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 environmental and medical geochemistry of potentially hazardous materials produced by disasters
Many natural or human-caused disasters release potentially hazardous materials (HM) that may pose threats to the environment and health of exposed humans, wildlife, and livestock. This chapter summarizes the environmentally and toxicologically significant physical, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of materials produced by a wide variety of recent disasters, such as volcanic eruptions
Authors
Geoffrey S. Plumlee, Suzette A. Morman, G.P. Meeker, Todd M. Hoefen, Philip L. Hageman, Ruth E. Wolf
Reanalysis of historical U.S. Geological Survey sediment samples for geochemical data from the western part of the Wrangellia terrane, Anchorage, Gulkana, Healy, Mt. Hayes, Nabesna, and Talkeetna Mountains quadrangles, Alaska
The State of Alaska’s Strategic and Critical Minerals (SCM) Assessment project, a State-funded Capital Improvement Project (CIP), is designed to evaluate Alaska’s statewide potential for SCM resources. The SCM Assessment is being implemented by the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS), and involves obtaining new airborne-geophysical, geological, and geochemical data. For the
Authors
Melanie B. Werdon, Jaime S. Azain, Matthew Granitto
Tracing historical trends of Hg in the Mississippi River using Hg concentrations and Hg isotopic compositions in a lake sediment core, Lake Whittington, Mississippi, USA
Concentrations and isotopic compositions of mercury (Hg) in a sediment core collected from Lake Whittington, an oxbow lake on the Lower Mississippi River, were used to evaluate historical sources of Hg in the Mississippi River basin. Sediment Hg concentrations in the Lake Whittington core have a large 10-15 y peak centered on the 1960s, with a maximum enrichment factor relative to Hg in the core o
Authors
John E. Gray, Peter C. Van Metre, Michael J. Pribil, Arthur J. Horowitz
Characterization of subsurface stratigraphy along the lower American River floodplain using electrical resistivity, Sacramento, California, 2011
In July 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, completed a geophysical survey using electrical resistivity along an approximately 6-mile reach of the lower American River in Sacramento, California, to map near-surface lithological variations. This survey is a part of a manifold and comprehensive study of river-flow dynamics and geologic boundary-pro
Authors
Bethany L. Burton, Michael H. Powers, Lyndsay B. Ball
Joint inversion of seismic and magnetotelluric data in the Parkfield Region of California using the normalized cross-gradient constraint
We present jointly inverted models of P-wave velocity (Vp) and electrical resistivity for a two-dimensional profile centered on the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). Significant structural similarity between main features of the separately inverted Vp and resistivity models is exploited by carrying out a joint inversion of the two datasets using the normalized cross-gradient constrai
Authors
Ninfa L. Bennington, Haijiang Zhang, Cliff Thurber, Paul A. Bedrosian
Quaternary landscape development, alluvial fan chronology and erosion of the Mecca Hills at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault zone
Quantitative geomorphic analysis combined with cosmogenic nuclide 10Be-based geochronology and denudation rates have been used to further the understanding of the Quaternary landscape development of the Mecca Hills, a zone of transpressional uplift along the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, in southern California. The similar timing of convergent uplifts along the San Andreas Fault with the
Authors
Harrison J. Gray, Lewis A. Owen, Craig Dietsch, Richard A. Beck, Marc A. Caffee, Robert B. Finkelman, Shannon Mahan
Composition of dust deposited to snow cover in the Wasatch Range (Utah, USA): Controls on radiative properties of snow cover and comparison to some dust-source sediments
Dust layers deposited to snow cover of the Wasatch Range (northern Utah) in 2009 and 2010 provide rare samples to determine the relations between their compositions and radiative properties. These studies are required to comprehend and model how such dust-on-snow (DOS) layers affect rates of snow melt through changes in the albedo of snow surfaces. We evaluated several constituents as potential co
Authors
Richard L. Reynolds, Harland L. Goldstein, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Ann C. Bryant, S. McKenzie Skiles, Raymond F. Kokaly, Cody B. Flagg, Kimberly Yauk, Thelma S. Berquó, George N. Breit, Michael Ketterer, Daniel Fernandez, Mark E. Miller, Thomas H. Painter
Iron oxide minerals in dust of the Red Dawn event in eastern Australia, September 2009
Iron oxide minerals typically compose only a few weight percent of bulk atmospheric dust but are important for potential roles in forcing climate, affecting cloud properties, influencing rates of snow and ice melt, and fertilizing marine phytoplankton. Dust samples collected from locations across eastern Australia (Lake Cowal, Orange, Hornsby, and Sydney) following the spectacular “Red Dawn” dust
Authors
Richard L. Reynolds, Stephen R. Cattle, Bruce M. Moskowitz, Harland L. Goldstein, Kimberly Yauk, Cody B. Flagg, Thelma S. Berquó, Raymond F. Kokaly, Suzette A. Morman, George N. Breit
Spectroscopic remote sensing of plant stress at leaf and canopy levels using the chlorophyll 680 nm absorption feature with continuum removal
This paper explores the use of spectral feature analysis to detect plant stress in visible/near infrared wavelengths. A time series of close range leaf and canopy reflectance data of two plant species grown in hydrocarbon-contaminated soil was acquired with a portable spectrometer. The ProSpecTIR-VS airborne imaging spectrometer was used to obtain far range hyperspectral remote sensing data over t
Authors
Ieda Del´Arco Sanches, Carlos Roberto de Souza Filho, Raymond F. Kokaly
Subsurface geologic features of the 2011 central Virginia earthquakes revealed by airborne geophysics
Characterizing geologic features associated with major earthquakes provides insights into mechanisms contributing to fault slip and assists evaluation of seismic hazard. We use high-resolution airborne geophysical data combined with ground sample measurements to image subsurface geologic features associated with the 2011 moment magnitude (Mw) 5.8 central Virginia (USA) intraplate earthquake and it
Authors
Anjana K. Shah, J. Wright Horton, William C. Burton, David Spears, Amy K Gilmer
Occurrence model for magmatic sulfide-rich nickel-copper-(platinum-group element) deposits related to mafic and ultramafic dike-sill complexes
Magmatic sulfide deposits containing nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu), with or without (±) platinum-group elements (PGE), account for approximately 60 percent of the world’s nickel production. Most of the remainder of the Ni production is derived from lateritic deposits, which form by weathering of ultramafic rocks in humid tropical conditions. Magmatic Ni-Cu±PGE sulfide deposits are spatially and gene
Authors
Klaus J. Schulz, Laurel G. Woodruff, Suzanne W. Nicholson, Robert R. Seal, Nadine M. Piatak, Val W. Chandler, John L. Mars
A ground-based magnetic survey of Frenchman Flat, Nevada National Security Site and Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada: data release and preliminary interpretation
The Nevada National Security Site (NNSS, formerly the Nevada Test Site) is located in southern Nevada approximately 105 kilometers (km) (65 miles) northwest of Las Vegas. Frenchman Flat is a sedimentary basin located on the eastern edge of NNSS and extending eastward into the adjacent Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).
In late September 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a gro
Authors
Jeffrey D. Phillips, Bethany L. Burton, Erika Curry-Elrod, Sigmund Drellack