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Publications

Results from our Program’s research and minerals information activities are published in USGS publications series as well as in outside journals.  To follow Minerals Information Periodicals, subscribe to the Mineral Periodicals RSS feed.

Filter Total Items: 2294

Geophysical setting of western Utah and eastern Nevada between latitudes 37°45′ and 40°N

Gravity and aeromagnetic data refine the structural setting for the region of western Utah and eastern Nevada between Snake and Hamlin Valleys on the west and Tule Valley on the east. These data are used here as part of a regional analysis. An isostatic gravity map shows large areas underlain by gravity lows, the most prominent of which is a large semi-circular low associated with the Indian Peak
Authors
Edward A. Mankinen, Edwin H. McKee

The Portland Basin: A (big) river runs through it

Metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA, lies within a small Neogene to Holocene basin in the forearc of the Cascadia subduction system. Although the basin owes its existence and structural development to its convergent-margin tectonic setting, the stratigraphic architecture of basin-fill deposits chiefly reflects its physiographic position along the lower reaches of the continental-scale Columbia Rive
Authors
Russell C. Evarts, Jim E. O'Connor, Ray E. Wells, Ian P. Madin

Appendix B: Description of Map Units for Northeast Asia Summary Geodynamics Map

The major purposes of this chapter are to provide (1) an overview of the regional geology, tectonics, and metallogenesis of Northeast Asia for readers who are unfamiliar with the region, (2) a general scientific introduction to the succeeding chapters of this volume, and (3) an overview of the methodology of metallogenic and tectonic analysis used in this study. We also describe how a high-quality
Authors
Leonid M. Parfenov, Gombosuren Badarch, Nikolai A. Berzin, Duk-Hwan Hwang, Alexander I. Khanchuk, Mikhail I. Kuzmin, Warren J. Nokleberg, Alexander A. Obolenskiy, Masatsugu Ogasawara, Andrei V. Prokopiev, Sergey M. Rodionov, Alexander P. Smelov, Hongquan Yan

Geochemical evolution of a high arsenic, alkaline pit-lake in the Mother Lode Gold District, California

The Harvard orebody at the Jamestown gold mine, located along the Melones fault zone in the southern Mother Lode gold district, California, was mined in an open-pit operation from 1987 to 1994. Dewatering during mining produced a hydrologic cone of depression; recovery toward the premining ground-water configuration produced a monomictic pit lake with alkaline Ca-Mg-HCO3-SO4–type pit water, concen
Authors
Kaye S. Savage, Roger P. Ashley, Dennis K. Bird

Cenozoic evolution of the abrupt Colorado Plateau–Basin and Range boundary, northwest Arizona: A tale of three basins, immense lacustrine-evaporite deposits, and the nascent Colorado River

In northwest Arizona, the relatively unextended Colorado Plateau gives way abruptly to the highly extended Colorado River extensional corridor within the Basin and Range province along a system of major west-dipping normal faults, including the Grand Wash fault zone and South Virgin–White Hills detachment fault. Large growth-fault basins developed in the hanging walls of these faults. Lowering of
Authors
J. E. Faulds, Keith A. Howard, E. M. Duebendorfer

Speciation Methods Used to Assess Potential Health Effects of Toxic Metals in Environmental Materials

Assessing potential exposures to toxic metals or metalloids such as arsenic and chromium in environmental materials is important in protecting public health. The chemical form of an element in, or released from, a material is also important, since some forms, such as Cr(VI), are more toxic than others, for example, Cr(III). We have used a variety of procedures to assess potential exposures to hexa
Authors
Ruth E. Wolf, Suzette A. Morman, Geoffrey S. Plumlee

Simultaneous Speciation of Arsenic, Selenium, and Chromium by HPLC-ICP-MS

An adaptation of an analytical method developed for chromium speciation has been utilized for the simultaneous determination of As(III), As(V), Se(IV), Se(VI), Cr(III), and Cr(VI) species using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation with ICP-MS detection. Reduction of interferences for the determination of As, Se, and Cr by ICP-MS is a major consideration for this method. Toward
Authors
Ruth E. Wolf, Suzette A. Morman, Jean Morrison, Paul J. Lamothe

Understanding contaminants associated with mineral deposits

Interdisciplinary studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have resulted in substantial progress in understanding the processes that controlthe release of metals and acidic water from inactive mines and mineralized areas,the transport of metals and acidic water to streams, andthe fate and effect of metals and acidity on downstream ecosystems.The potential environmental effects associated with
Authors
Philip L. Verplanck

Relational database for the geology of the northern Rocky Mountains— Idaho, Montana, and Washington

A relational database was created to prepare and organize geologic map-unit and lithologic descriptions for input into a spatial database for the geology of the northern Rocky Mountains, a compilation of forty-three geologic maps for parts of Idaho, Montana, and Washington in U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2005-1235. Not all of the information was transferred to and incorporated in the sp
Authors
J. Douglas Causey, Michael L. Zientek, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Thomas P. Frost, Karl V. Evans, Anna B. Wilson, Bradley S. Van Gosen, David E. Boleneus, Rebecca A. Pitts

Central Colorado Assessment Project - Application of integrated geologic, geochemical, biologic, and mineral resource studies

Central Colorado is one of the fastest-growing regions in the Western United States. Population along the Front Range increased more than 30 percent between 1990 and 2000 (http://www.demographia.com/db-metro3newworld.htm) with some counties within the study area, such as Park County, experiencing greater than 100-percent growth (http://www.censusscope.org/us/s8/rank_popl_growth.html). This growth
Authors
T. L. Klein, S. E. Church, Jonathan S. Caine, T.S. Schmidt, E.H. deWitt