Publications
Publications from the staff of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Filter Total Items: 2354
Stratigraphy and chronology of Provo shoreline deposits and lake-level implications, Late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, eastern Great Basin, USA
The Provo shoreline of Lake Bonneville formed following the Bonneville flood, and, based on previous dating, was formed during a period of overflow from about 17.5 to 15.0 cal. ka. In many places the Provo shoreline consists of a pair of distinct shorelines, one ∼3 m higher than the other. We present data from two cuts through double beaches to show that the upper beach is younger and represents s
Authors
David M. Miller, Charles G. Oviatt, John P. McGeehin
Origin of the Sinai-Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: mineralogical and geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history
The Sinai–Negev erg occupies an area of 13,000 km2 in the deserts of Egypt and Israel. Aeolian sand of this erg has been proposed to be derived from the Nile Delta, but empirical data supporting this view are lacking. An alternative source sediment is sand from the large Wadi El Arish drainage system in central and northern Sinai. Mineralogy of the Negev and Sinai dunes shows that they are high in
Authors
Daniel R. Muhs, Joel Roskin, Haim Tsoar, Gary Skipp, James R. Budahn, Amihai Sneh, Naomi Porat, Jean-Daniel Stanley, Itzhak Katra, Dan G. Blumberg
Oblique transfer of extensional strain between basins of the middle Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Fault kinematic and paleostress constraints
The structural geometry of transfer and accommodation zones that relay strain between extensional domains in rifted crust has been addressed in many studies over the past 30 years. However, details of the kinematics of deformation and related stress changes within these zones have received relatively little attention. In this study we conduct the first-ever systematic, multi-basin fault-slip measu
Authors
Scott A. Minor, Mark R. Hudson, Jonathan S. Caine, Ren A. Thompson
Covariation of climate and long-term erosion rates acrossa steep rainfall gradient on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i
Erosion of volcanic ocean islands creates dramatic landscapes, modulates Earth’s carbon cycle, and delivers sediment to coasts and reefs. Because many volcanic islands have large climate gradients and minimal variations in lithology and tectonic history, they are excellent natural laboratories for studying climatic effects on the evolution of topography. Despite concerns that modern sediment fluxe
Authors
Ken Ferrier, J. Taylor Perron, Sujoy Mukhopadhyay, Matt Rosener, Jonathan D. Stock, Michelle Slosberg, Kimberly L. Huppert
Pathways of coupled arsenic and iron cycling in high arsenic groundwater of the Hetao basin, Inner Mongolia, China: an iron isotope approach
High As groundwater is widely distributed all over the world, which has posed a significant health impact on millions of people. Iron isotopes have recently been used to characterize Fe cycling in aqueous environments, but there is no information on Fe isotope characteristics in the groundwater. Since groundwater As behavior is closely associated with Fe cycling in the aquifers, Fe isotope signatu
Authors
Huaming Guo, Chen Liu, Hai Lu, Richard B. Wanty, Jun Wang, Yinzhu Zhou
The relative contribution of methanotrophs to microbial communities and carbon cycling in soil overlying a coal-bed methane seep
Seepage of coal-bed methane (CBM) through soils is a potential source of atmospheric CH4 and also a likely source of ancient (i.e. 14C-dead) carbon to soil microbial communities. Natural abundance 13C and 14C compositions of bacterial membrane phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and soil gas CO2 and CH4 were used to assess the incorporation of CBM-derived carbon into methanotrophs and other members o
Authors
Christopher T. Mills, Gregory F. Slater, Robert F. Dias, Stephanie A. Carr, Christopher M. Reddy, Raleigh Schmidt, Kevin W. Mandernack
Linking geology and health sciences to assess childhood lead poisoning from artisanal gold mining in Nigeria
Background: In 2010, Médecins Sans Frontières discovered a lead poisoning outbreak linked to artisanal gold processing in northwestern Nigeria. The outbreak has killed approximately 400 young children and affected thousands more.
Objectives: Our aim was to undertake an interdisciplinary geological- and health-science assessment to clarify lead sources and exposure pathways, identify additional to
Authors
Geoffrey S. Plumlee, James T. Durant, Suzette A. Morman, Antonio Neri, Ruth E. Wolf, Carrie A. Dooyema, Philip L. Hageman, Heather Lowers, Gregory L. Fernette, Gregory P. Meeker, William Benzel, Rhonda L. Driscoll, Cyrus J. Berry, James G. Crock, Harland L. Goldstein, Monique Adams, Casey L. Bartrem, Simba Tirima, Behbod Behrooz, Ian von Lindern, Mary Jean Brown
Historical rock falls in Yosemite National Park, California (1857-2011)
Inventories of rock falls and other types of landslides are valuable tools for improving understanding of these events. For example, detailed information on rock falls is critical for identifying mechanisms that trigger rock falls, for quantifying the susceptibility of different cliffs to rock falls, and for developing magnitude-frequency relations. Further, inventories can assist in quantifying t
Authors
Greg M. Stock, Brian D. Collins, David J. Santaniello, Valerie L. Zimmer, Gerald F. Wieczorek, James B. Snyder
Uranium quantification in semen by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
In this study we report uranium analysis for human semen samples. Uranium quantification was performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. No additives, such as chymotrypsin or bovine serum albumin, were used for semen liquefaction, as they showed significant uranium content. For method validation we spiked 2 g aliquots of pooled control semen at three different levels of uranium: low
Authors
Todor I. Todorov, John W. Ejnik, Gustavo S. Guandalini, Hanna Xu, Dennis Hoover, Larry W. Anderson, Katherine Squibb, Melissa A. McDiarmid, Jose A. Centeno
Automated quantitative micro-mineralogical characterization for environmental applications
Characterization of ore and waste-rock material using automated quantitative micro-mineralogical techniques (e.g., QEMSCAN® and MLA) has the potential to complement traditional acid-base accounting and humidity cell techniques when predicting acid generation and metal release. These characterization techniques, which most commonly are used for metallurgical, mineral-processing, and geometallurgica
Authors
Kathleen S. Smith, K.O. Hoal, Katherine Walton-Day, J.G. Stammer, K. Pietersen
The role of airborne mineral dusts in human disease
Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) is generally acknowledged to increase risk for human morbidity and mortality. However, particulate matter (PM) research has generally examined anthropogenic (industry and combustion by-products) sources with few studies considering contributions from geogenic PM (produced from the Earth by natural processes, e.g., volcanic ash, windborne ash from wildfires,
Authors
Suzette A. Morman, Geoffrey S. Plumlee
New perspectives on the geometry of the Albuquerque Basin, Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Insights from geophysical models of rift-fill thickness
Discrepancies among previous models of the geometry of the Albuquerque Basin motivated us to develop a new model using a comprehensive approach. Capitalizing on a natural separation between the densities of mainly Neogene basin fill (Santa Fe Group) and those of older rocks, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) geophysical model of syn-rift basin-fill thickness that incorporates well data, seismi
Authors
V. J. Grauch, Sean D. Connell