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Publications

Products (journal articles, reports, fact sheets) authored by current and past scientists are listed below. Please check the USGS Pubs Warehouse for other USGS publications.

Filter Total Items: 1826

In situ lung dust analysis by automated Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy: A method for assessing inorganic particles in tissue from coal miners

Context.—Overexposure to respirable coal mine dust can cause severe lung disease including progressive massive fibrosis (PMF). Field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS) has been used for in situ lung dust particle analysis for evaluation of disease etiology. Automating such work can reduce time, costs, and user bias.Objective.—To develop and
Authors
Emily A. Sarver, C. Keles, Heather A. Lowers, L. Zell-Baran, Leonard H. T. Go, J. Hua, C. Cool, Cecile Rose, F.H. Green, K. S. Almberg, R. A. Cohen

Earthquake relocations delineate discrete a fault network and deformation corridor throughout Southeast Alaska and Southwest Yukon

Deformation in southeastern Alaska and southwest Yukon is governed by the subduction and translation of the Pacific-Yakutat plates relative to the North American plate in the St. Elias region. Despite notable historical seismicity and major regional faults, studies of the region between the Fairweather and Denali faults are complicated by glacial coverage and the remote setting. In the last decade
Authors
Katherine M. Biegel, Jeremy M. Gosselin, Jan Dettmer, Maurice Colpron, Eva Enkelmann, Jonathan Caine

Annual review 2023: Critical minerals

No abstract available.
Authors
Graham W. Lederer, James V. Jones, Darcy McPhee, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Robert R. Seal, Kate M. Campbell, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Paul A. Bedrosian, Patricia Grace Macqueen, Garth E. Graham, Federico Solano, George N. D. Case, David George Pineault

Deep resistivity geophysics of the San Juan–Silverton caldera complex, San Juan County, Colorado (USA)

Magnetotelluric (MT) and audiomagnetotelluric (AMT) data are used to better understand the subsurface geology and mineral resources in the San Juan–Silverton caldera complex located near Silverton, Colorado, western United States, as part of the extensive southern Rocky Mountains volcanic field that covers much of southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Seven MT and AMT profiles of varying
Authors
Brian D. Rodriguez, Douglas Yager, Eric D. Anderson, Robert L. Runkel, Bennett Eugene Hoogenboom, Bruce Smith, Maria Deszcz-Pan

Climate-driven increases in stream metal concentrations in mineralized watersheds throughout the Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA

Increasing stream metal concentrations apparently caused by climate warming have been reported for a small number of mountain watersheds containing hydrothermally altered bedrock with abundant sulfide minerals (mineralized watersheds). Such increases are concerning and could negatively impact downstream ecosystem health, water resources, and mine-site remediation efforts. However, the pervasivenes
Authors
Andrew H. Manning, Tanya N. Petach, Robert L. Runkel, Diane M. McKnight

Evaluation of the characteristics, discharge, and water quality of selected springs at Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California

Eight springs and seeps at Fort Irwin National Training Center were described and categorized by their general characteristics, discharge, geophysical properties, and water quality between 2015 and 2017. The data collected establish a modern (2017) baseline of hydrologic conditions at the springs. Two types of springs were identified: (1) precipitation-fed upland springs (Cave, Desert King, Devoug
Authors
Jill N. Densmore, Drew C. Thayer, Meghan C. Dick, Peter W. Swarzenski, Lyndsay B. Ball, Celia Z. Rosecrans, Cordell Johnson

Paleogene sedimentary basin development in southern Nevada, USA

The cause of the transition from Mesozoic and early Cenozoic crustal shortening to later extension in the western United States is debated. In many parts of the extant Sevier hinterland, now the Basin and Range Province, the sedimentary sections that provide the most direct record of that transition remain poorly studied and lack meaningful age control. In this paper, we present field characteriza
Authors
Jens-Erik Lundstern, Theresa Maude Schwartz, Cameron Mark Mercer, Joseph Colgan, Jeremiah B. Workman, Leah E. Morgan

Sulphide petrology and ore genesis of the stratabound Sheep Creek sediment-hosted Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn prospect, and U–Pb zircon constraints on the timing of magmatism in the northern Alaska Range

The Sheep Creek prospect is a stratabound Zn–Pb–Ag–Sn massive sulfide occurrence in the Bonnifield mining district, northern Alaska Range. The prospect is within a quartz–sericite–graphite–chlorite schist unit associated with Devonian carbonaceous and siliceous metasedimentary rocks. Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits in the district are hosted in felsic metavolcanic rocks (362 ± 2 Ma) as
Authors
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, John N. Aleinikoff, Suzanne Paradise, John F. Slack

Trace silicon determination in biological samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS): Insight into volatility of silicon species in hydrofluoric acid digests for optimal sample preparation and introduction to ICP-MS

A method for the determination of trace levels of silicon from biological materials by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed. The volatility of water-soluble silicon species, hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6), and sodium metasilicate (Na2SiO3) was investigated by evaporating respective solutions (50 µg/mL silicon) in nitric acid (HNO3), nitric acid + hydrochloric a
Authors
Zikri Arslan, Heather A. Lowers

Paleoproterozoic reworking of Archean crust and extreme back-arc metamorphism in the enigmatic southern Trans-Hudson orogen

The crustal evolution of the southernmost ∼2000–1800 Ma Trans-Hudson orogen (THO) is enigmatic due to burial by Phanerozoic sediments. We provide new insights through petrochronologic analysis of a paragneiss drill core sample. Detrital zircon age peaks at 2625, 2340, and 1880 Ma and Hf isotopes suggest Paleoproterozoic arc development proximal to Archean source(s). Phase equilibria modeling and t
Authors
Ian William Hillenbrand, Amy K. Gilmer, Michael L. Williams, Amanda (Kate) Souders, Michael J. Jercinovic, Heather A. Lowers, Jorge A. Vazquez

Geoelectric evidence for a wide spatial footprint of active extension in central Colorado

Three-dimensional magnetotelluric (MT) imaging in central Colorado reveals a set of north-striking high-conductivity tracks at lower-crustal (50–20 km) depths, with conductive finger-like structures rising off these tracks into the middle crust (20–5 km depth). We interpret these features to represent saline aqueous fluids and partial melt that are products of active extensional tectonomagmatism.
Authors
Benjamin S. Murphy, Jonathan Caine, Paul A. Bedrosian, Kayla (Jade) J Crosbie

Deep magmatic staging chambers for crustal layered mafic intrusions: An example from the Bushveld Complex of southern Africa

The deep mafic magmatic staging chambers of layered mafic intrusions have been conjectured but not imaged. Their existence has long been postulated from geochemical models which require multiple magma injections from staging chambers to account for their multi-scale igneous layering and variations in sources and degrees of crustal contamination. For the Bushveld Complex of southern Africa, the wor
Authors
Janine Cole, Carol A. Finn, Susan J. Webb