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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

Compositional Data for Bengal Delta Sediment Collected from a Borehole at Rajoir, Bangladesh

Processes active within sediment of the Bengal basin have attracted world concern because of the locally high content of arsenic dissolved in ground water drawn from that sediment. Sediment samples were collected from a borehole in the town of Rajoir, Rajoir upazila, Madaripur district, Bangladesh, to investigate the processes contributing to arsenic contamination. The samples were mineralogically
Authors
George N. Breit, James C. Yount, Md. Nehal Uddin, Ad. Atual Muneem, Heather Lowers, Cyrus J. Berry, John W. Whitney

Type region of the Ione Formation (Eocene), central California: Stratigraphy, paleogeography, and relation to auriferous gravels

The middle Eocene Ione Formation extends over 200 miles (320 km) along the western edge of the Sierra Nevada. Our study was concentrated in the type region, 30 miles (48 km) along strike. There a bedrock ridge forms the seaward western side of the Ione depositional tract, defining a subbasin margin. The eastern limit of the type Ione is locally defined by high-angle faults. Ione sediments were
Authors
Scott Creely, Eric R. Force

Geology and origin of epigenetic lode gold deposits, Tintina Gold Province, Alaska and Yukon

More than 50 million ounces of lode gold resources have been defined in the previous 15 years throughout accreted terranes of interior Alaska and in adjacent continental margin rocks of Yukon. The major deposits in this so-called Tintina Gold Province formed around 105 to 90 million years ago in east-central Alaska and Yukon, and around 70 million years ago in southwestern Alaska, late in th
Authors
Richard J. Goldfarb, Erin E. Marsh, Craig J. R. Hart, John L. Mair, Marti L. Miller, Craig Johnson

Formation of tectonic peperites from alkaline magmas intruded into wet sediments in the Beiya area, western Yunnan, China

Tertiary (3.78 Ma to 3.65 Ma) biotite-K-feldspar porphyritic bodies intrude Tertiary, poorly consolidated lacustrine sedimentary rocks in the Beiya mineral district in southwestern China. The intrusives are characterized by a microcrystalline and vitreous-cryptocrystalline groundmass, by replacement of some tabular K-feldspar phenocrysts with microcrystalline chlorite and calcite, and by Fe-rich r
Authors
Xing-Wang Xu, Xin-Ping Cai, Jia-You Zhong, Bao-Chang Song, Stephen G. Peters

Environmental geochemistry at Red Mountain, an unmined volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit in the Bonnifield district, Alaska Range, east-central Alaska

The unmined, pyrite-rich Red Mountain (Dry Creek) deposit displays a remarkable environmental footprint of natural acid generation, high metal and exceedingly high rare earth element (REE) concentrations in surface waters. The volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit exhibits well-constrained examples of acid-generating, metal-leaching, metal-precipitation and self-mitigation (via co-precipitation, d
Authors
Robert G. Eppinger, Paul H. Briggs, Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, Stuart A. Giles, Larry P. Gough, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Bernard E. Hubbard

Geology of the Yucca Mountain site area, southwestern Nevada

Yucca Mountain in southwestern Nevada is a prominent, irregularly shaped upland formed by a thick apron of Miocene pyroclastic-flow and fallout tephra deposits, with minor lava flows, that was segmented by through-going, large-displacement normal faults into a series of north-trending, eastwardly tilted structural blocks. The principal volcanic-rock units are the Tiva Canyon and Topopah Spring Tuf
Authors
W. R. Keefer, J. W. Whitney, D.C. Buesch

Mineral Commodity Summaries 2007

Published on an annual basis, this report is the earliest Government publication to furnish estimates covering nonfuel mineral industry data. Data sheets contain information on the domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, and 5-year salient statistics for over 90 individual minerals and materials.
Authors

Fault locking, block rotation and crustal deformation in the Pacific Northwest

We interpret Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in the northwestern United States and adjacent parts of western Canada to describe relative motions of crustal blocks, locking on faults and permanent deformation associated with convergence between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates. To estimate angular velocities of the oceanic Juan de Fuca and Explorer plates and several continen
Authors
Robert McCaffrey, Anthony I. Qamar, Robert W. King, Ray E. Wells, G. Khazaradze, C.A. Williams, C.W. Stevens, J.J. Vollick, P.C. Zwick

The effects of acidic mine drainage from historical mines in the Animas River watershed, San Juan County, Colorado—What is being done and what can be done to improve water quality?

Historical production of metals in the western United States has left a legacy of acidic drainage and toxic metals in many mountain watersheds that are a potential threat to human and ecosystem health. Studies of the effects of historical mining on surface water chemistry and riparian habitat in the Animas River watershed have shown that cost-effective remediation of mine sites must be carefully p
Authors
Stanley E. Church, Robert J. Owen, Paul Von Guerard, Philip L. Verplanck, Briant A. Kimball, Douglas B. Yager

USGS national surveys and analysis projects: Preliminary compilation of integrated geological datasets for the United States: A section in Digital mapping techniques '06 - Workshop proceedings

The growth in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has highlighted the need for regional and national digital geologic maps attributed with age and rock type information. Such spatial data can be conveniently used to generate derivative maps for purposes that include mineral-resource assessment, metallogenic studies, tectonic studies, human health and environmental research.In 1997, the
Authors
Suzanne W. Nicholson, Douglas B. Stoeser, Frederic H. Wilson, Connie L. Dicken, Stephen Ludington

Chemical data for rock, sediment, biological, precipitate, and water samples from abandoned copper mines in Prince William Sound, Alaska

In the early 20th century, approximately 6 million metric tons of copper ore were mined from numerous deposits located along the shorelines of fjords and islands in Prince William Sound, Alaska. At the Beatson, Ellamar, and Threeman mine sites (fig. 1), rocks containing Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb sulfide minerals are exposed to chemical weathering in abandoned mine workings and remnant waste piles that ex
Authors
Randolph A. Koski, LeeAnn Munk