Publications
Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Filter Total Items: 2350
Exploring ends of eras in the eastern Mojave Desert: The road log
No abstract available.
Authors
David M. Miller, G.A. Spaulding, R.E. Reynolds, James Calzia, M.E. Wells, Robert J. Fleck, S. Baltzer
Igneous rocks in the Fish Creek Mountains and environs, Battle Mountain area, north-central Nevada: A microcosm of Cenozoic igneous activity in the northern Great Basin, Basin and Range Province, USA
The Great Basin of the western United States, the northern component of the Basin and Range Province, is a region of Cenozoic lithospheric extension with multiple periods and types of igneous activity. The composition and volume of Cenozoic magmas reflect a complex interaction between mantle-derived magmas and highly diverse crust, where both mantle sources and magmatic processes were modulated by
Authors
Brian L. Cousens, Christopher D. Henry, Christopher Stevens, Susan Varve, David John, Stacey Wetmore
The MTPy software package for magnetotelluric data analysis and visualisation
The magnetotelluric (MT) method is increasingly being applied to a wide variety of geoscience
problems. However, the software available for MT data analysis and interpretation
is still very limited in comparison to many of the more mature geophysical methods such
as the gravity, magnetic or seismic reflection methods. MTPy is an open source Python package to assist with MT data processing, analysi
Authors
Alison Kirkby, Fei Zhang, Jared R. Peacock, Rakib Hassan, Jingming Duan
Tectono-magmatic evolution of porphyry belts in the central Tethys region of Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran, western Pakistan, and southern Afghanistan
Exploration in the central Tethys region of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and western Pakistan has led to the identification of the giant Reko Diq (24 Mt Cu and 1300 t Au), Sar Cheshmeh (8.9 Mt Cu and 0.46 Mt Mo), Sungun (5.1 Mt Cu and 0.20 Mt Mo), and Kadjaran (4.6 Mt Cu, 0.94 Mt Mo, and 1100 t Au), and 10 other large (1–2 Mt Cu) porphyry deposits including Saindak, Cevizlidere, Teg
Authors
Lukas Zürcher, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Jane M. Hammarstrom, John C. Mars, Stephen Ludington, Michael L. Zientek, Pamela Dunlap, John Wallis
Detrital K-feldspar Pb isotopic evaluation of extraregional sediment transported through an Eocene tectonic breach of southern California's Cretaceous batholith
Sedimentary provenance studies have come to be overwhelmingly based upon U–Pb geochronologic measurements performed with detrital zircon while alternative and potentially complementary approaches such as conglomerate clast studies and heavy mineral analysis have faded in importance. Measurement of Pb isotopic compositions in detrital K-feldspar is among the under-utilized approaches available to a
Authors
Danielle Ziva Shulaker, Marty Grove, Jeremy K. Hourigan, Nicholas Van Buer, Glenn R. Sharman, Keith A. Howard, Jonathan Miller, Andrew P. Barth
Characterizing the catastrophic 2017 Mud Creek Landslide, California, using repeat Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry
Along the rugged coast of Big Sur, California, the Mud Creek landslide failed catastrophically on May 20, 2017 and destroyed over 400 m of scenic California State Highway 1. We collected structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry data using airborne platforms that, when combined with existing airborne lidar data, revealed that the area exhibited significant topographic change and displacement befo
Authors
Jonathan Warrick, Andrew C. Ritchie, Mark E. Reid, Kevin M. Schmidt, Joshua B. Logan
Age of the dacite of Sunset Amphitheater, a voluminous Pleistocene tephra from Mount Rainier (USA), and implications for Cascade glacial stratigraphy
The dacite of Sunset Amphitheater, Mount Rainier (USA), illustrates the difficulties in establishing accurate ages of Pleistocene tephra eruptions. Nearly uniform whole-rock, glass, and mineral compositions, texture, and phenocryst assemblage establish that certain conspicuous dissected pumice exposures scattered from Mount Rainier to southern Puget Sound are products of the same Pleistocene Plini
Authors
Thomas W. Sisson, Axel K. Schmitt, Martin Danišík, Andrew T. Calvert, Napoleon Pempena, Chun-Yuan Huang, Chuan-Chou Shen
Isotopic ratios of Saturn's rings and satellites: Implications for the origin of water and Phoebe
Isotopic ratios have long been used to learn about physical processes acting over a wide range of geological environments, and in constraining the origin and/or evolution of planetary bodies. We report the spectroscopic detection of deuterium in Saturn's rings and satellites, and use these measurements to determine the (D/H) ratios in their near-surface regions. Saturn's moons, Phoebe and Iapetus,
Authors
Roger N. Clark, Robert H. Brown, D.P. Cruikshank, Gregg A. Swayze
Integrating magnetotellurics, soil gas geochemistry and structural analysis to identify hidden, high enthalpy, extensional geothermal systems
We applied magnetotellurics (MT), diagnostic structural affiliations, soil gas flux, and fluid geochemistry to assist in identifying hidden, high-enthalpy geothermal systems in extensional regimes of the U.S. Great Basin. We are specifically looking for high-angle, low-resistivity zones and dilatant geologic structures that can carry fluids from magmatic or high-grade metamorphic conditions in the
Authors
Philip E. Wannamaker, James E Faulds, B. Mack Kennedy, Virginie Maris, Drew L. Siler, Craig Ulrich, Joseph Moore
The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI): Mapping the Nation’s critical mineral resources
The Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI; formerly known as 3DEEP) is planned as a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), and other Federal, State, and private-sector organizations. The goal of the effort is to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework in the United States and to identify areas that have the potent
Authors
Warren C. Day
Geophysical Characterization of the heat source in the Northwest Geysers, California
The Geysers, in northern California, is the largest energy producing geothermal field in the world. Looking to expand capacity, the operator Calpine Corporation developed an anomalously hot (~400 °C at 2.5 km depth) part of the field in the northwest Geysers, including testing of an enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Though the area is anomalously hot, geophysical methods have failed to adequately
Authors
Jared R. Peacock, Margaret T. Mangan, Mark Walters, Craig Hartline, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Tait E. Earney, William D. Schermerhorn
Oxygen isotopic investigation of silicic magmatism in the Stillwater caldera complex, Nevada: Generation of large-volume, low-δ18O rhyolitic tuffs and assessment of their regional context in the Great Basin of the western United States
Successive caldera-forming eruptions from ca. 30 to 25 Ma generated a large nested caldera complex in western Nevada that was subsequently dissected by Basin and Range extension, providing extraordinary cross-sectional views through diverse volcanic and plutonic rocks. A high-resolution oxygen isotopic study was conducted on units that represent all major parts of the Job Canyon, Louderback Mounta
Authors
Kathryn E. Watts, David John, Joseph Colgan, Christopher D. Henry, Ilya N. Bindeman, John W. Valley