Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Publications

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

Filter Total Items: 2426

Nickel-cobalt laterites: a deposit model

Nickel-cobalt (Ni-Co) laterite deposits are supergene enrichments of Ni±Co that form from intense chemical and mechanical weathering of ultramafic parent rocks. These regolith deposits typically form within 26 degrees of the equator, although there are a few exceptions. They form in active continental margins and stable cratonic settings. It takes as little as one million years for a...
Authors
Erin E. Marsh, Eric D. Anderson, Floyd Gray

Mines, mountains and hot springs: IMWA 2013 post-conference tour to Silverton, CO, August 10-13, 2013

An itinerary, maps, and details about the IMWA 2013 post-conference tour from Golden, Colorado to Silverton, Colorado on August 10-13, 2013, are provided.
Authors
Raymond H. Johnson

IMWA 2013 mid-conference tour to Leadville, Colorado, August 7th, 2013

An itinerary, maps, and details about the IMWA 2013 mid-conference tour from Golden, Colorado to Leadville, Colorado on August 7, 2013, are provided.
Authors
Raymond H. Johnson

Low salinity hydrocarbon water disposal through deep subsurface drip irrigation: leaching of native selenium

A subsurface drip irrigation system is being used in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin that treats high sodium, low salinity, coal bed methane (CBM) produced water with sulfuric acid and injects it into cropped fields at a depth of 0.92 m. Dissolution of native gypsum releases calcium that combats soil degradation that would otherwise result from high sodium water. Native selenium is leached...
Authors
Carleton R. Bern, Mark A. Engle, Adam Boehlke, John W. Zupancic

Steady rotation of the Cascade arc

Displacement of the Miocene Cascade volcanic arc (northwestern North America) from the active arc is in the same sense and at nearly the same rate as the present clockwise block motions calculated from GPS velocities in a North American reference frame. Migration of the ancestral arc over the past 16 m.y. can be explained by clockwise rotation of upper-plate blocks at 1.0°/m.y. over a...
Authors
Ray E. Wells, Robert McCaffrey

Integrated geophysical imaging of a concealed mineral deposit: a case study of the world-class Pebble porphyry deposit in southwestern Alaska

We combined aeromagnetic, induced polarization, magnetotelluric, and gravity surveys as well as drillhole geologic, alteration, magnetic susceptibility, and density data for exploration and characterization of the Cu-Au-Mo Pebble porphyry deposit. This undeveloped deposit is almost completely concealed by postmineralization sedimentary and volcanic rocks, presenting an exploration...
Authors
Anjana K. Shah, Paul A. Bedrosian, Eric D. Anderson, Karen D. Kelley, James R. Lang

Predicting the toxicity of metal mixtures

The toxicity of single and multiple metal (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) solutions to trout is predicted using an approach that combines calculations of: (1) solution speciation; (2) competition and accumulation of cations (H, Ca, Mg, Na, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) on low abundance, high affinity and high abundance, low affinity biotic ligand sites; (3) a toxicity function that accounts for accumulation...
Authors
Laurie S. Balistrieri, Christopher A. Mebane

Hybrid modeling of spatial continuity for application to numerical inverse problems

A novel two-step modeling approach is presented to obtain optimal starting values and geostatistical constraints for numerical inverse problems otherwise characterized by spatially-limited field data. First, a type of unsupervised neural network, called the self-organizing map (SOM), is trained to recognize nonlinear relations among environmental variables (covariates) occurring at...
Authors
Michael J. Friedel, Fabio Iwashita

Geologic map of the Lead Mountain 15’ quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California

The Lead Mountain 15’ quadrangle in the Mojave Desert contains a record of Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary magmatism. Small amounts of Mesoproterozoic(?) augen gneiss and Paleozoic and Mesozoic(?) metasedimentary rocks are preserved in small patches; they are intruded by voluminous Jurassic plutons of quartz diorite to granite composition and by Late Cretaceous granite of...
Authors
Keith A. Howard, Keith J. Jagiello, Todd T. Fitzgibbon, Barbara E John

Modeling volcano growth on the Island of Hawaii: Deep-water perspectives

Recent ocean-bottom geophysical surveys, dredging, and dives, which complement surface data and scientific drilling at the Island of Hawaii, document that evolutionary stages during volcano growth are more diverse than previously described. Based on combining available composition, isotopic age, and geologically constrained volume data for each of the component volcanoes, this overview...
Authors
Peter W. Lipman, Andrew T. Calvert

Advancements in understanding the aeromagnetic expressions of basin-margin faults—An example from San Luis Basin, Colorado

Advancements in aeromagnetic acquisition technology over the past few decades have led to greater resolution of shallow geologic sources with low magnetization, such as intrasedimentary faults and paleochannels. Detection and mapping of intrasedimentary faults in particular can be important for understanding the overall structural setting of an area, even if exploration targets are much...
Authors
V.J.S. Grauch, Paul A. Bedrosian, Benjamin J. Drenth

Consequences of flight height and line spacing on airborne (helicopter) gravity gradient resolution in the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado

Line spacing and flight height are critical parameters in airborne gravity gradient surveys; the optimal trade-off between survey costs and desired resolution, however, is different for every situation. This article investigates the additional benefit of reducing the flight height and line spacing though a study of a survey conducted over the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve...
Authors
M. Andy Kass
Was this page helpful?