destructive when they occur. This article identifies areas that are susceptible to landslides that could generate tsunamis and discusses approaches to characterize hazard and risk from these events.
Authors
Jeffrey A. Coe, Robert G. Schmitt, Erin Bessette-Kirton

Paleoenvironmental, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence of total warfare among the Classic Maya

Despite over a century of archaeological research, the nature and broader consequences of Classic Maya warfare remain poorly understood. Based on frequent epigraphic references and iconographic themes, Classic period (250-950 CE) Maya warfare has largely been viewed as ritualized and limited in scope. Evidence of warfare in the Terminal Classic period (TCP, 800-950 CE) is interpreted as an escalat
Authors
David Wahl, Lysanna Anderson, Francisco Estrada-Belli, Alexandre Tokovinine

Three-layered silver nanoparticles to trace dissolution and association to a green alga

Core-shell silver nanoparticles (NPs) consisting of an inner Ag core and successive layers of Au and Ag (Ag@Au@Ag) were used to measure the simultaneous association of Ag NPs and ionic Ag by the green alga Chlamydomonas (C.) reinhardtii. Dissolution of the inner Ag core was prevented by a gold (Au) layer, while the outer Ag layer was free to dissolve. In short term experiments, we exposed C. reinh
Authors
Dominic Ponton, Marie Noële Croteau, Samuel N Luoma, Sahar Pourhoseini, Ruth Merrifield, Jamie Lead

Geochronologic, isotopic, and geochemical data from igneous rocks in the Lane Mountain area, San Bernardino County, California

We present new geochronologic, isotopic, and geochemical data for selected igneous rocks in the Lane Mountain area, California. We determined SHRIMP-RG U-Pb zircon ages for the following units: (1) Larrea complex (~253 Ma and ~149–146 Ma); (2) Daisy granodiorite (~151 Ma); (3) Jack Spring quartz monzonite (~85–82 Ma); (4) unnamed porphyritic dikes and stocks (~80–73 Ma); and (5) Lane Mountain volc
Authors
Paul Stone, Howard J. Brown, M. Robinson Cecil, Robert J. Fleck, Jorge A. Vazquez, John A. Fitzpatrick, Jose J. Rosario

Root-driven weathering impacts on mineral-organic associations in deep soils over pedogenic time scales

Plant roots are critical weathering agents in deep soils, yet the impact of resulting mineral transformations on the vast deep soil carbon (C) reservoir are largely unknown. Root-driven weathering of primary minerals may cause the formation of reactive secondary minerals, which protect mineral-organic associations (MOAs) for centuries or millennia. Conversely, root-driven weathering may also trans
Authors
Mariela Garcia Arredondo, Corey Lawrence, Marjorie S. Schulz, Malak M. Tfaily, Ravi K. Kukkadapu, Morris E. Jones, Kristin Boye, Marco Keiluweit