Geophysical Imaging for Critical Mineral Resources in the Southern Basin and Range
Reliance on imports for many critical mineral commodities (including rare earth elements) puts the U.S. at high risk for supply disruption. Undiscovered deposits of some of these critical and strategic minerals undoubtedly exist in the United States, but a lack of modern geological, geophysical, and topographic data makes exploration challenging. This project plans to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework of the Southwestern United States to identify areas with the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources. These data will be of great importance in determining where critical mineral deposits may occur and will be highly sought after by exploration companies.
Science Issue and Relevance:
The United States is entirely dependent on imports for 21 critical mineral commodities and is at least 50-percent dependent on imports for 28 more. An increase in domestic production could reduce the risk of supply chain disruption. A lack of modern data for the Southwestern U.S. poses a challenge for private sector exploration.
Methodology to Address Issue:
The Southern Basin and Range is one of the most prolific metalliferous provinces on Earth and has a tremendous potential for concealed mineral deposits of many types, especially porphyry copper and related systems.
Although undiscovered deposits of some of these critical and strategic minerals probably exist in the Basin and Range province, they are structurally concealed or hidden beneath the sediments that fill the basins from which the province gets its name. Since they are buried, they are difficult to find. This project intends to improve our understanding of critical mineral-bearing mineral deposits in the region by using geological, geophysical, and topographic data.
The project will oversee ongoing geophysical surveys in the Southwestern U.S., propose new geophysical surveys, and process and interpret data from those surveys. Through our interpretations we aim to improve our understanding of the distribution of critical minerals in the region.
The figure below depicts the magnetic anomaly map of the region covered by the Southwest New Mexico aeromagnetic/aeroradiometric survey. These new data will allow us to better model the subsurface structure and composition of the upper crust.
Concealed Rare Earth Element (REE) Terranes in the Southern Basin and Range Geologic Province
Reliance on imports for many critical mineral commodities (including rare earth elements) puts the U.S. at high risk for supply disruption. Undiscovered deposits of some of these critical and strategic minerals undoubtedly exist in the United States, but a lack of modern geological, geophysical, and topographic data makes exploration challenging. This project plans to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework of the Southwestern United States to identify areas with the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources. These data will be of great importance in determining where critical mineral deposits may occur and will be highly sought after by exploration companies.
Science Issue and Relevance:
The United States is entirely dependent on imports for 21 critical mineral commodities and is at least 50-percent dependent on imports for 28 more. An increase in domestic production could reduce the risk of supply chain disruption. A lack of modern data for the Southwestern U.S. poses a challenge for private sector exploration.
Methodology to Address Issue:
The Southern Basin and Range is one of the most prolific metalliferous provinces on Earth and has a tremendous potential for concealed mineral deposits of many types, especially porphyry copper and related systems.
Although undiscovered deposits of some of these critical and strategic minerals probably exist in the Basin and Range province, they are structurally concealed or hidden beneath the sediments that fill the basins from which the province gets its name. Since they are buried, they are difficult to find. This project intends to improve our understanding of critical mineral-bearing mineral deposits in the region by using geological, geophysical, and topographic data.
The project will oversee ongoing geophysical surveys in the Southwestern U.S., propose new geophysical surveys, and process and interpret data from those surveys. Through our interpretations we aim to improve our understanding of the distribution of critical minerals in the region.
The figure below depicts the magnetic anomaly map of the region covered by the Southwest New Mexico aeromagnetic/aeroradiometric survey. These new data will allow us to better model the subsurface structure and composition of the upper crust.