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Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 2350

Metal Mixture Modeling Evaluation project: 2. Comparison of four modeling approaches

As part of the Metal Mixture Modeling Evaluation (MMME) project, models were developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan), the U.S. Geological Survey (USA), HDR⎪HydroQual, Inc. (USA), and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UK) to address the effects of metal mixtures on biological responses of aquatic organisms. A comparison of the 4 models, as they
Authors
Kevin J. Farley, Joe Meyer, Laurie S. Balistrieri, Karl DeSchamphelaere, Yuichi Iwasaki, Colin Janssen, Masashi Kamo, Steve Lofts, Christopher A. Mebane, Wataru Naito, Adam C. Ryan, Robert C. Santore, Edward Tipping

Basement domain map of the conterminous United States and Alaska

The basement-domain map is a compilation of basement domains in the conterminous United States and Alaska designed to be used at 1:5,000,000-scale, particularly as a base layer for national-scale mineral resource assessments. Seventy-seven basement domains are represented as eighty-three polygons on the map. The domains are based on interpretations of basement composition, origin, and architecture
Authors
Karen Lund, Stephen E. Box, Christopher S. Holm-Denoma, Carma A. San Juan, Richard J. Blakely, Richard W. Saltus, Eric D. Anderson, Ed DeWitt

Environmental assessment of water, sediment, and biota collected from the Bear Creek watershed, Colusa County, California

The Cache Creek watershed lies within California's North Coast Range, an area with abundant geologic sources of mercury (Hg) and a long history of Hg contamination (Rytuba, 2000). Bear Creek, Cache Creek, and the North Fork of Cache Creek are the major streams of the Cache Creek watershed, encompassing 2978 km2. The Cache Creek watershed contains soils naturally enriched in Hg as well as natural s
Authors
James J. Rytuba, Roger L. Hothem, Brianne E. Brussee, Daniel Goldstein, Jason T. May

Quantification of colloidal and aqueous element transfer in soils: The dual-phase mass balance model

Mass balance models have become standard tools for characterizing element gains and losses and volumetric change during weathering and soil development. However, they rely on the assumption of complete immobility for an index element such as Ti or Zr. Here we describe a dual-phase mass balance model that eliminates the need for an assumption of immobility and in the process quantifies the contribu
Authors
Carleton R. Bern, Aaron Thompson, Oliver A. Chadwick

Detrital zircon U-Pb reconnaissance of the Franciscan subduction complex in northwestern California

In northwestern California, the Franciscan subduction complex has been subdivided into seven major tectonostratigraphic units. We report U-Pb ages of ≈2400 detrital zircon grains from 26 sandstone samples from 5 of these units. Here, we tabulate each unit's interpreted predominant sediment source areas and depositional age range, ordered from the oldest to the youngest unit. (1) Yolla Bolly terran
Authors
Trevor Dimitru, W. Gary Ernst, Jeremy K. Hourigan, Robert J. McLaughlin

Magnetotelluric data collected to characterize aquifers in the San Luis Basin, New Mexico

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a series of multidisciplinary studies of the San Luis Basin as part of the Geologic Framework of Rio Grande Basins project. Detailed geologic mapping, high-resolution airborne magnetic surveys, gravity surveys, magnetotelluric surveys, and hydrologic and lithologic data are being used to better understand the aquifers in the San Luis Basin. This report desc
Authors
Chad E. Ailes, Brian D. Rodriguez

Steep spatial gradients of volcanic and marine sulfur in Hawaiian rainfall and ecosystems

Sulfur, a nutrient required by terrestrial ecosystems, is likely to be regulated by atmospheric processes in well-drained, upland settings because of its low concentration in most bedrock and generally poor retention by inorganic reactions within soils. Environmental controls on sulfur sources in unpolluted ecosystems have seldom been investigated in detail, even though the possibility of sulfur l
Authors
Carleton R. Bern, Oliver A. Chadwick, Carol Kendall, Michael J. Pribil

Geologic map of the Patagonia Mountains, Santa Cruz County, Arizona

The Patagonia Mountains contain two large porphyry Cu-Mo systems each with separate associated hypogene and supergene zones, two high-grade Cu-Mo breccia pipes, one large epithermal Ag-Pb-Zn-Mn deposit, and numerous additional areas of base- and precious-metal mineralization all zoned around a Laramide-age composite batholith of intermediate composition. Compilations and new work by Vikre and othe
Authors
Frederick Graybeal, Lorre A. Moyer, Peter G. Vikre, Pamela Dunlap, John C. Wallis

Natural or Induced: Identifying Natural and Induced Swarms from Pre-production and Co-production Microseismic Catalogs at the Coso Geothermal Field

Increased levels of seismicity coinciding with injection of reservoir fluids have prompted interest in methods to distinguish induced from natural seismicity. Discrimination between induced and natural seismicity is especially difficult in areas that have high levels of natural seismicity, such as the geothermal fields at the Salton Sea and Coso, both in California. Both areas show swarm-like sequ
Authors
Martin Schoenball, J. Ole Kaven, Jonathan M. G. Glen, Nicholas C. Davatzes

Assessment of undiscovered copper resources associated with the Permian Kupferschiefer, Southern Permian Basin, Europe

This study synthesizes available information and estimates the location and quantity of undiscovered copper associated with a late Permian bituminous shale, the Kupferschiefer, of the Southern Permian Basin in Europe. The purpose of this study is to (1) delineate permissive areas (tracts) where undiscovered reduced-facies sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits could occur within 2.5 kilometer
Authors
Michael L. Zientek, Sławomir Oszczepalski, Heather L. Parks, James D. Bliss, Gregor Borg, Stephen E. Box, Paul Denning, Timothy S. Hayes, Volker Spieth, Cliff D. Taylor

Late Quaternary chronostratigraphic framework of terraces and alluvium along the lower Ohio River, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky, USA

The lower Ohio River valley is a terraced fluvial landscape that has been profoundly influenced by Quaternary climate change and glaciation. A modern Quaternary chronostratigraphic framework was developed for the lower Ohio River valley using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and allostratigraphic mapping to gain insights into the nature of fluvial responses to glacial–interglacial/st
Authors
Ronald C. Counts, Madhav K. Murari, Lewis A. Owen, Shannon Mahan, Michele Greenan