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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

The distribution and composition of REE-bearing minerals in placers of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains, USA

Rare earth element (REE) resources are currently of great interest because of their importance as raw materials for high-technology manufacturing. The REE-phosphates monazite (light REE enriched) and xenotime (heavy REE enriched) resist weathering and can accumulate in placer deposits as part of the heavy mineral assemblage. The Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains of the southeastern United States ar

Authors
Carleton R. Bern, Anjana K. Shah, William Benzel, Heather A. Lowers

Identification and dating of indigenous water storage reservoirs along the Rio San José at Laguna Pueblo, western New Mexico, USA

An investigation into indigenous water storage on the Rio San José in western New Mexico was conducted in support of efforts by the Pueblo of Laguna to adjudicate their water rights. Here we focus on stratigraphy and geochronology of two Native American-constructed reservoirs. One reservoir located near the community of Casa Blanca was formed by a ∼600 m (2000 feet) long stone masonry dam that imp
Authors
Gary Huckleberry, T.J. Ferguson, Tammy M. Rittenour, Chris Banet, Shannon A. Mahan

Evidence for nonuniform permafrost degradation after fire in boreal landscapes

Fire can be a significant driver of permafrost change in boreal landscapes, altering the availability of soil carbon and nutrients that have important implications for future climate and ecological succession. However, not all landscapes are equally susceptible to fire-induced change. As fire frequency is expected to increase in the high latitudes, methods to understand the vulnerability and resil
Authors
Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, Bruce K. Wylie, Dana R.N. Brown, M. Andy Kass

Apatite fission-track evidence for regional exhumation in the subtropical Eocene, block faulting, and localized fluid flow in east-central Alaska

The origin and antiquity of the subdued topography of the Yukon–Tanana Upland (YTU), the physiographic province between the Denali and Tintina faults, are unresolved questions in the geologic history of interior Alaska and adjacent Yukon. We present apatite fission-track (AFT) results for 33 samples from the 2300 km2 western Fortymile district in the YTU in Alaska and propose an exhumation model t
Authors
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, Charles R. Bacon, Paul B. O'Sullivan, Warren C. Day

A salt diapir-related Mississippi Valley-type deposit: The Bou Jaber Pb-Zn-Ba-F deposit, Tunisia: Fluid inclusion and isotope study

The Bou Jaber Ba-F-Pb-Zn deposit is located at the edge of the Bou Jaber Triassic salt diapir in the Tunisia Salt Diapir Province. The ores are unconformity and fault-controlled and occur as subvertical column-shaped bodies developed in dissolution-collapse breccias and in cavities within the Late Aptian platform carbonate rocks, which are covered unconformably by impermeable shales and marls of t
Authors
Salah Bouhlel, David Leach, Craig A. Johnson, Erin E. Marsh, Sihem Salmi-Laouar, David A. Banks

Implications of projected climate change for groundwater recharge in the western United States

Existing studies on the impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge are either global or basin/location-specific. The global studies lack the specificity to inform decision making, while the local studies do little to clarify potential changes over large regions (major river basins, states, or groups of states), a scale often important in the development of water policy. An analysis of the p
Authors
Thomas Meixner, Andrew H. Manning, David A. Stonestrom, Diana M. Allen, Hoori Ajami, Kyle W. Blasch, Andrea E. Brookfield, Christopher L. Castro, Jordan F. Clark, David Gochis, Alan L. Flint, Kirstin L. Neff, Rewati Niraula, Matthew Rodell, Bridget R. Scanlon, Kamini Singha, Michelle Ann Walvoord

Rare earth element deposits in China

China is the world’s leading rare earth element (REE) producer and hosts a variety of deposit types. Carbonatite- related REE deposits, the most significant deposit type, include two giant deposits presently being mined in China, Bayan Obo and Maoniuping, the first and third largest deposits of this type in the world, respectively. The carbonatite-related deposits host the majority of China’s REE
Authors
Yu-Ling Xie, Zeng-qian Hou, Richard J. Goldfarb, Xiang Guo, Lei Wang

A comparison of helicopter-borne electromagnetic systems for hydrogeologic studies

The increased application of airborne electromagnetic surveys to hydrogeological studies is driving a demand for data that can consistently be inverted for accurate subsurface resistivity structure from the near surface to depths of several hundred metres. We present an evaluation of three commercial airborne electromagnetic systems over two test blocks in western Nebraska, USA. The selected test
Authors
Paul A. Bedrosian, Cyril Schamper, Esben Auken

U-Pb, Re-Os, and Ar/Ar geochronology of rare earth element (REE)-rich breccia pipes and associated host rocks from the Mesoproterozoic Pea Ridge Fe-REE-Au deposit, St. Francois Mountains, Missouri

Rare earth element (REE)-rich breccia pipes (600,000 t @ 12% rare earth oxides) are preserved along the margins of the 136-million metric ton (Mt) Pea Ridge magnetite-apatite deposit, within Mesoproterozoic (~1.47 Ga) volcanic-plutonic rocks of the St. Francois Mountains terrane in southeastern Missouri, United States. The breccia pipes cut the rhyolite-hosted magnetite deposit and contain clasts
Authors
John N. Aleinikoff, David Selby, John F. Slack, Warren C. Day, Renee M. Pillers, Michael A. Cosca, Cheryl Seeger, C. Mark Fanning, Iain Samson

Exploration and geology of the Karangahake and Rahu epithermal Au-Ag deposits, Hauraki Goldfield

Karangahake was the third largest gold producer in the Hauraki goldfield. In 2009, New Talisman Gold mines was granted a mining permit, and plans are underway to commence underground mine development of the Maria vein, which has a maiden Ore Reserve (consistent with the 2012 JORC Code) of 28 800 oz Au and 127 800 oz Ag. Exploration drilling at Rahu, located 2 km north of Karangahake has identified
Authors
Mark P. Simpson, Murray R Stevens, Jeffrey L. Mauk, Matthew C Harris, Alistair G J Stuart

Ore mineralogy and textural zonation in the world-class epithermal Waihi Vein System, Hauraki Goldfield

The Waihi district in the Hauraki Goldfield of New Zealand contains adularia-sericite epithermal gold-silver veins that have produced more than 7.7 Moz gold. The outermost veins of the district (Martha, Favona, Moonlight, and Cowshed) contain abundant colloform, cherty, and black quartz fill textures, with minor crustiform and massive quartz. The central veins (Amaranth, Trio, and Union) contain p
Authors
Jeffrey L. Mauk, Erin G Skinner, Sarah J Fyfe, Andrew H Menzies, Heather A. Lowers, Alan E. Koenig