Publications

Lithium, which has the chemical symbol Li and an atomic number of 3, is the first metal in the periodic table. Lithium has many uses, the most prominent being in batteries for cell phones, laptops, and electric and hybrid vehicles. Worldwide sources of lithium are broken down by ore-deposit type as follows: closed-basin brines, 58%; pegmatites and related granites, 26%; lithium-enriched clays, 7%;

All sediment-hosted gold deposits (as a single population) share one characteristic—they all have disseminated micron-sized invisible gold in sedimentary rocks. Sediment-hosted gold deposits are recognized in the Great Basin province of the western United States and in China along with a few recognized deposits in Indonesia, Iran, and Malaysia. Three new grade and tonnage models for sediment-hoste

Limestone beds underlain and overlain by alluvial fan conglomerate near Amboy, California, are very similar in many respects to parts of the Bouse Formation, suggesting that an arm of the Pliocene Bouse water body extended across a wide part of the southern Mojave Desert. The deposits are north of the town of Amboy at and below an elevation of 290 m, along the northern piedmont of the Bristol “dry

Red Pass, a narrow cut through the Soda Mountains important for prehistoric and early historic travelers, is quite young geologically. Its history of downcutting to capture streams west of the Soda Mountains, thereby draining much of eastern Fort Irwin, is told by the contrast in alluvial fan sediments on either side of the pass. Old alluvial fan deposits (>500 ka) were shed westward off an intac

Faults and fractures play an important role in the circulation of geothermal fluids in the crust, and the nature of that role varies according to structural setting and state of stress. As a result, detailed geologic and geophysical mapping that relates thermal springs to known structural features is essential to modeling geothermal systems. Published maps of Surprise Valley in northeastern Califo

High-resolution topographic surveys allow fairly precise mapping of landslide deposits and their relative ages. Relative ages are determined by cross-cutting relations and the amount of smoothing—more smoothed slide deposits are older—of these deposits. The Tulalip Tribes, in partnership with the Puget Sound Lidar Consortium, acquired a high-resolution lidar (light detection and ranging) survey of

From August 26 to September 5, 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected more than 600 line-kilometers of shipborne magnetic data on Mono Lake, 20 line-kilometers of ground magnetic data on Paoha Island, 50 gravity stations on Paoha and Negit Islands, and 28 rock samples on Paoha and Negit Islands, in east-central California. Magnetic and gravity investigations were undertaken in Mono Lake

Carbonatite and alkaline intrusive complexes, as well as their weathering products, are the primary sources of rare earth elements. A wide variety of other commodities have been exploited from carbonatites and alkaline igneous rocks including niobium, phosphate, titanium, vermiculite, barite, fluorite, copper, calcite, and zirconium. Other elements enriched in these deposits include manganese, str

Diagenesis significantly impacts mudstone lithofacies. Processes operating to control diagenetic pathways in mudstones are poorly known compared to analogous processes occurring in other sedimentary rocks. Selected organic-carbon-rich mudstones, from the Kimmeridge Clay and Monterey Formations, have been investigated to determine how varying starting compositions influence diagenesis.The sampled K

Knickpoints in fluvial channel longitudinal profiles and channel steepness index values derived from digital elevation data can be used to detect tectonic structures and infer spatial patterns of uplift. However, changes in lithologic resistance to channel incision can also influence the morphology of longitudinal profiles. We compare the spatial patterns of both channel steepness index and cosmog

Total dissolved and particulate mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), and antimony (Sb) mass loads were estimated in different seasons (March and September 2011 and March 2012) in the Paglia River basin (PRB) (central Italy). The Paglia River drains the Mt. Amiata Hg district, one of the largest Hg-rich regions worldwide. Quantification of Hg, As, and Sb mass loads in this watershed allowed (1) identificati

The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are cooperatively investigating the utility of unmanned vehicles for near-real-time autonomous surveys of geophysical data collection. Initially focused on unmanned ground vehicle collection of magnetic data, this cooperative effort has brought unmanned surveying, precision guidance, near-real-time communication, on-t