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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 2350

Transient electromagnetic soundings in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, near the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge (field seasons 2007, 2009, and 2011)

Transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings were made in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, to map the location of a blue clay unit as well as to investigate the presence of suspected faults. A total of 147 soundings were made near and in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and an additional 6 soundings were made near Hansen Bluff on the eastern edge of the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge. The
Authors
David V. Fitterman

Regional and temporal variability of melts during a Cordilleran magma pulse: Age and chemical evolution of the jurassic arc, eastern mojave desert, California

Intrusive rock sequences in the central and eastern Mojave Desert segment of the Jurassic Cordilleran arc of the western United States record regional and temporal variations in magmas generated during the second prominent pulse of Mesozoic continental arc magmatism. U/Pb zircon ages provide temporal control for describing variations in rock and zircon geochemistry that reflect differences in magm
Authors
A.P. Barth, J.L. Wooden, David M. Miller, Keith A. Howard, Lydia Fox, Elizabeth R. Schermer, C.E. Jacobson

Re-Os systematics and geochemistry of cobaltite (CoAsS) in the Idaho cobalt belt, Belt-Purcell Basin, USA: Evidence for middle Mesoproterozoic sediment-hosted Co-Cu sulfide mineralization with Grenvillian and Cretaceous remobilization

We report the first study of the Re-Os systematics of cobaltite (CoAsS) using disseminated grains and massive sulfides from samples of two breccia-type and two stratabound deposits in the Co-Cu-Au Idaho cobalt belt (ICB), Lemhi subbasin to the Belt-Purcell Basin, Idaho, USA. Using a 185Re + 190Os spike solution, magnetic and non-magnetic fractions of cobaltite mineral separates give reproducible R
Authors
N.J. Saintilan, R.A. Creaser, Arthur A. Bookstrom

Assessing changes in the physico-chemical properties and fluoride adsorption capacity of activated alumina under varied conditions

Adsorption using activated alumina is a simple method for removing fluoride from drinking water, but to be cost effective the adsorption capacity must be high and effective long-term. The intent of this study was to assess changes in its adsorption capacity under varied conditions. This was determined by evaluating the physico-chemical properties, surface charge, and fluoride (F−) adsorption capac
Authors
Laura Craig, Lisa L. Stillings, David L. Decker

Cascadia subduction tremor muted by crustal faults

Deep, episodic slow slip on the Cascadia subduction megathrust of western North America is accompanied by low-frequency tremor in a zone of high fluid pressure between 30 and 40 km depth. Tremor density (tremor epicenters per square kilometer) varies along strike, and lower tremor density statistically correlates with upper plate faults that accommodate northward motion and rotation of forearc blo
Authors
Ray Wells, Richard J. Blakely, Aaron G. Wech, Patricia A. McCrory, Andrew Michael

The Evergreen basin and the role of the Silver Creek fault in the San Andreas fault system, San Francisco Bay region, California

The Evergreen basin is a 40-km-long, 8-km-wide Cenozoic sedimentary basin that lies mostly concealed beneath the northeastern margin of the Santa Clara Valley near the south end of San Francisco Bay (California, USA). The basin is bounded on the northeast by the strike-slip Hayward fault and an approximately parallel subsurface fault that is structurally overlain by a set of west-verging reverse-o
Authors
Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Robert Williams, David A. Ponce, Edward A. Mankinen, William J. Stephenson, Victoria E. Langenheim

Reconnaissance sedimentology of selected tertiary exposures in the upland region bordering the Yukon Flats basin, east-central Alaska

This report summarizes reconnaissance sedimentologic and stratigraphic observations made during six days of helicopter-supported fieldwork in 2002 on Tertiary sedimentary rocks exposed in the upland region around the flanks of the Yukon Flats basin in east-central Alaska (fig. 1). This project was a cooperative effort between the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) and the U
Authors
David L. LePain, Richard G. Stanley

Pore-types and pore-network evolution in Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian Woodford and Mississippian Barnett mudstones: Insights from laboratory thermal maturation and organic petrology

Pore-evolution models from immature organic-matter (OM) -rich Barnett (0.42%Ro) and Woodford (0.49%Ro) mudstones were compared with models previously developed from low-maturity OM-lean Boquillas (Eagle Ford-equivalent) mudstones to investigate whether (1) different mineralogy (siliceous vs. calcareous) exerts different catalytic and sorption effects and influences OM-pore origin and evolution; an
Authors
Lucy T. Ko, Stephen C. Ruppel, Robert G. Loucks, Paul C. Hackley, Tongwei Zhang, Deyong Shao

Assessing the dietary bioavailability of metals associated with natural particles: Extending the use of the reverse labeling approach to zinc

We extend the use of a novel tracing technique to quantify the bioavailability of zinc (Zn) associated with natural particles using snails enriched with a less common Zn stable isotope. Lymnaea stagnalis is a model species that has relatively fast Zn uptake rates from the dissolved phase, enabling their rapid enrichment in 67Zn during the initial phase of labeling. Isotopically enriched snails wer
Authors
Marie Noële Croteau, Daniel J. Cain, Christopher C. Fuller

Controls on pore types and pore-size distribution in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation, Ordos Basin, China: Implications for pore-evolution models of lacustrine mudrocks

Our main objectives are to (1) learn if pore-evolution models developed from marine mudrocks can be directly applied to lacustrine mudrocks, (2) investigate what controls the different pore types and sizes of Chang 7 organic matter (OM)-rich argillaceous mudstones of the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation, and (3) describe the texture, fabric, mineralogy, and thermal maturity variation in the Chang
Authors
Lucy T. Ko, R. R. Loucks, Kitty L. Milliken, Quansheng Liang, Tongwei Zhang, Xun Sun, Paul C. Hackley, Stephen C. Ruppel, Sheng Peng

Paleomagnetism and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of the Plio-Pleistocene Boring Volcanic Field: Implications for the geomagnetic polarity time scale and paleosecular variation

Paleomagnetic directions and 40Ar/39Ar ages have been determined for samples of lava flows from the same outcrops, where possible, for 84 eruptive units ranging in age from 3200 ka to 60 ka within the Boring Volcanic Field (BVF) of the Pacific Northwest, USA. This study expands upon our previous results for the BVF, and compares the combined results with the current geomagnetic polarity time scale
Authors
Jonathan T. Hagstrum, Robert J. Fleck, Russell C. Evarts, Andrew T. Calvert

Geology of Seattle, a field trip

Seattle’s geologic record begins with Eocene deposition of fluvial arkosic sandstone and associated volcanic rocks of the Puget Group, perhaps during a time of regional strike-slip faulting, followed by late Eocene and Oligocene marine deposition of the Blakeley Formation in the Cascadia forearc. Older Quaternary deposits are locally exposed.Most of the city is underlain by up to 100 m of glacial
Authors
Ralph A. Haugerud, Kathy Goetz Troost, William T. Laprade