Publications
Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Filter Total Items: 2354
Geophysical characterization of the Northwest Geysers geothermal field, California
The Clear Lake Volcanic Field in northern California is the youngest and northern-most part of a long-lived volcanic system that has produced recent (~10 ka) eruptions. Adjacent to the Clear Lake Volcanic Field is the worlds largest energy producing geothermal field, The Geysers. The hottest part of The Geysers geothermal field is in the northwest where temperatures reach ~400 C at 3 km depth. L
Authors
Jared R. Peacock, Tait E. Earney, Margret T. Mangan, William D. Schermerhorn, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Mark Walters, Craig Hartline
Correlations along a 140 km transect in the westernmost Peach Spring Tuff, and tracing changing facies through depositional environments
Tephrochronology is the correlation of tephra beds and tuffs by various means, and it is an important tool in refining stratigraphic and structural interpretations. The 18.78 Ma Peach Spring Tuff (PST) is a large-volume ignimbrite that was deposited across a ~200 km x 360 km area of southeastern California, northwestern Arizona, and southern Nevada. The PST is a valuable stratigraphic marker in
Authors
David C. Buesch
Time-dependent accumulation of Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, and Zn in mayfly and caddisfly larvae in experimental streams: Metal sensitivity, uptake pathways, and mixture toxicity
Conceptual and quantitative models were developed to assess time-dependent processes in four sequential experimental stream studies that determined abundances of natural communities of mayfly and caddisfly larvae dosed with single metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, Zn) or multiple metals (Cd+Zn, Co+Cu, Cu+Ni, Cu+Zn, Ni+Zn, Cd+Cu+Zn, Co+Cu+Ni, Cu+Ni+Zn). Metal mixtures contained environmentally relevant meta
Authors
Laurie S. Balistrieri, Christopher A. Mebane, Travis S. Schmidt
The Missoula and Bonneville floods—A review of ice-age megafloods in the Columbia River basin
The Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington State, USA, brought megafloods to the scientific forefront. A 30,000-km2 landscape of coulees and cataracts carved into the region’s loess-covered basalt attests to overwhelming volumes of energetic water. The scarred landscape, garnished by huge boulder bars and far-travelled ice-rafted erratics, spurred J Harlen Bretz’s vigorously disputed flood hypot
Authors
Jim E. O'Connor, Victor R. Baker, Richard B. Waitt, Larry N Smith, Charles M. Cannon, David L. George, Roger P. Denlinger
Temporal magnetotellurics reveals mechanics of the 2012 Mount Tongariro, NZ eruption
Monitoring dynamics of volcanic eruptions with geophysics is challenging. In August and November 2012, two small eruptions from Mount Tongariro provided a unique opportunity to image subsurface changes caused by the eruptions. A detailed magnetotelluric survey of the Tongariro volcanic complex completed prior to the eruption (2008–2010) provides the preeruption structure of the magmatic system. A
Authors
Graham J. Hill, Hugh M. Bibby, Jared R. Peacock, Erin L. Wallin, Yasuo Ogawa, Luca Caricchi, Harry Keys, Stewart L. Bennie, Yann Avram
Depth-dependent soil mixing persists across climate zones
Soil mixing over long (>102 y) timescales enhances nutrient fluxes that support soil ecology, contributes to dispersion of sediment and contaminated material, and modulates fluxes of carbon through Earth’s largest terrestrial carbon reservoir. Despite its foundational importance, we lack robust understanding of the rates and patterns of soil mixing, largely due to a lack of long-timescale data. He
Authors
Harrison J. Gray, Amanda Keen-Zebert, David Furbish, Gregory E. Tucker, Shannon A. Mahan
Li and Ca enrichment in the Bristol Dry Lake brine compared to brines from Cadiz and Danby Dry Lakes, Barstow-Bristol Trough, California, USA
Relatively few discharging playas in western United States extensional basins have high concentrations of lithium (Li) and calcium (Ca) in the basin-center brines. However, the source of both these ions is not well understood, and it is not clear why basins in close proximity within the same extensional trough have notably different concentrations of Li and Ca. In the Barstow-Bristol Trough, Calif
Authors
Michael R. Rosen, Lisa L. Stillings, Tyler Kane, Kate M. Campbell, Matthew Vitale, Ray Spanjers
Preliminary report on applications of machine learning techniques to the Nevada geothermal play fairway analysis
We are applying machine learning (ML) techniques, including training set augmentation and artificial neural networks, to mitigate key challenges in the Nevada play fairway project. The study area includes ~85 active geothermal systems as potential training sites and >12 geologic, geophysical, and geochemical features. The main goal is to develop an algorithmic approach to identify new geothermal s
Authors
James Faulds, Stephen C. Brown, Mark F. Coolbaugh, John H. Queen, Sven Treitel, Michael Fehler, Eli Mlawsky, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Cary Lindsey, Erick R. Burns, Connor M. Smith, Chen Gu, Bridget F. Ayling
Play fairway analysis in geothermal exploration: The Snake River plain volcanic province
The Snake River volcanic province (SRP) has long been considered a target for geothermal development. It overlies a thermal anomaly that extends deep into the mantle and represents one of the highest heat flow provinces in North America, but systematic exploration been hindered by lack of a conceptual model. Play Fairway Analysis (PFA) is a methodology adapted from the petroleum industry that inte
Authors
John W. Shervais, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Drew L. Siler, Lee Liberty, Dennis Nielson, Sabodh Garg, Patrick Dobson, Erika Gasperikova, Eric Sonnenthal, Dennis Newell, James E. Evans, Jacob DeAngelo, Jared R. Peacock, Tait E. Earney, William D. Schermerhorn, Ghanashyam Neupane
The role of Northeast Pacific meltwater events in deglacial climate change
Columbia River megafloods occurred repeatedly during the last deglaciation, but the impacts of this fresh water on Pacific hydrography are largely unknown. To reconstruct changes in ocean circulation during this period, we used a numerical model to simulate the flow trajectory of Columbia River megafloods and compiled records of sea surface temperature, paleo-salinity, and deep-water radiocarbon f
Authors
Summer K. Praetorius, Alan Condron, Alan Mix, Maureen Walczak, Jennifer McKay, Jianghui Du
An integrated feasibility study of reservoir thermal energy storage in Portland, Oregon, USA
In regions with long cold overcast winters and sunny summers, Deep Direct-Use (DDU) can be coupled with Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) technology to take advantage of pre-existing subsurface permeability to save summer heat for later use during cold seasons. Many aquifers worldwide are underlain by permeable regions (reservoirs) containing brackish or saline groundwater that has limited b
Authors
John Bershaw, Erick Burns, Trenton T Cladouhos, Alison E Horst, Boz Van Houten, Peter Hulseman, Alisa Kane, Jenny H Liu, Robert B Perkins, Darby P Scanlon, Ashley R. Streig, Ellen E Svadlenak, Matt W Uddenberg, Ray E Wells, Colin F. Williams
The surface trace tool — Modeling complex planar interactions using ArcGIS
The surface trace tool comprises a Python script written for ArcGIS that will determine the line of intersection between a planar feature and a surface. Specifically, this tool was designed for geologic applications where geologic planar-feature orientations are reported as strike and dip, and the intersecting surface is the ground. The tool output will show how planar geologic layers intersect wi
Authors
Drew B. Adams, Heather L. Parks